Policy Press

Mediated Emotions of Migration

Reclaiming Affect for Agency

By Sukhmani Khorana

Published

Dec 22, 2022

Page count

158 pages

Browse the series

Global Migration and Social Change

ISBN

978-1529218237

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Dec 22, 2022

Page count

158 pages

Browse the series

Global Migration and Social Change

ISBN

978-1529218244

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Dec 22, 2022

Page count

158 pages

Browse the series

Global Migration and Social Change

ISBN

978-1529218244

Imprint

Bristol University Press
Mediated Emotions of Migration

This book unpacks how emotions and affect are key conceptual lenses for understanding contemporary processes and discourses around migration.

Drawing on empirical research, grassroots projects with migrants and refugees, and mediated stories of migration and asylum-seeking from the Global North, the book sheds light on the affects of empathy, aspiration and belonging to reveal how they can be harnessed as public emotions of positive collective change.

In the face of increasing precariousness and the wake of intersecting global crises, Khorana calls for uncovering the potential of these affects in order to build new forms of care and solidarities across differences.

"This book offers an insightful account of the complex ways in which emotions and affect shape understanding and experience of migration in current turbulent times. Khorana’s sophisticated exploration of empathy, aspiration and belonging demonstrates how these ‘emotions of ambivalence’ can be reclaimed to drive social change. By bringing together empirical and conceptual work on emotions, care and solidarity, the book is a remarkable and much-needed contribution to studies of migration and media." Kaarina Nikunen, Tampere University

Sukhmani Khorana is Associate Professor in Media at the University of New South Wales.

Introduction: Feelings and Migrants Come and Go, and Some Stay/Stick

Part 1: Empathy

1. Witnessing as an Expression of Critical Empathy: An Examination of Audience Responses to a Refugee-Themed Documentary

2. Jacinda Ardern and the Politics of Leadership Empathy: Towards Emotional Communities of Transformation

Part 2: Aspiration

3. Asian Americans and Asian Australians on Screen: Aspiring to Centre the Community through Comedy

4. Aspiration for Collective Progress: Diversity and Digital Intimacy as Practised by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (US), Sadiq Khan (UK), and Jagmeet Singh (Canada)

Part 3: Belonging

5. Refugee Storytellers Claim Belonging: Agency, Community and Change Through the Arts

6. Belonging as Affect: Towards Paradigms for Reciprocal Care in Community-Based Research

Conclusion: Care and Resilience in The Face of Increasing Precarity: COVID-19 and Beyond