Uncovering the Humanitarian Discourse: Media, Migration, and International Organizations

Theme: Uncovering the Humanitarian Discourse
Subtitle: Media, Migration, and International Organizations
Type: International Conference
Institution: Ege University
Location: Izmir (Turkey)
Date: 21.–22.5.2014
Deadline: 1.3.2014

______________________________

Migration as a complex and multi-layered phenomenon is clearly linked
with global issues as well as particular local and regional ones.
Increasing in volume and diversifying in content of the flows since
mid-20th century, it affects the societies, no matter sending,
receiving or transit. Besides, it presents challenges such as
integration, discrimination, exploitation and human rights issues. It
is through the media that we learn most of what we know or believe we
know about world affairs and politics, not through personal
experience or contact. Immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees are often
represented as victims or as a threat to the security of longer
established populations: They are systematically portrayed as victims
to be helped in their countries of origins or perpetrators of crime
when they cross EU border. Very seldom they appear as actors of
positive social change and development.

Humanitarian agencies, public movements, and community organizations
are among the socio-cultural institutions that spearhead new
political action and representation. Their visual and spatial
iterations influence policies, practices and discourses of
development and security. Media, imagery, and material culture
underpin their systems of knowledge production and reception.
Humanitarian discourse and action has become an integral part of the
efforts dealing with suffering and further needs of immigrants.
Reasons that motive the intervention to a particular issue related to
migration may range from philanthropic to political ones. Besides the
motives, intervening actors are consists global networks in terms of
both institutional organizations such as funding, collaboration etc.
and policies and politics that are pursued.

In the context of global networks of corporations, this meeting will
limit the topic to Mediterranean region. The aim is to bring together
researchers and practitioners working on the intersection of
migration and humanitarian issues. Focusing on instrumentalisation of
humanitarian aid and imaginary, the conference aims to uncover how
media and inter(national) actors are communicating with migration
issue in frame of humanitarian purposes.

We invite submissions that innovatively and critically approach one
or any combination of following questions: How the geography of
politics of humanitarian aid is being shaped? What are the aesthetic,
ethics, and political challenges of the humanitarian imaginary? What
kind of relationship is there between migration management rhetoric
and political practices of humanitarian intervention in the field of
Mediterranean migration?

To this end, we call for papers, from any discipline, methodology, or
a combination of them that address the conference themes listed
below, including, but not limited to:

- Humanitarian discourse / intervention
- Migrants’ (in)visibility / voices
- Representation
- Diversity
- Human rights discourse
- Imaginaries and communication
- Politics of helping the “other”
- Mapping the political geography of humanitarian aid
- Relationship between migration and development
- International corporation
- Global inequality

Venue:
Ege University, Izmir/ Turkey

Organizers:
Pierluigi Musaró, Department of Sociology and Business Law,
University of Bologna, Italy
Lülüfer Körükmez, Department of Sociology, Ege University, Turkey
İlkay Südaş Department of Geography, Ege University, Turkey

Abstract submission:
Please submit abstracts by email to
[email protected]
Abstracts should include a title, your contact details (name,
affiliation, mailing address, email) and description of your
conference paper (250-400 words)

Important dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: March, 1st 2014
Notification of Acceptance: March, 15th 2014
Conference date: May 21st - 22nd, 2014

Publication plans:
Co-organizers are planning to develop a special issue of an academic
journal or a book based on the themes of this conference. To this
end, conference committee will participants to submit their
unpublished full paper by June 30, 2014.


Contact:

Lülüfer Körükmez
Department of Sociology
Ege University
Bornova - Izmir
Turkey
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://sosyoloji.ege.edu.tr/duyurular/4