Global Connections
A Crisis of Public Sphere and Collapse of Rational Deliberation?: Critical Approaches to Understanding the Post-truth Public
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ksenija Vidmar Horvat
This paper looks into the crisis of the public sphere, marked by the rise of the social media, post-truth fake news and conspiracy thinking. Recently, critical scholars in social sciences and humanities have published the calls to restore the modern public sphere model of deliberation, based on the Enlightenment principles of reason, objective truth and scientifically driven, fact- based arguments. The restoration of the rational public discourse is deemed vital to face current challenges to democracy, including the rise of right-wing populism and wide-spread turn to autocratic political leaders. The call to bring back "sanity" to the politics, this paper argues, falls short in understanding the popular turn to the politics of emotion, irrationality and charisma. Theoretically, however, we have had a plenty of insights into the emotionality of the 20th century publics, provided by media studies' audience research. The aim of this paper is to open a debate on how conceptual and methodological toolkits of media studies can be fruitful in mapping up the research of the post-truth publics. Conceptually, the relationship between the audience and the public is examined. This demands a novel approach, where the Enlightenment philosophical legacies of reason and emotions are revisited. This merging of two aspects of the voice of the public is necessary to pave the ways to fresh understanding of citizenship and public sphere of the 21st century.
Gaza from Genocide to Ecocide
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Minoo Moallem
In this paper, I interrogate the relationship between genocide and ecocide by examining visual culture in general and photojournalism in particular in the context of Gaza. I argue that while professional journalists reporting the genocide in Gaza have been subjected to targeting and killing, for the first time, this genocide has been live-streamed by those who have been instigating this horror and those who have been subjected to extreme violence. I specifically examine the significance of photojournalism not only by photojournalists such as Motaz Azaiza and others who risk their lives depicting the genocide in Gaza but also photography by ordinary people who can’t run from violence as participant witnesses through online websites depicting the juxtaposition of lost lives and the destruction of the landscape. These photographic representations display the convergence of genocide and ecocide in the specific case of Gaza, capturing the horrific elimination of children, women, and men as well as the schools, hospitals, mosques, trees, rivers, agricultural lands, and water sources. By discussing photojournalism as a witness and as the overwhelming evidence in the very first livestream genocide, I ask what it means to livestream a genocide. What does it say about photojournalism? And how do these digital testimonies intervene beyond provoking outrage but standing for justice?
Political Voice of Puerto Rico’s Diaspora: Singing Resistance - “Debí Tirar Más Fotos”
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ameera Brown
This essay explores how Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny uses studio album Debí Tirar Más Fotos as a tool for political resistance, cultural preservation, and diasporic connection. Rooted in themes of colonialism, displacement, gentrification, and resilience, the album is positioned as an aesthetic counter-hegemonic response to centuries of settler colonialism in Puerto Rico. Through collaborations with Caribbean scholars and the integration of historical and contemporary narratives, Bad Bunny constructs an “imagined community” that connects Puerto Ricans across different geographies through shared memories, emotions, and music. Songs like “Nuevayol” and “Voy a Llevarte Pa’ PR” blend reggaetón and salsa, invoking diasporic nostalgia while centering the lived realities of the Nuyorican community. Tracks such as “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii” and “Turista” directly critique American colonialism and gentrification, warning of cultural erasure through metaphoric and visual storytelling. The accompanying short film to “DtMF” uses symbolism and affect to challenge dominant tourism imagery, instead highlighting generational displacement and the destruction of native ecosystems, represented by the endangered Puerto Rican crested toad.Furthermore, Bad Bunny’s critique of the LUMA Energy crisis in “Bokete” highlights the ongoing impacts of economic colonialism. The album resists linguistic assimilation and affirms Puerto Rican cultural identity through slang, local references, and music production choices. Ultimately, DtMF functions not only as a sonic love letter to Puerto Rico but as a cultural manifesto of resilience, fostering a transnational, affective public that resists colonial structures and reclaims Puerto Rican identity.
