2016–17
“MIGRATION AND COMMUNICATION FLOWS: RETHINKING BORDERS, CONFLICT AND IDENTITY THROUGH THE DIGITAL”
November 2-3 2017 – Bilbao, Spain
“We are faced with a crisis of humanity, and the only exit from this crisis is to recognize our growing interdependence as a species and to find new ways to live together in solidarity and cooperation, amidst strangers who may hold opinions and preferences different from our own.” Zygmunt Bauman, Strangers at our door (Polity, 2016)
ECREA’s ‘Diaspora, Migration and Media’ and ‘Intercultural and International Communication’ sections will organize a joint conference at the University of Basque Country in Bilbao on 2-3 November 2017 that will focus on how research on migration and communication flows can help rethinking key notions like ‘borders’, ‘conflict’, ‘solidarity’, ‘identity’ and ‘culture’.
RATIONALE:
Migration, cultural diversity and the media are increasingly problematized. Europe appears to be crumbling down in the current moment as a result of the Brexit vote, the election of Donald Trump and the so-called ‘European Refugee Crisis’. This is illustrated by hoaxes and fake news messages on these themes that serve as popular clickbait on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. As media outlets seek to address these ‘post-Truth’ conditions, populist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, racist and neo-nationalist rhetoric and sentiments have grown excessively across social media. Meanwhile, the number of internal and external European borders proliferates, and digital data are used for surveillance and migration management. Therefore, mediated encounters with diversity, the humanitarianism-securitization nexus and the role of communication flows urgently deserve further academic exploration to advance understanding of some of the major societal challenges of our time.
The continuous re-appropriation of Anas Modamani’s selfie with the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Facebook is an illustrative case in point. He took his selfie in September 2015, when Merkel visited the Berlin shelter where he was then living. Modamani is a Syrian refugee who fled from Darayya. After posting the selfie online, he has repeatedly been falsely linked to terrorism. On the basis of physically resemblance, he was for example wrongly accused to be involved in the bombings in Brussel (March 2016) and the recent attack at a Berlin Christmas market (December 2016), see seehttp://www.bbc.com/news/wor
The conference aims to cover a broad range of conflict-related themes such as media production and regulation of information on forced migrants in a ‘post-Truth’ era; fake news; the humanitarianism-securitization nexus, migration management, social and political conflicts related to migrant and diaspora communities, radicalization and online counter-terrorism, hate speech and racism, but also solidarities, activism and protest.
Digital technologies and innovations constantly offer new ways to approach these issues, both theoretically and methodologically. The organizers invite papers that explore the complexity of migration and communication flows through conceptual interventions as well as qualitative and quantitative studies.
DISLOCATIONS & CULTURAL CONFLICTS: MIGRATIONS, DIASPORA, TERRORISM, BORDERS
September 1-3, 2016 in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
The DISLOCATIONS & CULTURAL CONFLICTS conference aims at underlying the different theoretical discourses that approach the subject of migrations from several different aspects, including: the polarization of the world; the threats to peace and security; issues tied to global diversity; socio-economic inequalities; cultural shifts, etc. DISLOCATIONS welcomes the participation of researchers of culture, literature, history, philosophy, art, religion, sociology, media, linguistic, and all interested in the topic. We welcome abstracts pertaining to the theme of the conference, and the broader field of study. The deadline for submissions is 15 March 2016. For more information, please see the full call for papers HERE or contact the ORGANIZERS with questions.
Filming at the Borders: Migrating to Europe Today, October 13-28, 2016
A series of 10 films offering new perspectives on the migrant crisis in Europe, will be screened followed by in-depth discussions with the filmmakers and academic specialists, in disciplines ranging from philosophy and history to film studies, sociology and legal studies.
Parsons Paris and NSSR Honor Tradition of Tackling Refugee Issues, OCTOBER 11 2016
Hosted by Parsons Paris, in collaboration with the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and NSSR, the symposium featured guest speakers, professors, and scholars in discussion on the European refugee crisis, how it connects to The New School’s history of welcoming exiled scholars, and the potential for design to address pressing issues around refugees and migration.
