Innovative strategies against exclusionary narratives
Work Package 4
Months 8-20:
October 2021 – October 2022
Work Package 4 examines the communicative and discursive strategies employed by civil society organisations, artistic communities, and citizens – including migrants themselves – to counter exclusionary narratives on migration and attract potential audiences towards more inclusive accounts. To do so, this WP:
- Maps innovative practices and initiatives led by civil society actors that intend to challenge political discourses of exclusion across Europe.
- Analyses their communicative/discursive strategies and the factors for their success.
- Engages with social organisations, including migrant communities, and advocates for alternative and more inclusive accounts on migration issues.
- Fosters the exchange of innovative practices among civil society organisations and explores their potential transferability to other local and national contexts.
Building on the research carried out under WP3, this WP selects two civil society initiatives in three countries that have been particularly affected by migration since 2014: Germany, Italy, and Spain. It then compares the six selected initiatives to assess the elements for their success and their potential transferability to other local and national contexts. As a result, four Working Papers are produced: three of them focusing on each of the three countries covered by the WP, and one adopting a cross-initiative, cross-national comparative perspective.
WP4 also seeks to engage with social organisations in the co-production of more inclusive migration narratives. To this end, a workshop with civil society actors is organised in Mainz (Germany), where the selected organisations for each of the countries covered by the WP are meant to present and discuss their initiatives. As a result, a Toolkit with the key rules and mechanisms to produce effective alternative and inclusive narratives on migration is released.
Led by: CUAS Mainz (Bastian Vollmer).
Related publications
This Toolkit aims to be useful for those stakeholders working to change dominant narratives on migration. To this end, it summarises the types of audiences to which migration narratives are addressed to, and the main rules and considerations to take into account to effectively build new, alternative narratives on migration.
This Working Paper brings together key findings on innovative strategies against exclusionary narratives on migration in Germany, Italy, and Spain. It compares crucial insights and draws conclusions that feed into recommendations for other civil society organisations.
This Working Paper examines two civil society organisations that have succeeded in spreading inclusive narratives on migration across Spain – Stop Mare Mortum and RegularizaciónYa –, analysing the nature of these narratives, their audience, their composition, their ambition, and their impact.
This Working Paper examines two civil society organisations that have succeeded in spreading inclusive discourses on migration across Italy – Accolgo and Dalla parte giusta della storia –, focusing on how they construct their networks, their communication strategies and their narratives.
This Working Paper investigates alternative, counter-hegemonic narratives on migration in Germany, focusing on the cases of two civil society organisations – Seebrücke and Netzwerk medien.vielfalt! – that successfully managed to enter the hegemonic discourse on migration in this country.
