I just received drafts of the work I’m going to be reviewing and giving feedback on for this workshop. Looking forward to going to Brussels in October to engage, together with the wonderful Myria Georgiou (LSE), with these PhD researchers. The workshop is part of the events organized by the European Communication Research and Education Association’s sub-section: Diaspora, Migration, and the Media. And it’s set to take place within the program of the two-day conference at the Vrije Universiteit, Brussels. I’ll also be speaking at the conference itself about my fieldwork with social media app users in Romania, but I’ll post about that later. For now, here’s the info about the conference theme and program:
Digital Fortress Europe: Exploring Boundaries Between Media, Migration and Technology
- Start 30.10.2019
- End 31.10.2019
- Location Brussels, Belgium
Digital Fortress Europe: Exploring Boundaries between Media, Migration and Technology
30 and 31 October 2019, Brussels, Belgium
The two-day conference “Digital Fortress Europe” intends to be a forum to reflect on the relations between media, migration, and technology. These relations demand our fullest attention because they touch on the essence of what migration means in societies that are undergoing democratic challenges. Research shows that media and technologies play a vital role for people who migrate, but that the same media and technologies serve to spread xenophobia, increase societal polarization and enable elaborate surveillance possibilities. With its intensifying anti-migration populist discourses, humanitarian border crises and efforts to secure borders through technological solutions, the European context provides a pulsating scene to examine such deepening relations. Taking place in the heart of Europe’s political capital, this conference aims to critically reflect on what the much-debated notion of “Fortress Europe” means in the digital age and how it can guide our future thinking on media and migration. As such, scholars of media, communication, migration and technology will be stimulated to contribute to critical discussions on border politics and migration debates.
The thematic focus of this conference is on media, migration and technology and all their possible linkages and intersections. While significant attention goes to digital technologies and social media, the organizers do aim for a broad focus that also includes traditional media, and aspects of media production, organization, consumption, representation and policy.
The three confirmed keynote speakers will be:
– Dr Payal Arora (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
– Professor Huub Dijstelbloem (University of Amsterdam)
– Professor Myria Georgiou (London School of Economics)
Besides the keynotes and parallel paper presentations the programme will also include a public event, a PhD masterclass and a book launch (details to be confirmed in the final programme).
The conference takes place at the Palace of the Academies in the centre of Brussels (Hertogstraat 1, 1000 Brussel).
The conference is organized by the European Communication Research & Education Association’s (ECREA) Diaspora, Migration & the Media (DMM) section in collaboration with the ECREA’s International & Intercultural Communication (IIC) section, the Young Scholars Network of ECREA (YECREA), the Netherlands-Flemish Communication Association (NeFCA), and has received support from the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB).
Donya Alinejad 