Articulating ‘Mobilisation’: Subject-Formation in Mediated Mobilities

As people increasingly move ever more not only physically but also imaginatively and virtually, this projects inquires into subjectifying modes in mediated contexts, such as narrative fiction, TV, and online platforms. Focussing on mobility - understood as culturally and historically meaningful movability - helps establish correlations between various elements, e.g. texts, images, films, objects, and humans, that travel both locally and globally and, thus, give rise to specific ways of thinking, acting, and looking. While hegemonic orders of knowledge and institutional power-structures do certainly partake in regulating and disciplining (human) mobility, the subversive potential of these manifold movements should not be underestimated. With this, we ask questions about prevailing articulations that associate mobilities with disctintive forms of subjectivity in mediated contexts: How and under which circumstances does narrative fiction imagine ideas of mobile artists, merchants, or tourists? What do streaming services offer their customers when talking about absolute freedom of choice for leisure activities? Which kinds of protest and resignification are possible through user comments and social media platforms for actors from the Global South?