This project explores the challenges faced by migrants in engaging with media within the democratic public sphere and seeks to find out what is needed for more inclusive and participatory practices.

Audio and Video Podcast External link, opens in new window. Gustav Persson, Assistant Professor of Media and Communications, on the project (from November, 2024).

Citizen Engagement Listening Labs is a platform where migrants, researchers, and stakeholders will collaborate to co-create strategies for more equal and inclusion public engagement.

In today’s media ecology, we see how increasingly unequal power structures shape public discourse, often marginalizing migrant voices. The project addresses such inequalities by developing participatory spaces seeking to empower migrants to engage in democratic life.

The project has three key objectives:

  1. Understanding how migrant media engagement create barriers to civic engagement and participation
  2. Developing participatory spaces where migrants can share experiences and develop inclusive democratic practices.
  3. Establishing guidelines for a participatory model that promotes action competence and political inclusion.

The Citizen Engagement Lab is implemented through a structured three-step methodology: Recognition, which involves engaging stakeholders and recruiting migrant participants; Engagement, where focus groups and discussions explore migrants’ challenges; and Representation, where research findings inform strategy development for policy and civic inclusion co-crated between researchers and participants in dialogue with stakeholders.

Project duration
2024-2025

Project leader
Gustav Persson

Researchers in the project
Mahama Tawat and Annette Hill

Stakeholders
Jönköping Municipality, Jönköping City Library