Humanising narratives around migration

Xenophobic attitudes and racialised portrayals of people who migrate are the dominant narratives in our contemporary media and political landscapes. Migrants are often the first to be targeted and scapegoated by politicians for political reasons. Structural and everyday racism, discrimination and hate speech harm individuals as well as entire communities. At the same time, those who are most affected often have the least power including access to public platforms to effectively challenge them.

The MIDEQ Hub, with PositiveNegatives, has sought to bridge the gap between academia and the broader public, fostering a more informed and empathetic understanding of migration through five animations that humanise migration experiences; The Story of Migration, Covid Chronicles, The Boy with More?, Unstoppable Beat and Our Story of Migration. 

This MIDEQ / PositiveNegatives event held at RichMix in London explored how artists and advocacy can help shape new narratives around migration; narratives that have been co-produced by people who have migrated and researchers from the Global South. Framing a panel discussion around two animated films, the event explored the artistic and collaborative approaches that challenge anti-migrant narratives.

Chair:

Prof Heaven Crawley | Director of MIDEQ

Panellists:

Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix | Director of PositiveNegatives

Karrie Fransman | Creative Director, PositiveNegatives

Nazek Ramadan | Director, Migrant Voice

Dr Gameli Tordzo | University of Glasgow

Lara Deffense | Producer, Refugee Week UK Coordinator, Counterpoints Arts

About the organisers

The Migration for Equality and Development (MIDEQ) Hub works to advance the understanding and conceptualisation of South-South migration and inequalities and to improve outcomes for migrants and their families. Collectively, they have sought to use opportunities where they exist – and to create space where they do not – to challenge xenophobia and racialised portrayals of South-South migration through humanising migration and migrants.

PositiveNegatives is a non-profit creative research organisation based at SOAS University of London and has been one of the main creative partners of MIDEQ through the duration of the Hub. PositiveNegatives work collaboratively with research teams to develop engaging and impactful comics, animations and educational resources to reach new audiences and help build a creative legacy from the research findings.