Media representations, narratives and visual aesthetics of climate (im)mobilities
ECMN workstream
WorkStream
This workstream brings together ECMN members interested in the representational politics and narratives of climate mobilities. In particular, we are concerned about the impact that media narratives have and how it might be possible to move beyond the persistent sensationalist and inaccurate portrayals of a world where climate change and mass migration are inevitably linked and something to be feared. When climate change-induced mobilities are mediated in this way, what is often highlighted is the issue of security, rather than the need to reduce social inequality or vulnerability. As a group, we hope to focus our efforts on a) analysing media representations, narratives and visual aesthetics, and b) contributing in different ways to media coverage and social imaginaries on the topic.
Aims of the workstream:
- To create a space for discussion, collaboration on publications, panels, or other events, and reflecting on the scholarship to date;
- To consider how visual aesthetics and narratives have been used to frame climate related (im)mobilities, and with what consequences;
- To share works-in-progress for exchange and feedback, and more broadly to develop an interdisciplinary methodology for analysing media and narrative representations;
- To develop an image database of relevant and unproblematic imagery that could be used for illustrating any publications on climate mobilities;
- To develop a database of contacts in the media industry who are interested in this topic;
- To hold events with journalists and media workers to discuss the question representation and to learn from them about what editorial pressures they might come under to, for example, use dramatic statistics or lead with sensationalist storytelling;
- To reflect on what role visual aesthetics and counter-narratives could play in re-narrating the relationship between climate change and human mobility beyond its conventional vocabularies of security, humanitarian crisis and liberal modes of adaptation.
Join us!
This is an inclusive and democratic workstream and we are very keen to have anyone on board who is invested in the topic, whatever their disciplinary or professional background.
Please complete this form if you are interested in joining the activities of the network and attending one of our more-or-less monthly meetings: https://forms.gle/gLb4FkGDt8yWjaHU9
You won’t receive too many emails from us.
For any general queries, you can also write to the convenors:
Sophia Brown (Freie Universität Berlin) sophia.brown@fu-berlin.de
David Durand-Delacre (UNU-EHS) durand-delacre@ehs.unu.edu
Elena Giacomelli (University of Bologna) elena.giacomelli4@unibo.it
Upcoming events & announcements from members and partners
CfP - Special Issue - A Critical Climate (Im)mobilities Glossary
Submissions open until 30 June 2025
Members of the workstream are guest editing a special issue in Climate & Development, and are looking forward to your submissions. The idea behind the glossary is to politically re-signify the words of climate migration through different lenses, diversifying the theories, frames, and assumptions typically applied to the topic of climate (im)mobilities.
CfP - Conference - Hostile Environments and Hospitable Praxes: Literary and Cultural Responses to Racial and Migratory Politics
Submissions open until 28 February 2025
This conference will be held at the University of Kent, UK, on 23-24 June 2025, bringing diverse people together to engage with the topic of the Hostile Environment in the UK, and further afield, and to consider the relationship that present-day migration politics has with the history and legacies of empire.
CfP - Conference - Reimagining Climate (Im)mobilities in the Panicocene
Submissions open until 1 January 2025
Join this conference at Durham University, UK on 8-9 May 2025. The organisers welcome 15-minute paper submissions contributing to their central concern, to reanimate the question of framing by exploring what a methodological focus on visual aesthetics and narratives adds to the already expansive critical debate around climate change and human mobility.
Past events & announcements
Journalism Workshops on Myths, Narratives, and Visualisation
Online, 10-12 December 2025
A series of three expert-led sessions to help investigative journalists ethically cover climate migration, learning about relevant laws, debunking common myths, and gaining skills for effective reporting to present their findings clearly and compellingly. Speakers included researchers, journalists and photographers. Hosted by award-winning journalist Ismail Einashe.
Workshop - Media, Culture and Climate Migration
Held on 11 July 2024
Organised as part of the ECMN24 conference, this interactive workshop offered a hands-on way to explore media and cultural representations of climate migration using a guided collective collage method.
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