Professor Ulla Berg was quoted and included in the article "On TikTok, Every Migrant Is Living the American Dream" by Jordan Salaam in The New Yorker. This article was digitally published on January 6, 2025 and in the print edition on the January 13, 2025 issue with the headline “The TikTok Trail.”
This article discusses the discrepancy between what immigrants from the Andes region experience in their day-to-day lives living in New York, compared to what they document online on TikTok. It highlights the significance of "The American Dream" and how these ideas are perpetuated by creators, most of whom are secretly facing tremendous difficulties, yet they don't communicate those struggles with anyone else—not their family back home nor other immigrants living the same reality in the city. Instead, they make videos filled with hope and optimism and that everything is worth it in the end. The article elaborates on possible reasons for this dichotomy, including shame and fear that they'll be seen as failures if they show what life is really like.
Based on her expertise and research regarding the Andes region, Prof. Berg was included in the article to give her perspective on this subject. At one point in the article, Prof. Berg. stated, “If they can produce themselves as somebody who has access to all these spaces and are seen as having relative success abroad, then that also trickles down a little bit to the social status of the family and the community.”
To read more about Prof. Berg's involvement in the article and this topic in general, visit the New Yorker website here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/01/13/on-tiktok-every-migrant-is-living-the-american-dream