Designing Resonant Frames: How to Effectively Communicate about the Rights and Inclusion of Immigrants and Refugees?

ended

Immigrant and refugee rights movements (IRRM) have lately shown success in providing temporary assistance and integration programs in numerous countries. However, they have mostly failed to respond to the societal backlash against immigrants and refugees. How can IRRMs communicate with societies better, alter hostile public opinion and promote rights for noncitizens? Through the case of Turkey, the largest refugee-hosting country, RESONATE aims to offer novel analytical and methodological approaches to empower IRRMs with resilient tools. It has three specific objectives. First, it will map the capacities and communicative strategies of the IRRM in Turkey through systematic network analysis. Second, by conducting a representative survey, it will identify ‘resonant frames’ with the public ensconced in core values and human rights. Finally, it will test the effects of these resonant frames in transforming public attitudes through field experiments with subjects recruited through social media. RESONATE has an innovative and solution-oriented approach and combines cutting-edge research methods with insights from sociology, cultural and communication studies and political science. Public opinion data collected on noncitizens in many countries mostly report negative attitudes. Such data are often exploited to entrench stigmatizing views as ‘facts’. RESONATE seeks original data collection and findings that could empower vulnerable groups. By revealing potent and resonant frames, it also aims to entrench democratic and rights-based movements engaged in boundary and identity re-making on highly polarizing issues. Findings will boost IRRM’s mobilizational capacity in Turkey and provide hints for other movements in Europe by identifying vital ways to challenge sedimented racializing and marginalizing frames. RESONATE will be hosted by the University of Venice and Northwestern University and offer collaborative outcomes beneficial to all parties.