Faculty of Political Sciences, Communication and Sociology
Organisers: Samuel Bennett, Sofia Lampropoulou, Franco Zappettini
CDS literature has long scrutinised how migration is discursively constructed and to what societal effect. Research foci have extensively ranged from discrimination and racialisation to the increasing politicization and mediatization of moral panic and resentment towards migrant groups or individuals (van Dijk, Wodak, Krzyzanowski). These different strands of scholarship have provided extremely valuable insights into the discourses of top-down, institutional actors (e.g. government, politicians and mass media) but have focused only to a lesser degree on bottom-up perspectives whether by the civil society, advocate organisations (Lampropoulou, Giaxoglou and Johnson. 2024), or by people with lived experience of migration (Krzyzanowski and Wodak 2010; Bennett 2015). In their close attention to top-down exclusion and racism, then, in some respects at least the predominant research streams in CDS seem to have inadvertently excluded migrant voices and/ or have opted to advocate on their behalf. Moreover, the exclusive attention to dominance and power within CDS has resulted in the neglect of voices of resistance resulting in CDS failing to engage with the very communities, such as migrant communities it seeks to advocate for.
As worldwide migratory patterns increase – sustained by economic, social, and environmental pushes – and migration (management) continues to be a highly mobilised topic in public discourses, issues of (political) representation and (lack of) migrants’ agency remain key concerns warranting close scrutiny of the interplay between discourses and social hierarchies. This one-day workshop aims to broaden understanding of migration in discourse with two distinct aims that address gaps in previous research:
1) To offer bottom-up perspectives and highlight discursive affordances for migrant voices and narratives (Hymes, 1996) of their situated subjectivity to be heard, departing from mainstream top-down approaches in CDS.
2) To account for exclusion dynamics and power asymmetries between actors engendered by and reflected in discursive practices on migration.
Methodologically we privilege affective and ethnographic approaches to discourse, welcoming interdisciplinary contributions (including from the civil society and outside academia) that take a critical perspective to the issues outlined above.
Rather than focusing on one single geographical context, we try to capture the overarching dynamics of different transnational and transcultural realities of migration including but not limited to the effect of diasporas on migrants’ political awareness and the political mobilisation of their social capital, the racialisation and/ or bordering practices in representations of migration mobility, the (mediated) lived experiences of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
The workshop aims to bring together scholars working on the issues outlined above. We welcome all contributions, including working papers. If you would like to join us please send a 300-word abstract to franco.zappettini@uniroma1.it by 20th September.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Migrants’ voices in discourse: bottom-up perspectives on migration
Workshop
Faculty of Political Sciences, Communication and Sociology
La Sapienza University in Rome, 4th November 2025
Organisers: Samuel Bennett, Sofia Lampropoulou, Franco Zappettini
CDS literature has long scrutinised how migration is discursively constructed and to what societal effect. Research foci have extensively ranged from discrimination and racialisation to the increasing politicization and mediatization of moral panic and resentment towards migrant groups or individuals (van Dijk, Wodak, Krzyzanowski). These different strands of scholarship have provided extremely valuable insights into the discourses of top-down, institutional actors (e.g. government, politicians and mass media) but have focused only to a lesser degree on bottom-up perspectives whether by the civil society, advocate organisations (Lampropoulou, Giaxoglou and Johnson. 2024), or by people with lived experience of migration (Krzyzanowski and Wodak 2010; Bennett 2015). In their close attention to top-down exclusion and racism, then, in some respects at least the predominant research streams in CDS seem to have inadvertently excluded migrant voices and/ or have opted to advocate on their behalf. Moreover, the exclusive attention to dominance and power within CDS has resulted in the neglect of voices of resistance resulting in CDS failing to engage with the very communities, such as migrant communities it seeks to advocate for.
As worldwide migratory patterns increase – sustained by economic, social, and environmental pushes – and migration (management) continues to be a highly mobilised topic in public discourses, issues of (political) representation and (lack of) migrants’ agency remain key concerns warranting close scrutiny of the interplay between discourses and social hierarchies. This one-day workshop aims to broaden understanding of migration in discourse with two distinct aims that address gaps in previous research:
1) To offer bottom-up perspectives and highlight discursive affordances for migrant voices and narratives (Hymes, 1996) of their situated subjectivity to be heard, departing from mainstream top-down approaches in CDS.
2) To account for exclusion dynamics and power asymmetries between actors engendered by and reflected in discursive practices on migration.
Methodologically we privilege affective and ethnographic approaches to discourse, welcoming interdisciplinary contributions (including from the civil society and outside academia) that take a critical perspective to the issues outlined above.
Rather than focusing on one single geographical context, we try to capture the overarching dynamics of different transnational and transcultural realities of migration including but not limited to the effect of diasporas on migrants’ political awareness and the political mobilisation of their social capital, the racialisation and/ or bordering practices in representations of migration mobility, the (mediated) lived experiences of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
The workshop aims to bring together scholars working on the issues outlined above. We welcome all contributions, including working papers. If you would like to join us please send a 300-word abstract to franco.zappettini@uniroma1.it by 20th September.