"While much research on Arab and Muslim diasporas in the West focuses on the War(s) on Terror, in this article, we explore how two particular diasporic groups, Egyptian and Saudi activists, work to shape public perceptions of the authoritarian regimes in their countries of origin. Contextualizing th
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e efforts of these activists in the post-Arab Spring political and mediated environments, we investigate how these political exiles employ communication to disrupt, expose and resist the resurgent authoritarianism taking root in their countries of origin. Using a comparative framework, we analyse the discourse of two prominent activists, Mohamed Ali and Omar Abdelaziz, to illustrate the larger dynamics of online cyberactivism amongst these diasporic groups. Critically, we argue, the differences in these two activists’ communicative practices demonstrate how ostensibly similar resistance movements may lead to disparate political outcomes, as their calls for change diverge when it comes to issues of reform versus revolution. In doing so, we seek to complicate overly simplistic understandings of Arab anti-authoritarian resistance taking place online in the post-Arab Spring era." (Abstract)
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"This paper provides an overview of the communication practices that UN agencies working on the migration response in Italy have adopted in their work with newly arrived unaccompanied migrant children. These include IOM, UNICEF and UNHCR. The aim is to present the different objectives and methodolog
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ies of each agency s intervention under an overall framework. This is built both around the agencies respective areas of technical expertise and their commitment towards the principles expounded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which are applied here in the context of refugee and migrant foreign minors. Recommendations on how to strengthen these practices are offered." (Abstract)
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"This Information Ecosystem Assessment includes the thoughts and opinions of 48 migrant community leaders and migrant workers in Thailand. The information was collected through a series of qualitative and quantitative techniques, using remote data collection methodologies to ensure the safety of par
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ticipants and researchers and compliance with global and Thai specific restrictions on movement and gathering. Key findings: Information on labor rights and immigration status is not widely available and contributes to increased anxiety, and exploitation of migrants by employers. Risk communication during the pandemic readily conveys how to prevent spread and how to identify symptoms, but most migrants are more concerned about the economic impact of the crisis, and the impact on their legal work and immigration status. Migrants with a low comprehension of Thai language are dependent on community leaders, NGOs and secondhand information delivered through informal networks. Migrants called for government and media to share more information relevant to them in their primary language or to use more simplified Thai terminology when sharing health information and explaining government restrictions in relation to COVID-19." (Executive summary)
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"This book presents the main findings of an empirical exploration of media discourses on social representations of "otherness" in seven European countries. It focuses on the analysis of press discourses produced over a fifteen-year period (2000-2015) on three contemporary figures of otherness that c
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hallenge the identity of European societies, question the attitudes towards diversity, and pose significant challenges for policy-makers: immigration, Islam, and LGBT. The book provides a comprehensive and articulate map of how national media addresses such themes from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives, revealing patterns of continuity and discontinuity across time and space. Lastly, it discusses these patterns in the light of their cultural meanings and their influence on social and political collective behaviours." (Publisher description)
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"In recognition of the need to improve the media’s practitioner's to report on migration issues, this guide aims to be a resource for journalists to run interactive workshops, principally aimed at other journalists reporting on migration. The training will give participants an understanding of the
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regional and international context of migration, explain the terminology of migration, consider existing media coverage of migration, especially its ethical aspects. The guide also seeks to dispel key commonly held myths on migration, and present a primer on the international legal framework governing migration. The guide comprehensively covers all aspects needed to be considered by a journalist, from course content and practical exercises, best practices in pedagogy, as well as to such practical issues such as the selection of candidates, venues and equipment needed." (Abstract)
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"Alain Nana Ketcha nous entraîne à travers une démarche empirique auprès d’immigrés subsahariens et de leurs descendants en banlieue parisienne, impliqués dans un processus transculturel de construction de soi. Ces derniers témoignent d’une tendance des médias à renvoyer une image plut
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t négative de l’immigré, peu favorable à une sereine intégration ou émancipation. Bien qu’Internet semble offrir une certaine alternative, on remarque toutefois que les médias de masse restent au centre de leurs préoccupations inspirant très souvent méfi ance et défi ance. L’auteur met en lumière les sentiments profonds de ses interlocuteurs à travers des récits de vie qui interpellent la société et les médias de masse sur la nécessaire prise en compte du mouvement des identités dans un monde en grande mutation." (Dos de couverture)
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"Cette étude porte, à partir du cas camerounais, sur un nouveau phénomène social de migration statutaire, apparu en Afrique, dans le cadre de la mondialisation que nous appelons la cybermigration maritale. Cette modalité contemporaine de mobilité met en relation des personnes exclues ou auto e
