The MeCCSA Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Network, in collaboration with the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre and the Media Discourse Centre at De Montfort University, present this conference on the discourses of immigration.
The media coverage of the Brexit Referendum in 2016 focused disproportionately upon the notion that Britain could reduce immigration if the country left European Union. Media discourse on immigration, race and ethnicity is best described as negative, whilst government policies on immigration appear to promote a hostile environment in order to deter potential immigrants.
This discourse is not new – sixty years ago, when the Windrush generation arrived in Britain they faced discrimination and prejudice. Last year, a number of them who had arrived legally, most likely as children, were removed from the UK because they were unable to prove they had a right to remain.
What, if anything, has changed in the intervening years since Empire Windrush docked in 1948? What parallels are there between the media discourse around Windrush, and that which describes the newer migrants from Eastern Europe or further afield? Does post-Brexit Britain mean discrimination will be legitimised as the UK takes control of who is welcome in the country? Does this discourse de-legitimise people’s histories and their political claim to British citizenship? This conference examines media discourse on Brexit, and state discourses on race.
Keynote Speaker: Patrick Vernon OBE, Windrush Campaigner and Social Commentator
1130 Registration Hugh Aston Atrium – tour Stephen Lawrence Research Centre
1200 Lunch
1245 Open and Welcome, Kennetta Hammond, Director, Stephen Lawrence Research Centre
Panel 1 – Discourses of Race and Racism
1300 Arthur Torrington, co-founder, Windrush Foundation, Windrush History and Heritage
1315 Shardia Briscoe, DMU, The Politics of Knowledge Production: Knowledge Hidden, Histories Lost!
1330 Gurvinder Aujla-Sidhu, DMU, Framing the Nation – The BBC, Immigration and race
1345 Indrani Lahiri and Claire Segewick, DMU, The ‘Migrant children schooling crisis’: examining the intersection between media framing, neoliberalism and schooling in Leicester
1400 Q & A (20 mins)
short break
Panel 2 – Hostile Environment politics
1430 Stuart Price, DMU, Racism and Fascism in political ideology
1445 Daniel Burdsey, University of Brighton, The team of the forty-eight per cent? Race, nation and English football in the “hostile environment”
1500 Anna Waistnage, University of Leeds, Immigration relations in the UK
1515 Q & A
Tea and Coffee – Tour Stephen Lawrence Centre
1600 Patrick Veron OBE, Many Rivers to Cross
1700 drinks canapés Hugh Aston Atrium
Please register here for Patrick Vernon
Date and Time
Thu, June 27, 2019
12:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Location
De Montfort University
The Gateway
Leicester
LE1 9BH
