Representing Refugees – Telling the Story of Migrants Coming to Europe

The stories of people on the move are often told through dispatches from reporters who drop in periodically to cover the “migrant and refugee crisis,” thereby privileging an outside perspective. People on the move are frequently nameless and dehumanized, deepening the rift between them and the local population, creating an atmosphere of alienation, antipathy, and, too often, violence.

This event begins with a presentation by David Campbell discussing research on the politics of refugee representations. It then showcases a project that mitigates this fragmented and distorted narrative by providing migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina with basic media training and a portal, “Dispatches in Exile,” through which to publish their reports and tell their stories directly.

The “Dispatches in Exile” project is led by VII Academy curator Ziyah Gafic and produced in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Ziyah will discuss how this project was created, its purpose, and its impact.