Symposium explores social challenges, facing migrants and refugees, and issues of their media representation

By Costa Maragos Posted: March 20, 2018 4:00 p.m.

The International Symposium on (Im)migration, Emigration, and Refugees in Europe and Canada takes place March 21 at the U of R.
The International Symposium on (Im)migration, Emigration, and Refugees in Europe and Canada takes place March 21 at the U of R. Photo courtesy of MAP

The public is invited to hear about and share views, informed by scholarly research on immigration and refugees.

The International Symposium on (Im)migration, Emigration, and Refugees in Europe and Canada: Social Challenges and Issues of Representation, takes place Wednesday March 21 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at room 348 in the Administration Humanities Building.

The symposium features presentations of faculty members from Social Work, Education and Media, Art, and Performance, and of visiting professors from the U.S. and Romania.

Researchers will share their findings, related  to the local, national, and global impact of immigration and emigration on people’s identities, social adaptation, and media representation.

The U of R speakers include Dr. Judy White, Dean of the Faculty of Social Work; Dr. Daniel Kikulwe, Assistant Professor of Social Work; Dr. Christine Massing, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education; Needal Ghadi, PhD Candidate in Education, and Dr. Christina Stojanova, Associate Professor in the Department of Film in the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance (MAP), and symposium organizer.

Christina Stoyanova
Christina Stojanova, Associate Professor in the Department of Film, and symposium organizer.
The symposium also features visiting researchers Dr. Linda Badley, Media and Film Professor, Emerita, from Middle Tennesse University and Dr. Doru Pop, Professor, Theatre and Television at Babes-Bolyai University in Romania.

The topics broadly range from issues of migrant women’s identities, the hopes and fears of newcomers in Regina, the complexities of newcomers’ access to childcare and education, to aspects of representation of emigration and immigration in Eastern and Western European cinema.

“This symposium reflects, in a nut shell, the growing interest of scholars worldwide to what Arjun Appadurai calls ‘global cultural flows’ and the participation of such media scholars of international renown as Dr. Badley and Dr. Pop is the most eloquent proof of this,” says Stojanova.

The symposium was designed as part of Stojanova’s research program on representation of immigrants, emigrants, and refugees to and from Eastern and Central Europe after Brexit.

“The symposium focusses on ‘ethno’ and ‘media’ scapes, the study of which has acquired a particular urgency over the last decade or so as a result of the new media boom and the exponentially increasing number of migrants and refugees across the globe,” says Stojanova.

This event is supported by the U of R President’s Conference Fund, Humanities Research Institute Fellowship Grant, MAP Dean’s Office, and the Department of Film.

The visiting scholars will also present lectures on other topics, related to their research. Both lectures are open to the public.

Dr. Linda Badley presents Performing Depression: Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac on Thursday March 22 at 4:30 p.m. at the Education Auditorium 106.2.

In addition to his lecture Non-cinematic Experiences in Recent Romanian Filmmaking, delivered within the framework of the MAP Lecture Series (Friday, March 23 at 3:30 p.m. Ed 113), Dr. Doru Pop will speak at the opening of the Festival of New Romanian Cinema, held at the Regina Public Library on Friday March 23 at 7:00 p.m. The festival features movies twice a day until the evening of Sunday, March 25.

Event:    (Im)migration, Emigration, and Refugees in Europe and Canada
Date:      Wednesday, March 21
Time:      1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Reception to follow
Location: Room AH 348 – Administration and Humanities Building

This event is free and open to the public. Parking for the Symposium attendees is reserved in LOT 14. The meters accept $1 and $2 coins for up to 10 hours