Institute for Media and Creative Industries Speaker Series

The Institute for Media and Creative Industries has organised a Speaker Series to bring together researchers from across a wide range of interdisciplinary fields in order to address timely and pertinent questions in media and the creative industries.

Upcoming events

Paulo Freire Centennial: 7 talks in preparation for the next 100 years

Large creative initiatives to tackle complex problems depend on daring to think long term. The unpredictability of the future, challenged by pandemics, climate change, social and political instabilities, on the top of longstanding and increasing regimes of inequalities across the globe, suggests that we need to build and strengthen human capacities that go beyond reaching efficiency. Dealing with threats requires resilience and solidarity.

This cycle celebrates the centennial of the birth of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire (1921-1997), and, inspired by his works, invites radical thinking and political imagination. Freire’s ‘ontological call’ is associated with five principles, those of humility, empathy, love, hope and dialogue (Freire, 2017, p. 33), which he presented as the spirit of one of his main referential works, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, originally published in 1968. These principles were developed by Freire in different degrees and forms throughout his works, and they also served as inspiration for many thinkers and practitioners all over the world. Can they serve as seminal inspiration for creatively devising the next 100 years?

Recognizing Freire’s strong influence upon participatory communication and civil society development in Brazil and beyond[i], this cycle includes two Plenaries and five Global Exchanges. We are also inviting local groups (research centres, faculties, networks of practitioners etc) to engage organizing Local Exchanges to unfold the Global Dialogues in relation to their contexts.

Date	Time	Title	Speaker
9 March 2021	1pm (London) 10am (Sao Paulo)	Opening Plenary: Homage to Paulo Freire in his centenary	Frei Betto (Brazil)
10 March 2021	1pm (London) 10am (Sao Paulo)	Global Dialogues	Claudia Magallanes (Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, Mexico) Mairá Lima (Landless Workers Movement, Brazil)
15 March 2021	1pm (London) 10am (Sao Paulo)	Love	Karin Wilkins (Miami University, USA) Xavier Carbonell (Signis and the Xavier University of Bhubaneshwar, India)
17 March 2021	1pm (London) 10am (Sao Paulo)	Empathy	Linje Manyozo (RMIT University, Australia) James Deane (BBC Media Action)
18 March 2021	1pm (London) 10am (Sao Paulo)	Hope	Benjamin Ferron (Université Paris 12 Créteil, France) Heriberto Gualinga (Indigenous filmmaker, Ecuador)
TBC	1pm (London) 10am (Sao Paulo)	Humility	Colin Chasi (University of Free State, South Africa) Anita Gurumurthy (IT for Change, India)
24 March 2021	1pm (London) 10am (Sao Paulo)	Closing Plenary: Pisar suavemente sobre a terra: towards a pedagogy of coexistence	Ailton Krenak (Indigenous human rights activist, Brazil)

Registration is required - register here

[i] The Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University has held a series of activities gathering scholars from different regions of the world about the legacy of Paulo Freire in the field of participatory communication and civil society development. Recently, we have published two special issues coming from a previous cycle of debates around this subject. You can see them here and here.

Past events

Date	Time	Title	Speaker
3 December 2020	2.30pm-4pm	Challenges and responses from community media during the Covid-19 crisis	Vinod Pavarala (University of Hyderabad, India), Emiliano Treré (Cardiff University, UK; Data Justice; Global South) and Stefania Milan (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Data Justice – Global South)
12 November 2020	12pm-4pm	Communication for Change Mini-Fest: Life stories, Dis/Connections and the Postcolonial	Rubén Rivas de Rocas: Local stories fighting polarization, transnational media Veneza Ronsini: Intentional communities in Brazil Lasse Mouritzen, Kristine Samson, and Michael Haldrup: Other-Story, Jamboy and Escuela Sim Mouros Birgitte Jallov: New neighbours: cohesion-creating community media Dainalyn Swaby: Jamaica, stories, sustainability Aglaya Jimenez Turati: Storytelling and education
22 October 2020	2.30pm-4pm	Launch of the Special Issue: The legacy of Paulo Freire. Contemporary reflections on participatory communication and civil society development in Brazil and beyond	Silvio Waisbord (George Washington University) César Jiménez-Martínez (Cardiff University) Moderator: Ana Cristina Suzina (Loughborough University London)
18 February 2020	5pm-6.30pm	The Science of the Commons: Proposing a new mode of comprehending communication	Professor Muniz Sodré Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
12 November 2019	5pm-6.30pm	Reflections from the amazon jungle: Building an intercultural dialogue and re-thinking development	Eliana Herrera Huérfano University of Seville
29 October 2019	5pm-6.30pm	Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife	Kareem Khubchandani Tufts University
21 October 2019	5pm-6.30pm	Deep Dialogue as Peace Maker?	Professor Cees J. Hamelink University of Amsterdam
16 October 2019	5pm-6.30pm	Digital inclusion beyond access: The struggle for a sustainable and accountable digital equality	Norbert Wildermuth Roskilde University
15 October 2019	12pm-1.30pm	How to promote and Develop a Collective and Critical Inclusive Memory in the Museum	Antonella Poce University Roma Tre

Watch our previous seminars

Can Freire’s principles for a democratic dialogue save us from polarisation and (extreme) right populism?

Hear from Silvio Waisbord (George Washington University) and César Jiménez-Martínez (Cardiff University) with Ana Cristina Suzina (Loughborough University London) as moderator in the 22 October IMCI Seminar Series event.

Stories of pandemic: voices and data from communities and the South