Higher Seminar in Media and Communication Studies with Cornelia Brantner, Karlstad University

The talk builds on a project on the governance of in/equality in communicative spaces. Using the example of social media–supported protests, we have outlined a multidimensional research tool that enables a holistic understanding of the governance of the communicative space occupied in such hybrid protests. To further refine the research tool, we shifted our attention to urban city festivals and developed a multi-methodical approach that not only captures media representations but also – using (visual) ethnography, interviews, and document analysis – allows for the analysis of the (partly invisible) structures of communicative spaces, online and offline, which determine inequalities and power relations. We argue that the concept of the public sphere must expand and take into account the location, the space, and its structures, and the (locative) devices and technologies shaping the communicative space as conditions for access and participation in debates. Consequently, the public sphere transcends the purely discursive dimension to be understood as a communicative space that is both an interface and an assemblage of a complex set of factors in constant interaction and negotiation.

Cornelia Brantner is Associate Professor of Media and Communication Studies in the Department of Geography, Media and Communication and Coordinator of the Geomedia Research Centre at Karlstad University. Her teaching portfolio and research profile cover visual communication, geomedia and digital communication, public spheres and (in)equalities, as well as qualitative and quantitative methods.

It will be possible to attend the seminar both live on campus or digitally via Zoom (see attached link).