PANICOCENE · PANICOCENE. Reframing Climate Change-induced Mobilities

PANICOCENE. Reframing Climate Change-induced Mobilities

PANICOCENE investigates how printed and online news media in the United States and Italy have represented climate change–induced mobilities (CCIM) over the past two decades. The project arises from a growing concern that media coverage often adopts alarmist, securitized, or apocalyptic framings, portraying cross-border movements as inevitable threats and contributing to distorted public perceptions and restrictive policy responses. Against this background, PANICOCENE applies the concept of “mobility justice” to explore how these narratives are constructed and to identify more nuanced and evidence-based alternatives. The project combines qualitative and mixed methods to analyze the discursive, political, and social dimensions of media representations and their consequences for public understanding. It situates media narratives within broader political and strategic contexts where climate change, migration, and security intersect. Through the analysis of textual data and engagement with journalists, activists, and researchers, PANICOCENE aims to uncover the mechanisms through which certain imaginaries of climate mobility are produced, circulated, and contested. The project is structured around three interconnected research objectives: • RO1 (WP1) – Identify major environmental disaster milestones of the past twenty years and map their media coverage to trace how climate-related mobilities have been framed. • RO2 (WP2) – Analyze the dominant discourses and narratives that produce stereotypical representations of climate migrants through Critical Discourse Analysis, and examine interactions between journalists, activists, and researchers. • RO3 (WP3) – Develop practical tools for collaborative and responsible reporting, including a Core of Conduct, a Glossary, and an online platform designed to promote constructive journalist–researcher–activist cooperation and foster counter-narratives. The project adopts a multi-method approach combining desk research, database and media scans, keyword analysis, semi-structured interviews with journalists, activists, and experts, and focus groups to co-design the final tools. The placement with Carta di Roma will support the development of the online platform and the co-creation of communication guidelines, while secondments and training at CIESIN/Columbia and Durham University will strengthen comparative and methodological aspects. The pathway to impact rests on three levels. At the knowledge level, PANICOCENE will generate new interdisciplinary insights bridging media studies, migration and mobilities research, and environmental sociology, contributing to a deeper understanding of how CCIM are represented. At the practice level, the project’s collaborative outputs—the Core of Conduct, Glossary, and open platform—aim to influence journalistic practice and support more balanced, accurate, and just representations of climate mobility. At the societal and policy level, results will inform ongoing debates on climate-related displacement, support advocacy efforts addressing the absence of an internationally recognized definition for climate migrants, and enhance public and institutional awareness through workshops, policy briefings, and open-access dissemination. The expected impacts of PANICOCENE are both scientific and societal. Scientifically, it strengthens an interdisciplinary dialogue that connects social sciences and humanities with environmental and policy research. Societally, it addresses the urgent need for responsible media narratives capable of countering misinformation and promoting mobility justice. The social sciences and humanities are integral throughout the project: concepts and methods from sociology, communication studies, discourse analysis, gender and intersectional perspectives, and mobilities research frame its approach, guide its analysis, and underpin its co-production of practical and ethical tools for journalists and activists.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз