Speaker
Description
I critically examines the role of short-video formats—such as Instagram Reels and TikTok videos—in shaping the visual narratives of migration and their implications for public geographies(Lake 2024; Torre 2023). Drawing on theoretical insights and empirical findings from a film-based research project with West African migrants, the study explores how audiovisual media can foster new spaces for visibility and public debate. Short-video formats, often characterized by emotional and highly affective content, serve as low-barrier tools to counteract dominant narratives of dehumanization, xenophobia, and epistemic violence. However, the visibility these formats provide is double-edged (Bayramoğlu 2023; Clark 2024; Radojevic et al. 2020).
This research interrogates how the mediatized visibility regimes embedded in short-video platforms produce typological and stereotypical representations, shaping both empathy and suspicion among viewers. It argues that "doing film geography" with short-video formats provides an important methodological tool for understanding and critiquing these visibility regimes. By situating individual migrant stories within broader visual cultures, the study calls for a reflective and ethically sensitive approach to visual media, emphasizing the need to dismantle the logics of commodified visibility while fostering nuanced, inclusive narratives that move beyond the reductive figure of "the migrant."
| Presenting author | Paul Hummel |
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