ECREA Diaspora Migration and the Media section together with ECREA International and Intercultural Communication section invite you to our conference:

Transnational families and media practices: methods, ethics and critical approaches

Venue: Central Rotterdam Library, Netherlands

7 – 9 December 2023

Hosted by the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication and the Department of Media and Communication

Transnational families, through their ability to cross borders, connect cultures, expand the meanings and limits of national belonging, and negotiate the cultural, linguistic and psychological challenges of migration, have become exemplary models of “mobile lives” (Elliott and Urry, 2010). Transnational families offer insights into the contradictions and complexities of interculturality (Dervin, 2017) as a lived reality permeating more and less intimate interpersonal experiences. The centrality of transnational family communication in today’s world is enhanced by everyday digital media usage, the ubiquity of portable devices and the new technical affordances of platforms and apps. Transnational families therefore help us apprehend historical transformations connected to mediated experiences of crossing borders and interculturality.

While the attention of scholars has intensified around how transnational families both shape and are shaped by the (urban) spaces they leave and enter, we contend that more attention needs to be paid to the methodological and ethical challenges researchers face when studying transnational families and communities. This conference provides an opportunity for scholars to discuss the assumptions underpinning their research and to share critical reflections on the ethical responsibilities that researchers have when observing transnational families and communities, including through digital platforms and their connection with mobility processes in and through cities. 

Confirmed keynote speakers:

Professor Myria Georgiou (The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK): “Challenging the migration paradigm? Thinking through transnational digital lives, not states of exception”

Associate Professor Amanda Paz Alencar (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands): “Working with transnational families and communities: potential, challenges and future directions of digital participatory research”

Top young scholar award and Top post-PhD scholar award:

If you would like to be considered for one of the ECREA DMM-IIC paper awards, please kindly submit your full paper to ecreadmmicc@gmail.com by November 15 clearly indicating for which award you want to be considered (top young scholar award or top post-PhD scholar award). Our only guideline is that the paper is 7000-8000 word long, all reference systems are accepted. Submitted papers will only be considered for the paper award. There is no need to submit full papers if you would not like to be considered for the paper award. This year, the awards are both sponsored by Sage.

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