Here We Are
Reflections on Remembered Space: The Art of Having Political Agency Within The Community
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session David Sinfield
This paper is concerned with workers’ stories and the typographical poetics of the eroding forces of time, materiality and the elements. The rationale for the study lies in a concern with art having political agency when it operates and is exhibited inside the communities of people whose lives are being interpreted. In such instances, the day-to-day community becomes the context of the artworks in preference to the arguably rarefied white walls of the art gallery. Sharp (2007), defines this approach to art generation and exhibition as ‘new genre public art’ arguing that it can operate as a means of ‘connecting’ a community. He suggests this is because it is a more participatory form of public art practice, wherein artists move to “engage with communities and existing social struggles, to develop collaboration and dialogue with residents” (p. 275). This paper will also consider the content of recorded interviews and the communication of the spoken word, moving image and typography, site recordings and the memories of what a place could be, to create a new form of audiovisual portraiture. These elements will work in synergy to form a collection of short film poems expressing the visual content to create portraits of the striking workers who worked in the now abandoned cool stores and freezing works at Patea, in Taranaki, New Zealand.
Between Home and Host Cultures: Facebook as a Third Space
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lin Malone
Transient migration has become increasingly commonplace, especially with higher education that sees large numbers of students travelling overseas to study each year. During this period, the students’ time and space is split between home countries and countries of study, and their use of internet and communication technologies (ICTs) enables co-presence across distance. Theoretically, social media sites serve as an ideal medium for these students to maintain past relationships and form new ones. However, in all actuality, the links between social media and integration are not so simple, especially considering how often international students struggle with integrating into their host societies. This research study examines the relationship between social media use and the integration and social inclusion of international students in Finland. Focusing on Bhabha’s work on hybridity (1994), this paper positions Facebook to represent a Third Space where multiple cultures intersect. It then draws on Berry’s (1997) theory of acculturation and its critiques, as well as Gomes’ work on “home-based” and “identity-based” networks (2014; 2015) to study how Facebook plays both social and functional roles in the acculturation of international students, as they transition from home to host culture. Through a visual internet ethnographic study of Facebook profiles and interviews with international students, this study investigates how these transitions are mediated through the social networking site of Facebook and located within the digital identities constructed on the students’ individual profile pages.
A Discourse Analysis of Syrian Refugee Representations in Canadian News Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Pamela Aimee Rigor
This study explores the media representation of Syrian refugees and the media discourse surrounding their resettlement in Vancouver, Canada. It examines news articles in local community and major Vancouver newspapers published from September 2015 to October 2017. Using a combination of content and discourse analysis, it aims to uncover how these newspapers covered the arrival and resettlement of Syrian refugees in the country. The articles were analyzed and sorted into themes using the qualitative data analysis software, Nvivo 12. Based on the findings, the media discourse of Canada being a humanitarian country, as well as the idea of Syrian refugees having to publicly announce how grateful they are, is still present in the community newspapers. This seems to be done to counter the hateful narratives of citizens who might view them as abusing help and services provided by the community and government. However, compared to major newspapers, these community newspapers are very inclusive of refugee voices. Many articles interview Syrian refugees to share their personal stories of plight, survival, and starting a “new life” in Canada. These community newspapers, even though their representations are far from perfect, do address some aspects of the refugee resettlement issue and respond to their community’s needs. This study promotes awareness of how these individuals are represented in the media so we can, in turn, be aware the stereotypes present and the ideologies being perpetuated, and its implications on refugee laws and public response to the issue.
