Migration in the Media

Andrea Bachner’s research explores comparative intersections among Sinophone, Latin American, and European cultural productions in dialogue with theories of interculturality, sexuality, and mediality. She is the author of two books: “Beyond Sinology: Chinese Writing and the Scripts of Cultures” (Columbia University Press, 2014) and “The Mark of Theory: Inscriptive Figures, Poststructuralist Prehistories” (Fordham University Press, 2017), which provides a genealogy of the concept of inscription that probes the media imaginaries of poststructuralist theory. Dr. Bachner is currently working on two projects: the first, “Against Comparison? Latin America and the Sinophone World,” reflects on the limits of comparison through an exploration of the rich history of cultural contact, exchange, and affinity between Latin American and Chinese cultures from the late 19th century to today; the second, “Membranicity,” constitutes a critique of the deployment of surface metaphors in contemporary theory.

Douglas Herman is a veteran media arts teacher and artist from New York who pioneered the Career in Technical Education film and video program at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia and founded the nonprofit Rough Cut Productions with his students. Mr. Herman also co-founded ReFOCUS Media Labs Foundation and currently serves as the educational and creative director, equipping refugees with professional media creation tools and instruction. In 2019, he directed a feature documentary, “Even After Death.”

Mr. Herman has a Master’s of Arts in Teaching from Bennington College’s Center for Creative Teaching (2008) and a B.S. in Finance from Seton Hall University (1996), and he holds Level II Certifications in history and video production. Mr. Herman was honored with the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (2016), was named an Extraordinary Cinematic Arts Teacher by Studio School in Los Angeles (2016), and was a featured speaker at TEDx Penn State in 2018.

Eleanor Paynter is a postdoctoral associate in Migrations with Cornell’s Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Her work in critical refugee studies focuses on Africa-Europe migration and displacement and asylum in the Mediterranean through narrative and ethnographic methods.

Katy Fallon is a freelance journalist based in Athens, focusing on migration at the EU’s external borders. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Al Jazeera English and the Independent.

Krista Lynes is the Research Chair in Feminist Media Studies and Associate Professor in Communication Studies at Concordia University, Canada. She is also the co-director of the Feminist Media Studio, which provides a space for media creation and critical engagement with intersectional and gender-based forms of oppression and exploitation. Dr. Lynes is the author of “Prismatic Media, Transnational Circuits: Feminism in a Globalized Present” and co-editor of the Open Access anthology “Moving Images: Mediating Migration as Crisis.” Her current research project, “Greenhouse Effects: The Mediation of Life and the Migration of Labor,” seeks to explore how greenhouses have been a central infrastructure for the racialized, classed, and gendered global movement of humans, plants, animals, knowledge, and culture over the last several centuries and today.

Molly O’Toole was one of the recipients of the first Pulitzer Prize for audio journalism in 2020, reporting for an episode of “This American Life.” Ms. O’Toole has also reported for The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Newsweek, and the Associated Press from Central America, West Africa, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia.

Nazanin Froghi, a native of Afghanistan, earned her Bachelor of Educational Science from Tehran University. Currently residing on Lesvos, Greece, Ms. Froghi is a senior member of ReFOCUS Media Labs photojournalism program. She has contributed to reports on the refugee crisis in Greece with mainstream international partners including Aljazeera, Bloomberg, BBC Newsnight, DR, Guardian, and SBS Dateline.Nazanin Froghi, a native of Afghanistan, earned her Bachelor of Educational Science from Tehran University. Currently residing on Lesvos, Greece, Ms. Froghi is a senior member of ReFOCUS Media Labs photojournalism program. She has contributed to reports on the refugee crisis in Greece with mainstream international partners including Aljazeera, Bloomberg, BBC Newsnight, DR, Guardian, and SBS Dateline.

Robert McKee Irwin (Ph.D. Comparative Literature, NYU) is Professor of Spanish and Deputy Director of the Global Migration Center at University of California, Davis. He is a specialist in Mexican and Mexican American cultural history, and in gender, migration and media studies. Among his publications are “Mexican Masculinities,” “Dictionary of Latin American Cultural Studies,” and the forthcoming “The Humanizing Deportation Project: Migrant Feelings, Migrant Knowledge.” Since 2016, Dr. Irwin has coordinated the digital storytelling project Humanizing Deportation.

Sonia Nandzik-Herman, a humanitarian and an activist, is a co-founder and CEO of ReFOCUS Media Labs Foundation, which provides refugees in Greece with media creation skills. Ms. Nandzik-Herman earned Master’s degrees in Sociology from the University of Silesia and in International Relations from the Jagiellonian University. Before entering the humanitarian sector and working in Serbia, Greece, and Bangladesh, she worked for the European Parliament. Ms. Nandzik-Herman specializes in the refugee crisis and in human rights advocacy. She is a producer of “Even After Death,” a feature documentary made by refugees.

Tanvi Misra is an independent writer and multimedia journalist based in Queens, New York. She covers migration, urban policy, and criminal justice. Ms. Misra’s writing and radio work has appeared in The Atlantic, Bloomberg CityLab, The Baffler, The Guardian, NBC News, Teen Vogue, The Verge, Roll Call, NPR, and the BBC, among other publications. Her writing ranges from award-winning long-form features and investigations to essays and policy analyses. Originally from India, Ms. Misra has reported in the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany.