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Category: Series

Series are sequences of essays on common questions that are addressed from personal standpoints and particular positions. Written in an accessible way, they contextualize and open up the consideration beyond the boundaries of disciplines and areas of expertise.
Series are curated by individual scholars or editorial groups. They are reviewed or peer-reviewed by the editors and/or participants of the series. They can be employed in writing workshops or accompany the work of collective projects. For more information on form see Contributions.

A person swimming in a lake, eyes closed.

Liquid Conviviality in Chilean Documentary Film. Dynamics of Confluences and Counter/fluences

By Berit Callsen. Guided by the concept of liquid conviviality, referring to the conflictual connectivity, interrelation, and interaction between human and nonhuman actors in aquatic ecosystems, this article focuses on the staging of aquatic, and especially fluvial, agency in three examples of recent Chilean documentary films produced between 2008 and 2021. Building on theoretical insights in the blue humanities and material ecocriticism, it scrutinizes the filmic strategies and procedures that frame water as an active player.

A man with dark hair in a blue shirt.

Data protection weaponised

By Tivadar Hüttl. This article explores the intricate relationship between data protection regulations and press freedom in Europe, with a particular emphasis on the misuse of data protection laws to initiate Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). The Hungarian Forbes demonstrates the onerous legal obligations placed on the press and the potential for Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) to function as de facto instruments of SLAPPs.

A man with a grey beard wearing a blue suit.

Choice Illusions: Through ‘Rule by Law’ to ‘Electoral Capture’ in Hungary and Poland?

By Stefan Szwed. National populist leaders across the EU, and in particular governments in backsliding Members States such as Hungary under Fidesz and Poland under PiS, like to proclaim themselves as true representatives of the people. They pit the principle of popular choice against the demands of the rule of law, defined among others as protection against abuses of majority rule. This exploratory research examines how ‘strongmen’ in office undermine the rule of law to not only advance their illiberal agendas, but also lower the risk of losing future ballots. Across key aspects of the process, it considers how the pair had laid foundations to game if not capture electoral competition.

A storefront with glass windows displaying various media items and signs including 'Video Clasicos Disco' and multiple brand names.

Convertir a la música en un negocio

Ornela Boix focuses on music fairs in Latin America over the last 15 years, aiming to contribute to an understanding of the formation of music markets that transcend national borders, against a backdrop of transformation in the music industry driven by digitalisation. Drawing on a theoretical framework that emphasises the social, convivial and unequal nature of the art worlds and their markets, and an ethnographic approach, the text situates the emergence and development of these fairs historically at the intersection of processes of change within the music industry’s business model, public cultural policies, cultural activism, Latin American regionalism and the relationship between art and capitalism. The article specifically examines the role of educational activities (workshops, conferences) in the production of narratives about the contemporary music industry, which have consequences for the ways in which actors behave and for the very constitution of music markets. In this way, the article outlines the cultural dimension of these markets.

A woman with dark hair in a purple sweater.

The Politics of Migration: Framing Sub-Saharan Migrants in Tunisian Online Media – 5in10 with Imene Gannouni Khemiri

Imene Gannouni khemiri is a short-term Fellow at Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM) for the 2025 cohort and an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the Faculty of Letters, Arts and Humanities, University of Manouba, Tunisia. She holds a Master’s degree and a PhD in cultural studies from the University of Manouba with her doctoral research focusing on the representation of Tunis in British travel writing (1815–1910). Her research interests include travel writing, migration studies, media studies, and visual culture.

A bridge with a steel structure painted in blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

Cognitive Dissonance in Stay-Leave Decisions of Ukrainian Forced Migrants

By Natalia Zaitseva. The motives of Ukrainian women for mobility and immobility, recorded several years after forced displacement, cannot be considered indicators of the causal mechanisms of decision-making. They are rather the result of a secondary reflection on experience, adapted to new life circumstances and existing structural constraints. Therefore, at the current stage of the war, it is more productive to focus on investigating how forcibly displaced persons interpret and experience their countries of residence. It is these perceptions that allow for a deeper under- standing of the dynamics of (im)mobility in the context of a protracted war.

Five people sitting at a table behind to banners that read "Mothers of May: Against state terrorism" and "Stop the violence against Black youth".

Militarization as Conviviality: How Women Define and Resist Gendered Everyday Violence and Discipline in Brazil

By Izadora Xavier do Monte. This contribution looks at Brazilian security dynamics to understand how gender intersects with Brazilian perceptions of peace, war, security, and militarization. Women in Brazil have insisted that militarization deeply shapes their everyday interactions, their living together with others, affecting how they carry out their roles and live their lives as women. It’s not just a question of police violence; it’s about armed men everywhere – whether police, hired gunmen for landowners, or others. This widespread militarization is failing to makewomen feel safe, and gender is vital to understand what makes for that dynamic.

The interior of a multi-storey building with stone walls and wooden balconys looking out on the courtyard.

Framing religious tolerance for public diplomacy – the monarchy’s instrumentalisation of Morocco’s Jewish community

By Andreas Wüst. The exodus of thousands of Jewish families from Morocco and the lamentable situation of Jewish heritage in the country, the result of years of omission and disinterest, are now followed by a strategy to preserve and renovate Jewish memory. André Azoulay, the king’s advisor and himself a Moroccan Jew, promotes the kingdom’s narrative about a diverse, tolerant and moderate society. While the public promotion of Jewish heritage before 2016 was part of a general strategy to improve Morocco’s image on the international level, it has now become pivotal to Moroccan foreign policy concerning the territory of Western Sahara.

Between Trade-Based Food Security and Self-Sufficiency: Agricultural Policies and Sectors in Tunisia

By Emile van Ommeren. Around the globe, countries are rethinking their food policy strategies in response to the increasingly uncertain geopolitical situation and climate change. Many countries have expressed their interests in improving their levels of food self-sufficiency– i.e., the extent to which a country can satisfy its food needs from its own domestic production. Rather than taking a state-level perspective, my goal is to understand the role and position of Tunisian farmers in the current debate about food and trade policy. Is there broad support among farmers for a shift towards policies that prioritize local agricultural production? Or are producers in Tunisia divided over the question of how higher levels of food security can be attained?

A two-part collage showing a rustic brick house with a blue door frame on the left, and on the right, a woman in an apron near an outdoor table with another person in a green garden setting.

A Body of Clay: The Vanishing Tradition of House-Building in the Donetsk Region

By Anton Dorokh. A traditional Ukrainian village house (khata) had one floor, white clay-and-wood walls, a hay-covered roof, and small windows. Is there something in this architectural tradition that can serve as a counterpoint to the Soviet narrative? Our family house, which was built in the same style, was destroyed, the ability to return there every summer taken away, and this article is an attempt to resist further dehumanisation and erasure. This purpose made me ask my grandmother questions I had never asked before, to learn histories I did not know as a kid, and I hope that by sharing them with other people I can spark curiosity toward other aspects of Ukrainian culture that are now being erased.