Early Career International Research Seminar
Identity, Inequality and the Media in Brexit-COVID-19-Britain
Date: November 10, 2021
Format: Zoom, online
Brexit and COVID-19 are extraordinary social and political processes that are occurring simultaneously. These events are exposing the major inequalities that underpin British society across class, ethnic, racial, national, migrant, generational and geographical identities. They are also both high profile public events and processes that generate media and government information. We are an interdisciplinary team with backgrounds in Social Anthropology, Sociology, Human Geography & Political Science working on two interrelated research projects that explore these issues using ethnography, panel survey data and analysis of media content. Our projects include “Identity, Belonging and the Role of the Media in Brexit Britain” that is funded by the ESRC, and “Identity, Inequality and the Media in Brexit-COVID-19-Britain” that is funded by the ESRC as part of UK Research and Innovation’s rapid response initiative to COVID-19. We are interested in the ways in which Brexit and COVID-19 — and the intersecting inequalities that these processes produce — have been framed by the media and experienced within the everyday. Examining these inequalities, and their potential effects on social and political polarisation, is crucial to understanding how British society will emerge from these dual processes.
This one-day online seminar aims to open up interdisciplinary dialogue between diverse approaches to understanding these issues. We invite Early Career Researchers (self-defined but typically including PhD students and postdoctoral researchers) to submit abstracts on any topic of research that explores issues of identity and inequality in the context of Brexit and/or COVID-19. Reflecting the methodological diversity within our team, our aim is to bring together researchers using quantitative/computational methods with those relying on qualitative methodologies, such as participant observation and interviews. We welcome submissions from all relevant disciplines, including but not limited to: Arts, Economics, Geography, History, Literature, Media Studies, Sociology, Social Anthropology, Philosophy, Politics, Political Science, Psychology.
We welcome presentations focused either on the UK or that place these issues within an international context. Alternative means of presenting are welcomed alongside more traditional approaches. Discussants include Prof. Michaela Benson (Lancaster University, UK) and Prof. Young Mie Kim (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA). Selected papers will be included in a journal special issue proposal. Please send a 300-word abstract of your paper to Dr Joshua Blamire (j.blamire@exeter.ac.uk) and Dr Laszlo Horvath (l.horvath@exeter.ac.uk) by 27th August 2021. Successful submissions will be notified in early September. The seminar will be held online via Zoom on 10th November 2021.