New Symposium to Explore Intersection of Social Justice and Media

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Jan 29, 2020
by Oscar Tollast
New Symposium to Explore Intersection of Social Justice and Media

The inaugural one-day event will take place in memory of Salzburg Global Fellow Moses Shumow

The inaugural Social Justice and Media Symposium has been organized by Paul Mihailidis, program director of the Salzburg Media Academy on Media and Global Change

An inaugural symposium on Social Justice and Media will be held in memory of Salzburg Global Fellow Moses Shumow next month.

The one-day event will take place in Boston, MA, on Friday, February 28, between 10 am and 4 pm at Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theater, Emerson College.

Activists, scholars, students, and storytellers will convene to explore how media pedagogy and practice can persist in light of a transactional, shallow, and fractured media infrastructure.

Shumow, a multi-time faculty member at the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, passed away in a train accident outside of Boston, MA, on October 22, 2019.

Staff at Salzburg Global and Fellows who worked with Shumow were left devastated by his sudden death. His keen mind, infectious personality, and warm smile made him a firm favorite at the Media Academy.

The Social Justice and Media Symposium, held in Shumow's memory, will feature a keynote presentation, a panel discussion, a student work showcase, a screening of “Liberty Square Rising,” and a roundtable work share activity.

Paul Mihailidis, program director of the Salzburg Media Academy on Media and Global Change, is responsible for organizing this year’s symposium. He’ll be joined at the event by fellow Media Academy faculty Chris Harris and Sanjeev Chatterjee.

During the roundtable work share activity, organizers will announce the first recipient of the Transformative Media Literacy Scholar Award. This award will go to a young academic or graduate student who is doing exceptional work at the intersection of journalism education, participatory media, media literacy, community activism, and social justice. The recipient will also attend this year’s program of the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change.

The award celebrates the life of Shumow, a man who worked tirelessly to tell the stories of transnational and underserved communities. The call for nominations is still open, and responses should be sent to Mihailidis at paul_mihailidis@emerson.edu.

Mihailidis, who has helped organize the symposium, said, “This symposium is happening to both honor the work that Moses did with such passion and joy, but to also bring together communities of activists, practitioners, scholars, and students to continue the work of advocating for communities marginalized, and underserved.

“Our goal is to build capacity and community of our own, anchored by the theme of persistence: persistence in the face of loss, of challenge, and of structures that divide. We know that this is what Moses fought for in the classroom and the community, and it's something we will continue to fight for a long time to come."

To learn more about the event and register, please visit sjmsymposium.org