Design guest lecture: Cultural self-positioning through new media

The lecture in English as part of the lecture series dESIGN12+ focuses on the use of new media by second-generation Ghanaian women living in Germany (Hamburg) to negotiate a diasporic identity. It draws on the empirical findings of a larger study on Ghanaian women's use of new media to negotiate identity and belonging in Germany (Hamburg) and the UK (London). The paper uses a non-media-centric approach to contextualize the use of new media with other social and cultural processes in everyday life. It argues that while new media open up possibilities for maintaining communication networks in the face of social exclusion, other social and cultural processes must also be taken into account. The talk will address the role of new media in negotiating diasporic identity through communication and alternative representation as a means of exercising agency and strengthening a diasporic identity in the face of social exclusion.

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER

Ann Mabel Sanyu was born in 1982 in Kampala, Uganda and spent part of her childhood in Nairobi, Kenya. Before coming to Europe to study, she worked as a journalist at the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, where she faced various challenges as a female journalist, including sexism and the 'glass ceiling'. However, this only fueled her passion to highlight the plight of women by reporting on issues such as domestic violence and female entrepreneurship. In 2010, Ann Mabel directed and produced five films showing the power of sport to transform the lives of young people in the slums of Kampala, which were broadcast by the BBC. In 2012, she completed her studies under the Erasmus Mundus program for Journalism and Media at Aarhus University in Denmark and the University of Hamburg in Germany. Ann Mabel is currently pursuing a PhD at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. Her dissertation is on: "The use of new media by Ghanaian women to negotiate identity and belonging in Hamburg and London". Ann Mabel Sanyu has also published an article on the results of the study: "New media, diasporic identity, and social exclusion". She has also taught a seminar on intercultural, cross-cultural and transnational communication and a course on gender and media at the University of Hamburg. Ann Mabel is also a passionate advocate for women's rights and empowerment. In 2018, she was the lead researcher for a project on gender mainstreaming in the media with the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT). Ann Mabel lives with her family in Hamburg. In her spare time, she enjoys reading contemporary and historical fiction, doing yoga, baking, listening to music and taking long walks in the park.