Media representations of Syrian asylum seekers matter and the choice of images that accompany news articles are important because they do not just reflect the conditions of people, but they influence the public opinion and attitude toward refugee crisis. This talk is to share the findings from the TÜBİTAK research project about the representation of Syrian asylum seekers in Turkish newspapers between 2011 and 2015. Specifically focusing on photographs, the talk discusses the central themes and meanings produced around the images of Syrian asylum seekers and offers a commentary on their possible effects for the people they represent.

Müzeyyen Pandır (Assistant Professor, Işık University)

Müzeyyen Pandır completed her PhD in Sociology at Lancaster University (UK), MA degree in Communication, Culture and Media at Coventry University (UK) and BA degree in Journalism at Marmara University. She participated in different research projects at Birmingham City University and Lancaster University and recently took part in the TUBİTAK project “Critical discourse analysis of the representations of Syrian refugees in Turkish press”. Currently she is teaching in sociology and cultural studies, and researching within the areas of identity and difference, social theory, visual culture, and Orientalism. She is an assistant professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Işık University.