On 17th March 2020, the InterCap project held its second webinar titled “The Security Discourse Surrounding Migration: Perceptions vs Reality”.
This webinar focused on the intersection between migration and the security discourse and the role of the media in shaping public perceptions of migration. The webinar’s main purpose was to create a space where the participants would have the opportunity to share their ideas, thoughts and knowledge in relation to migration and security. InterCap’s Community of Practice was also empowered and enhanced with the participation of notable experts and the wider public.
The webinar’s main speakers were three professors coming from La Sapienza University of Rome: Andrea Carteny, Professor of History of International Relations, Nadan Petrovic, Professor of Strategies of International Cooperation, and Mauro Sarrica, Professor of Social Psychology and Peace Psychology.
Prof. Andrea Carteny and Prof. Nadan Petrovic provided a general overview on the migration-security link, focusing on what approach and what means can be adopted in the fields of defence and security to restrain illegal migration and to fight criminal networks.
In the second part of our webinar, the stereotypes and prejudices against immigrants in psychological terms were discussed. Prof. Mauro Sarrica shared a psychological explanation as it comes to the attitudes towards immigration, highlighting how the media can reinforce the criminalized image of a newcomer and underline anti-immigrant rhetoric.
The webinar mainly attracted people with academic background, representatives of various international organizations and NGOs, Local Authorities, trainers and students across 17 countries. 81 people registered to attend the webinar while at the time 50 participants actively participated in the debate.
This webinar was a fantastic opportunity to gather people coming from different backgrounds and fields of actions in order to share their views and challenge their thought around this topic.
The participants as shared at the end of the webinar were impressed by video and images used to reveal our prejudicial and stereotypical attitudes toward members of different ethnic and cultural groups. Prof. Mauro Sarrica pointed out how stereotypical or threatening images can communicate derogatory racial meaning in a more subtle way than an equivalent verbal statement.
If you missed out our thought-provoking webinar, don’t worry!
Full recording can be found here.
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