Media, Migration and the Borders of Fortress Europe: An Interview with David Morley

Abstract

In this interview, David Morley addresses the contemporary European refugee ‘crisis’, the representation of the ‘migrant’ and the increasing securitisation of Europe’s borders in terms of a crisis in European political identity. Looking back on several of his own publications, as well as the work of those who have influenced him and his time as a student in the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in Birmingham, Morley discusses the links between geopolitics and communications, and between the virtual and material realms, as well as the contemporary significance of mobility and re-territorialisation for understanding the causes of and responses to the current ‘crisis’. Reflecting on the imperial past and uncertain future of Europe, he argues for the need to be alert for positive political opportunities within moments of disjuncture and crisis, and for an emphasis on developing new modes of everyday living.