Overview

The project DeOthering: Deconstructing Risk and Otherness sets out to critically examine media representations on migrants, refugees and 'internal Others' in Portugal and across Europe while mapping out their interconnections with particular narratives in the field of security and within the War on Terror. The project examines issues such as: How do media represent migrants, refugees and 'internal Others' within a political context of War on Terror and securitization? Do they (re)produce narratives of moral panic and securitization through specific constructions of Otherness? If so, what is the role of constructions of gender, race, age and religion? Do they instead convey representations that may promote an ontology of peace and solidarity?

As part of its first-year activities, the project DeOthering invited its consultants Cristina Demaria, Inês Amaral and Monish Bhatia to discuss how discourses shape particular perceptions and practices of violence, security and migration, as well as the possibilities of contributing to political change through the media.

Notas biográficas

Cristina Demaria is Associate Professor in Semiotics at the Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies of the University of Bologna. She teaches on semiotics of conflict and post-conflict cultures, memory studies, semiotics of media, visual studies and gender theories. Her main fields of interests are gender, violence and memory, media representations of wars and conflict, trauma theories. Her publications include: Memory and translations across cultures and disciplines (edited with. B. Brodski, Translation. An interdisciplinary Journal, 2017); Il trauma, l'archivio, il testimone (Bologna, BUP, 2012); The Genres of Post-conflict Testimonies(with. M Daly, London and Nottingham, CPPP Press, 2008).

Inês Amaral is Associate Professor at Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra, and a researcher at Communication and Society Research Centre of University of Minho. She teaches on cyberculture, digital media, and media representations. Her main fields of interest are audiences, digital inclusion and active ageing, participation and social media, media and digital literacy, gender and media. Her publications include: Policies for gender equality in Portugal: contributions to a framework for older women. Revista Prisma Social (22) (2018, with F. Daniel and S. Guadalupe); Bridging the gap between micro and macro forms of engagement: Three emerging trends in research on audience participation - chapter in The future of audiences. A foresight analysis of interfaces and engagement. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (2018, with M. F. Murru; M. J. Brites and G. Seddighi); Social Representations of Active Ageing in a Gendered Look. Análise Psicológica (34)4 (2016, with F. Daniel, R. Monteiro and E. Caetano); Social Networks: emerging sociabilities. Covilhã: LabCom.IFP (2016).

Monish Bhatia is a Lecturer in Criminology at the Birkbeck, University of London. He teaches in the areas of race, migration, border controls, and critical criminology. In 2017, Monish completed a self-funded project on the aftermath of deportation and capturing narratives of those who are/were subjected to forced removals from the UK. Previously, he has done a Carnegie Trust funded project on destitution and drug use amongst asylum seekers, and his Doctoral Thesis focused on the impact of policies and procedures on asylum seekers and 'illegal' migrants in the UK. His publications include: “Researching ‘Bogus’ Asylum Seekers, ‘Illegal’ Migrants and ‘Crimmigrants’”, in Lumsden, K and Winter, A (eds), Reflexivity in Criminological Research, Palgrave: London (2014); “Turning Asylum Seekers into ‘Dangerous Criminals’: Experiences of the Criminal Justice System of Those Seeking Sanctuary” International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 4(3): 97‐111 (2015); Media, Crime and Racism Palgrave: London (2018, with S. Poynting and W. Tufail).  Monish is currently writing a monograph titled Border Harms: Treatment of Asylum Seekers and Illegalised Migrants in Great Britain, to be published by Palgrave (paperback) in 2019/2020. Monish can be followed on Twitter: @DrMonishBhatia