PROGRAMME NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
28-30 June, 2012
Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Because of the
disjunctive and unstable interplay of commerce, media, national policies, and
consumer fantasies, ethnicity, once a genie contained in the bottle of some
sort of locality (however large), has now become a global force, forever
slipping in and through the cracks between states and borders – Appadurai
1996, p. 41, Modernity at Large
Keynote speakers:
Shakuntala Banaji
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Kirsten Drotner
University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Radhika Gajjala
Bowling Green State University, USA
Eva Lam
University of Northwestern, USA
Lisa Nakamura
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
Liesbet van Zoonen
Loughborough University, UK and Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands
The rapid development of digital technologies has radically transformed
ways of keeping in touch with home cultures and diasporic networks. Moreover,
the notion of migration has undergone significant shifts, coming to signify
imaginaries on the move which are not necessarily linked to geographical
displacement. The aim of this conference is to address the relationship between
migration and digital technologies across national contexts and ethnic
belonging. Migrancy embeds many of the local and global paradoxes that also
pertain to digital media with their compression of space and time. However, the
link between the two fields is still under-theorized and in need of more
situated and comparative analysis. Drawing from approaches from the humanities
and social sciences (media theory, communication studies, learning sciences,
gender studies, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, migration and
transnational studies, among others), the primary aim of this conference is to
explore how the study of digitalization and migration challenges existing
notions of diaspora, identity, nation, family, learning, literacy, social
networks, youth, body, gender and ethnicity, asking for new approaches and a
rethinking of traditional social and cultural categories.
The conference will consider
the following questions, among others:
How has the development of new digital technologies changed the experience of migration? Conversely, how has the reality of migration impacted on the use, development and distribution of new media technologies? How does the use of media differ among different migrant generations? How does media literacy impact on issues of integration and socialization in a hosting country? What are the differences in media access, diffusion and use among different migrant communities across the world? How are race, gender, age, class, ethnicity and other markers of identity recodified online? How are transnational relationships and resources arrayed in networks? How do ideas and practices move across these networks? How is the notion of home or community, which is no longer locatable with a “here” and “there” reconceptualised through digital diasporas? How do these developments impact on the spaces for learning and education, which are no longer limited to place-based classrooms and curricula? How can learning processes and networks be conceptualised when these networks expand larger geographical distances, and multiple communities are crossed? What resources of identity do migrants draw on and how are these resources hybridized in practice, and related to their learning and socialization processes? In short, how are digital crossroads created, distributed and experienced in the context of migration, diaspora and transnationalism?
How has the development of new digital technologies changed the experience of migration? Conversely, how has the reality of migration impacted on the use, development and distribution of new media technologies? How does the use of media differ among different migrant generations? How does media literacy impact on issues of integration and socialization in a hosting country? What are the differences in media access, diffusion and use among different migrant communities across the world? How are race, gender, age, class, ethnicity and other markers of identity recodified online? How are transnational relationships and resources arrayed in networks? How do ideas and practices move across these networks? How is the notion of home or community, which is no longer locatable with a “here” and “there” reconceptualised through digital diasporas? How do these developments impact on the spaces for learning and education, which are no longer limited to place-based classrooms and curricula? How can learning processes and networks be conceptualised when these networks expand larger geographical distances, and multiple communities are crossed? What resources of identity do migrants draw on and how are these resources hybridized in practice, and related to their learning and socialization processes? In short, how are digital crossroads created, distributed and experienced in the context of migration, diaspora and transnationalism?
The conference comes at the end
of a five-year High Potential project, entitled “Wired Up: Digital media as
innovative socialization practices for migrant youth”, carried out by the
Faculty of Humanities (project leader Dr. Sandra Ponzanesi) and the Faculty of
Social Sciences (project leader Prof. Dr. Mariette de Haan) at Utrecht
University in collaboration with Vanderbilt University, USA (Dr. Kevin Leander,
Peabody College for Education). The project was funded by the Executive Board
of Utrecht University to stimulate interdisciplinary research. See http://www.uu.nl/wiredup.
Chair
Dr Sandra Ponzanesi
Coordinator
Fadi Hirzalla
Scientific committee
Prof Dr Mariette de Haan
Dr Kevin Leander
Conference committee
Dr Koen Leurs
Asli Unlusoy, Msc
Dr Lisa Schwartz
Dr Fleur Prinsen
Chair
Dr Sandra Ponzanesi
Coordinator
Fadi Hirzalla
Scientific committee
Prof Dr Mariette de Haan
Dr Kevin Leander
Conference committee
Dr Koen Leurs
Asli Unlusoy, Msc
Dr Lisa Schwartz
Dr Fleur Prinsen
