Conference Mediated geographies

At the conference Mediated geographies: Exploring the dynamic nexus of media, environment, and place, the LAB contributed with a lecture on the mediation of places. Such mediation occurs through various media, including the visual and the textual medium, maps, paintings, and physical models. The focus here was on textual mediations and documentaries, which draw a picture of a place and, in a certain sense, distort what constitutes the place.

Such distortion can lead to stigamization as can be observed in redlining, a historically discriminatory practice in the USA. The distorted portrayal of certain neighbourhoods alone has led to racial and ethnic minorities being denied access to financial services. Another example is the film The Sound of Music, which presents a certain image of Salzburg and Austria and thus shapes the way American and Japenese tourists think about these places.

Link: Space and Place LAB News