“What is going on in the world?” Telling migration in the first person

When we talk about migration, migrants often appear only as the subject of our discussions, always from our point of view or with “their” words as an illustration for “our” arguments.  

In recent years, however, various publications have given voice to the migrant experience: at the international level, the books by Boochani and Goumãňęh stand out, and in Spain, those by Bah and Balde. These works aim not only to record their experience but also to question the main narratives on migration, refuge, the border and the other.  

In this new edition of the “What is going on in the world?” series of conferences, we will reflect on the importance of turning our gaze and making the “other” part of the “us”. All of this from a broad perspective that goes beyond the instantaneousness of the media; that includes a critical view and the subjectivity of those who experience it first-hand; and that can include from the smallest thing to the largest. 

We will do so with Ibrahim Bah, author of the book Tres días en la arena, and Agus Morales, journalist and Director of Revista 5W, introduced by Blanca Garcés, Senior Research Fellow at CIDOB and Coordinator of the BRIDGES project, and moderated by Irene Praga, Pre-doctoral Researcher at Birkbeck University. 

>> The session will be streamed live at CIDOB’s YouTube channel.

^{This conversation is part of the European research project BRIDGES ("Assessing the production and impact of Migration narratives"). The starting point of the project is that media, social and political interpretations of the phenomenon of migration determine responses much more than facts themselves. From this point of view, BRIDGES analyses the causes and consequences of migration narratives in a context of increasing politicisation and polarisation.}

^{This activity has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101004564.} 

^{This activity reflects the views of the author. The European Commission and the European Research Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.}