Superdiversity, Media and Diaspora Public Spheres
A symposium funded by the Cultural Research Network
Held at the Centre for Cultural Research, UWS, March 19-20, 2007
Farid Farid
The tumultuous events of September 11, 2001, while clearly a landmark date in terms of Islamic and Arabic images circulating in the Western media, opened new relationships between West and East in terms multiple truths and actualities of the Middle East in media coverage. Some images, to be certain, were drawn from old colonial caricatures, but more intense media coverage on the religious identities and motives of the actors has opened a window on some of the complexity and many dimensions of Islamic and Middle-Eastern diasporic groups living in the West.
With this focus as an overarching theme, Associate Professor Greg Noble under the auspices of the Cultural Research Network convened a two-day symposium entitled “Superdiversity, Media and Diasporic Public Spheres” that brought together a select group of 22 international and Australian scholars with research interests in exploring the relations between cultural diversity and media in the complex communities of the twenty-first century. Focusing on current research into transnationalism and the formation of diasporic public spheres, the symposium aimed to foster research connections, share research data and set future research agendas. International guests included John Eade (RoehamptonUniversity), Adel Iskandar (University of Texas – Austin), Ben O’Loughlin (University of London) and Pnina Werbner (KeeleUniversity).
The two days involved a number of papers given by the international guests plus several local scholars (Michael Humphrey, Fethi Mansouri and Zlatko Skrbis) followed by responses from other participants and extended discussions of themes, and points connection and difference.
As theoretical concepts to explore forms of mobility and migration, diaspora and transnationalism have currently gained much importance in social and cultural studies. Theses concepts have undergone a crucial re-conceptualisation during the last decades by various (inter)disciplinary inflections. However, the increasing use of the terms in academic discourse bears also confusion about their epistemological usefulness. To capture such nuances on the first day of panel discussions, Superdiversity as coined by Steven Vertovec was introduced as a possible term to engage with in the symposium. Quickly, it became apparent that semantics and semiotic applicability of such terms were contingent upon the cultural and political realities of which subject positions were put forward. This was combined with a discussion of the limiting scope of multicultural policies and practices of Western governments and how they interacted with regimes of policing and hyper-surveillance of suspicious bodies post-September 11 and other moral panics. Mediascapes and their influences in the construction of heterogenous diaporica identities was the focus point of engagement for the next day where sessions included discussions of diasporic public spheres in the UK and Arab configurations of feelings of estrangement in Canada.
A common theme across dialogues was the recognition of media powerwithin the present political landscape saturated with orientalist messages of internal and external wars of cultural and religious hegemony. The power tomediate knowledge and meaning, to shape imaginaries and provide authoritativeframes for affect and opinion, especially within the centres and the sites of influenceof capitalist global flows, became a critical point on which to end lively debates about the ethical relevance of cultural studies and future processes of practical engagements beyond theoretical overtures. The two days of symposium, and a seminar presentation by Eade, O’Loughlin and Werbner the following day, set the scene for discussions around potential research collaborations over the next few years.