CORIOLIS EFFECT: MIGRATION AND MEMORY SEPTEMBER 29 2016
Coriolis Effect is an ongoing project at Khoj which seeks to activate the social, economic and cultural relationship and historical exchange which exists between India and the continent of Africa. Coriolis Effect not only uses the present context of 21st century migrations, but equally refer to various moments of exchange through history; from the recent past of the Non-Aligned movements in the 20thcentury, to the cultural relationship shared exchanged by Indians and Africans from the 1st century AD onwards.
Citizens and Borders: A Conversation with Joseph Carens, Bouchra Khalili, and Samar Yazbek, Moderated by Bernard Haykel 24 June 2016
Moroccan-French artist Bouchra Khalili; Syrian journalist, novelist, and activist Samar Yazbek; and Canadian philosopher Joseph Carens discuss the personal, political, and cultural ramifications of the current global refugee crisis. Khalili’s video installation The Mapping Journey Project (2008–11), currently on view at MoMA, documents the journeys of eight individuals who were forced by political and economic circumstances to leave their homes and travel illegally throughout the Mediterranean basin. Yazbek fled her homeland after taking part in the popular uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Her most recent book, The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria (2015), tells the story of her dislocation and subsequent returns to her homeland as an intimate observer. In his work as a political philosopher and commentator, Carens focuses on the ethical dilemmas surrounding immigration policies in North America and Europe.
MIGRANTS AND LANGUAGE(S): ISSUES ARISING FROM THE CURRENT CRISIS 21 March 2016
The current migration crisis faces the UK and other countries with urgent issues within which language plays a significant role. These include for example: decisions about who gets refugee status, which depend partly on origin and may be determined on linguistic grounds; how to integrate migrant children in schools, and adults in employment, when they do not speak the host-country language well (or at all); how they are to communicate in hospitals, banks, with landlords and administrations. This public event brings together a range of experts on migration and linguistics and draws attention to the role played by language in this crisis. Book your place online.
BORDERS AND FRONTIERS: A CONTEMPORARY INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPLORATION 22-23 June 2016
In association with The Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London“What we have come to call a globalized world harbors fundamental tensions between opening and barricading, fusion and partition, erasure and reinscription. These tensions materialize as increasingly liberalized borders, on the one hand, and the devotion of unprecedented funds, energies, and technologies to border fortification, on the other.” (Wendy Brown(2010), Walled States, Waning Sovereignty, p. 7-8).. . . This conference seeks to interrogate these concepts in an interdisciplinary manner, asking: what is a border, what is a frontier, and are they the same thing? Looking to space, the body, economics, sovereignty, citizenship and genealogy, this conference will examine these similar yet connotationally different terms through the lense of our world today.”Abstracts: 250 words, with title, name of presenter(s), email and institutional affiliation, submit as a word document (not pdf) by email to amurr010@gold.ac.uk
“DISLOCATIONS AND CULTURAL CONFLICTS: MIGRATIONS, DIASPORA, TERRORISM, BORDERS” 1-3 sept 2016
The Conference aims at underlying the different theoretical discourses that approach the subject of migrations from several different aspects, including: the polarization of the world; the threats to peace and security; issues tied to global diversity; socio-economic inequalities; cultural shifts, etc. Fourth Annual International Conference of CCCS 2016: “Dislocations and cultural conflicts, migration, diaspora, terrorism, borders (MDTG)” welcomes the participation of researchers of culture, literature, history, philosophy, art, religion, sociology, media, linguistic, and all interested in the topic. We welcome abstracts pertaining to the theme of the conference, and the broader field of study. The deadline for submissions is 15 March 2016. For more information, please see the full call for papers here. Feel free to contact organizers with any questions.
NOI♀SE 2016 Summer SchoolFeminist Media Studies of Migration: European discourses and lived experiences 29 August – 2 September 2016
This year, the 24rd edition of NOI♀SE will introduce you to cutting-edge scholarship on media and migration at the intersections of feminist media and cultural studies, postcolonial studies, cultural anthropology, religion studies, communication, activism and the arts. This advanced training course offers a diverse yet coherent program of study from an interdisciplinary perspective. The Summer School is meant for PhD and MA students. Separate seminars for these two groups will be provided in the afternoons. Deadline for application is April 22, 2016. Click here for more information and an application.