On Thursday, 2 November, Dr. Roza Tsagarousianou (Communication and Media Research Institute - CAMRI - University of Westminster) delivered the opening lecture to students of the MA in International Studies in Media, Power and Difference. The lecture, which takes place annually, welcomes new scholars to the programme and centers on topics of interest to their studies. This year the title of the lecture was “From Caring to Disciplining: the refugee as the subject of biopolitical power.”

Dr. Tsagarousianou detailed her ethnographic studies on the Greek island of Lesvos, which was premised on a series of interviews and conversations with 50 refugees, officials and local residents as well as observation over a month and a half. Her research centered on two objectives: first, to compare the image and narrative of refugees as represented in the media to their lived realities; and second, to compare the refugees’ self-image to that which is publicly constructed. Her research also revealed acts of resistance expressed by refugees, namely by means of statements written on walls and buildings of the camp. Her presentation explored topics of humanitarianism, governmental infrastructure and biopolitical power - in discourse and in practice - and its relevance as Europe continues to negotiate human rights and security management feels more powerful than ever.

The research interests of citizenship, identity, diasporas, migrant cultures, transnational Islam and Muslim communities are a focus of Dr. Tasgarousianou, whose new book The securitization Islam in Europe: Public Debate, Policy, Identity and Citizenship will be published in January 2018. Thank you Dr. Tsagarousianou for joining us!