The Migration, Media and Intercultural Dialogue Conference marked the coming together of UNU-GCM’s work within its first research programme of the same name. It began on the 25th November with an address from Mr Joaquim Llimona, Director of International Relations and Cooperation at Barcelona City Hall and a Keynote Presentation on ‘The Mediterranean and migration modernities by Prof Iain Chambers. These reflections set the scene for the rest of the event, at which a diverse range of scholars presented and debated their ongoing work in the area. The first day saw particularly an examination of how new, as well as older, forms of media affect experiences of migration. It also began to examine and critique the notion of multiculturalism in its application to migration and to various forms of intercultural dialogue.
The second day opened with another challenging Keynote presentation, this time by Prof Kevin Robins, who criticized objectifying accounts of how migrants consume and are represented in media. This lead into a session examining the effects of societal pressures on intercultural dialogue. The afternoon was spent in a series of panels focusing on the role of media producers and media consumers in developing intercultural dialogue. The conference closed by the debut screening of a film that UNU-GCM had produced, to examine intercultural dialogue through music. This film, Three Violins, was followed by a question and answer session with the production team of the film, which will soon be available through UNU-GCM’s youtube channel.