Communication and Conflict: Iraq and Syria Conference

7 May 2016

Organized by the Centre for Media Studies and the London Middle East Institute, SOAS
Co-sponsored by Brill, publisher of the Middle East Journal of Communication and Culture, MEJCC
Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS
Click here for link to SOAS page

SCHEDULE

0900-0915- registration
0915-0930 welcome, Dina Matar, SOAS

0930-1015: Morning Keynote

Title: “Reimagining the ‘Other’; Mediatization of the Islamic State War and Perceptions of the Arab World.” Professor Philip Seib, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California

1015-1045 – coffee break

1045-1230 Panel one: Propaganda, networks and Conflict

• SHADER review: STRATCM and influence, view from the UK counter-propaganda campaigns, Ewan Lawson, Senior Research Fellow in Military Influence, Rusi.
• Long-term study of the IS social media propaganda networks and content, Yannick Vielleux- Lepage, Centre for the study of terrorism and political violence, St. Andrews
• Trajectory of Iran’s Regional Ambitions: as seen through Iran’s Arabic language media network, Massoumeh Torfeh, SOAS and
• Hezbollah’s self-narrative in Syrian conflict, Zahera Harb, City University Normalisation of war and conflict in Iraq’s Iraqiyya television, Aida Kaisy, CMS, SOAS
• Chair: Dina Matar, SOAS 1230-1315 lunch break

1315-1500 Panel Two: Battles over narratives and image in long-term conflicts

• The visual politics of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces on Facebook: Rhys Crilley, Birmingham University – yes
• Mythical state: The aesthetics and counter aesthetics of ISIS in IRAQ, Nathaniel Greenberg, George Mason University.
• Of Faith, Destruction and Salvation: A Discourse Analysis of Dabiq, Kajalie Islam, Centre for Media Studies, SOAS
• Countering IS Propaganda: Duhok Radio and the Peshmerga forces in Iraqi Kurdistan, Jiyan Faris, Kevin Smets and Pieter Maeseele, University of Antwerp.
• Everyday grassroots media activism in Aleppo and Raqqa, a visual narrative, Josepha Ivanka Wessels, University of Copenhagen
• Chair: Gholam Khiabany, Goldsmiths 1500-1530 (coffee break)

1530-1730 Panel Three: Crisis reporting; visual conflicts; violence and migration

• Shattering Stereotypes: Crisis reporting and the Alan Kurdi images, Professor Stuart Allan, Cardiff University
• Media, migration and violence: #PrayforParis, #Prayfor Syria and the Dynamics of Antagonism, Billur Aslan, James Dennis and Ben O’Loughlin, Royal Holloway.
• Accusations in a mirror, ISIS, ani-Islamic hate speech and the refugee crisis, Matti Pohjonen, Dublin City University
• Image Politics and the Politics of the Image in the networked era- Notes from the battlefield in Syria, Donatella Della Ratta, University of Copenhagen
• Experiencing the visual culture of war; how audiences react to war news images- Valerie Gorin, University of Geneva and Vittoria Sacco, University of Neuchathel
• Chair: to be confirmed 1730-1815 Evening Keynote

Witnessing Conflict today: changing journalism of conflict and the public ethics of witnessing, Professor Lilie Chouliaraki, LSE