Media, migration and a changing continent

Media@McGill scholar to address impact of technology on transnational communities

New technologies and media are connecting people in ways that transcend social, cultural and economic boundaries between countries as never before to foster new transnational communities. In a European Union of expanding membership, integrating policy and unfettered migration, these changes have had enormous impact on both individuals and governments.

Media@McGill is pleased to present a free public lecture by respected British sociologist and Beaverbrook Visiting Scholar Kevin Robins. In "The 'Possibility Space' of Transnationalism," Robins, Professor of Sociology at City University, London, will explore the cultural impacts of media and new technologies on transnational European migrants and their communities. The talk will also consider the wider cultural, social and political implications these impacts may point to within a North American context.

What: Beaverbrook Visiting Scholar Lecture: "The 'Possibility Space' of Transnationalism"

When: November 8, 2007, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Who: Beaverbrook Visiting Scholar, Professor Kevin Robins

Where: McGill University, Leacock Building, Room 219, 855 Sherbrooke St. W.

Prof. Robins, whose research interest lies in the cultural implications of communications and information technologies, has studied some of the most compelling challenges of the new European reality, including Turkish migration and media use and the impact of cultural policies on urban populations. In January 2008, he will launch a research project at Goldsmiths College, University of London, on the changing media landscape and government policy. Prof. Robins has published a number of books, including Times of the Technoculture (Routledge, 1999) and The Virtual University? (Oxford, 2002), both with Frank Webster. Prof. Robins will be a visiting scholar with Media@McGill throughout November and will deliver the keynote lecture at the November 16 Media@McGill colloquium on the role of media in relation to Quebec's ongoing reasonable accommodation debate.

The Beaverbrook Fund for Media@McGill was established in 2006 through the generosity of the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation. The Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation was created by Lord Beaverbrook (1879-1964), a Canadian businessman, statesman and newspaper magnate who grew up in New Brunswick as William Maxwell Aitken.

On the Web: Media@McGill public lecture: Kevin Robins