Ateneo - UPO

The migration issue has become, in EU, one of the main issue through which political identity is built. The migration issue brings to new ideological productions and re-shapes the conflict between broadcasting nationalism and networking globalism. The main goal of the course is that of interpreting the narratives on migration produced by our societies. By doing so, the course will investigate political consensus dynamics, media mechanisms and commercial needs and the role of ideologies. In the last classes we'll also study alternative narratives on migration produced by social movements, protest groups, the artistic and the grassroot social world. We'll dicuss the efficiency or unefficiency of these narratives i their need to subvert the dominant narratives who circulate in society.

All students should study the following book:
Pogliano Andrea, "Media, politica e migrazioni in Europa. Una prospettiva sociologica". Roma: Carocci, 2019.

The course's aim is to stimulate analytical reasoning about the contemporary media environment, the digital political communication, the role of storytelling and the articulation of the plot and specifically on characters (victims and perpetrators) in news media narratives, the role of news images and narrative strategies. All these tools will be analysed in order to better understand how power dynamics are played through the use of differences in storytelling processes. The students should be able to discuss all of this and also the role of public opinion within these processes.
In line with the educational objectives of the course, one of the aims of this module is to help students understand the use of the concept of culture and migrant cultures in public discourse and its impact on the issue of social cohesion (and integration) and discrimination. A specific aim of the course is to recognise culturalism in media and political discourses in the field of migration and to be able to read and interpret it in relation to both security and humanitarian narratives.

No preconditions are required to access this course.
There are no formal prerequisites for admission. However, it would be advisable for students to understand, before tackling the course, the specificity of a sociological view of migration and, in particular, the importance of the narratives produced in the public discourse (by media, politics and civil society). These narratives provide inescapable points of reference, a sort of cultural environment within which all practices of justification and consent to actions (including legislative ones) make sense or not. Narratives are therefore an essential part of the process of constructing social reality. On this point, useful readings are all those that have to do with the concept of ideology and discourse (from Karl Mannheim to Michael Foucault, from Stuart Hall to Edward Said).

The course will employ a mix of teaching methodologies, including direct teaching, open discussions, collective analysis of videos and news narratives. Students are recommended to share media texts for open discussions.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/servicesstudents-physical-or-learning-disabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

The examination is a written test lasting two hours. It consists of six questions and a minimum of four and a maximum of five questions must be answered. There is no difference between attending and non-attending students. The questions are based on the examination book. Attending students can expand on the answers by referring to material analysed in class or to discussions held in class, but the basis for the answers is the study of the book, which is made easier by attending the course. Students are expected to show their ability to understand the specific meaning of the questions asked, an adequate capacity for reasoning and analysis, a good use of concepts and an ability to judge the issues addressed. In particular, in order to achieve a high grade, in addition to presenting the arguments in a comprehensible manner and in a manner consistent with what has been studied and learnt, students will have to demonstrate that they have grasped the critical nodes of the relationship between migration narratives and migration policies in the various areas of analysis (integration, creation of differentiated pathways for different types of migrants, security issues). They should also demonstrate an understanding of and be able to effectively account for the triangulation between politics, media and public opinion on contemporary migration issues. Finally, they will have to show an understanding of the main mechanisms of reproduction of humanitarian/victimising, security/decency and racist/culturalist discourses. Answers based solely on lecture notes, where it is clear that there has been no in-depth study of the examination book, will not achieve a pass. Answers showing study but a lack of general understanding of the mechanisms and issues involved in migration narratives and which do not clearly highlight the relationships between narratives and spaces of political action will be assessed as sufficient but will not achieve a high mark.

These are the main points through which the course will develop:
- introduction to contemporary communicative environment and the role of news in democracy;
- main concepts to be adopted when debating representations and narratives;
- Analysis of main media narratives on migration in Europe, where they come from and their political use;
- analysis of the main strategic ritual employed by journalism when covering migrants in the news;
- production mechanisms and processes of reproduction of narratives, by lookig at the broad picture (interactions among media, political parties and leaders and civic society);
- the role of public opinion and framing effects on percetions and opinions;
- counter-narratives in journalism, art, grassroot environments.

During the course, the issue of the gender dimension will be addressed, both with reference to representations of migration, with reflections on how gender is an important axis of difference for understanding the logic of power in journalistic representations, and by analysing and discussing representations of violence against women.

By the end of the course, students are expected to possess new knowledge about the political and social trends of the migration phenomenon on a European and Italian scale and about the local applications of the circuit between migration narratives and the cultural and political construction of consensus on migration management. They are also expected to be able to understand how migrants' living conditions, integration policies and dynamics and the related phenomena of discrimination and racism are strongly conditioned by the narrative mechanisms of political communication and media.
Students are also expected to be able to apply acquired knowledge and understanding in assessing integration policies and their administrative applications, but also immigration and flow management policies and agreements, recognising the discursive foundations on which consensus depends. They are expected to be able to think and imagine alternative solutions on the basis of alternative discursive premises, imagining possible counter-narratives and highlighting their limitations and strengths. The classroom discussions, the material analysed in class, the exam book and the questions in the written exam go in the direction of developing these abilities to apply the knowledge acquired and stimulate an ability to make autonomous judgements on the complex issues of the migration narratives - migration management nexus.