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xclues du marché matrimonial « normal » de leur pays. Au Cameroun, elle concerne principalement des jeunes femmes en quête de statut social. Ces dernières s’auto excluent du marché matrimonial national, en dévalorisant les époux camerounais potentiels, et jettent leur dévolu sur le « Blanc ». Ce dernier est perçu comme un Occidental, figure du mari idéal, qui confère un meilleur statut et permet à la jeune femme de venir en aide aux proches restés au pays. En France, par contre, la cybermigration implique des personnes du troisième âge, exclues du marché matrimonial normal, qui cherchent en Afrique une épouse. Toutefois, la relation au « Blanc » est ambiguë car la quête cache parfois d’autres ambitions et peut aboutir à des mauvaises surprises. Etant donnée la complexité du phénomène, ce travail se concentre principalement sur la situation des jeunes camerounaises. L’expression, «chercher son blanc » pour ces jeunes femmes camerounaises, justifie cette cybermigration maritale. Un enjeu essentiel de cette étude est de sortir des sentiers battus qui ne perçoivent les migrations féminines que sous le prisme de la pauvreté et de la misère. L’utilisation des TIC par les Camerounaises s’inscrit dans le contexte de la modernité. En Afrique Centrale, le Cameroun est l’un des pays où la cybermigration maritale apparaît comme un phénomène de société. Dans ce pays d’Afrique Centrale, la cybermigration maritale apparaît comme une nouvelle mobilité de jeunes femmes camerounaises en quête de statut social et qui utilisent Internet dans l’optique de tisser des liens, se marier et pouvoir émigrer sans trop de difficultés. C’est dans cette perspective que nous voulons analyser ce phénomène et ses implications au Cameroun où ces femmes ont inventé l’expression « chercher son blanc »." (Résumé)
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"Based on the findings of this report there are a number of recommendations for how stakeholders across the sector can play their part in bridging the mobile disability gap in refugee contexts. Stakeholders will be most effective if they are coordinated and base their actions on understanding the sp
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ecific barriers affecting refugees with disabilities. If services and technology are accessible for the most vulnerable then they become more inclusive for all users, meaning there is an impetus for both humanitarians and the private sector to look to making adaptations. As humanitarian programming often targets the most vulnerable members of affected communities, closing the mobile disability gap may enable humanitarians to digitize some of the most impactful services and prevent the digital exclusion of the communities they serve." (Conclusions and recommendations)
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"Bangladesh hosts about one million Rohingya Muslim refugees from Rakhine State of Myanmar, majority of them fled to the country following a deadly military crackdown on the community in response to Rohingya militant attacks on Myanmar security forces on August 25, 2017. The United Nations termed th
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e clampdown ‘genocidal’ and aimed at ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Rohingya. The violence against this beleaguered community and their forcible displacement to Bangladesh garnered global media attention and international outrage. Under intense global pressure Myanmar signed a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh for repatriation of Rohingya refugees, and later both countries also inked a deal with United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for the same purpose. Despite the deal and two attempts in November 2018 and August 2019, not a single Rohingya has been repatriated, largely due to reluctance of refugees for an “unconditional return” without a concrete guarantee of basic rights including citizenship and safety in Myanmar. While Bangladeshi officials and media at large continue to blame Myanmar for gross failure in creating conditions conducive for a return of Rohingya refugees, official and media position in Myanmar point finger to Bangladesh’s inefficiency in convincing Rohingya refugees for the return. Thus, this paper will present arguments to show connection and similarities of state policies and media agenda on the issue of Rohingya refugee repatriation by analyzing various discourses and examining contents of media in Bangladesh and Myanmar. This research is likely to be more interpretative than statistics, figures and numeric." (Abstract)
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"This special issue includes seven studies that provide novel insights into the relationship between media and migration, both from a theoretical and empirical point of view. The articles cover both strands of literature discussed above and thus deal with the coverage of migration and migrants, as w
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ell as the effects of such coverage." (Page 696)
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"Alena Strohmaier diskutiert in diesem Open-Access-Buch die komplexen Konfigurationen von Diaspora, deren soziopolitische und kulturelle Aspekte und unternimmt eine theoretische Dimensionierung des Begriffs, indem sie diesen als sowohl räumliche als auch filmische Kategorie versteht. Als Bindeglied
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zwischen den beiden Theorietraditionen dient ihr dabei die Kategorie des Raums, die als ästhetische Kategorie gleichermaßen konstitutiv für filmische Artefakte ist, wie sie es als sozialgeografische für die Diaspora ist. Die Autorin zeigt am Beispiel des zeitgenössischen iranischen Diasporafilms, wie die Theorie des Films mit dem Konzept der Diaspora jenseits essentialistischer Vorstellungen von ethnischen, kulturellen oder religiösen Zugehörigkeiten zusammenzudenken ist." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This book examines the dynamic interplay between media representations of migrants and refugees on the one hand and the governmental and societal (re)actions to these on the other. Largely focusing on Belgium and Sweden, this collection of interdisciplinary research essays attempts to unravel the d
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eterminants of people’s preferences regarding migration policy, expectations towards newcomers, and economic, humanitarian and cultural concerns about immigration’s effect on the majority population’s life. Whilst migrants and refugees remain voiceless and highly underrepresented in the legacy media, this volume allows their voices to be heard." (Publisher description)
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