27 March 2026 - Seminar
Visual media, disinformation, and the spread of far-right
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Collectively, media and social media are implicated in discrimination and violence against marginalised groups, with a massive rise in online and GenAI disinformation over the past few years. This Research Seminar addresses the comparative visual research methods which can be used to support a plausible case about the role of texts such as WhatsApp messages, posters, films, documentaries, websites, star endorsements and political advertising in the rhetorics and strategies of the global far right. In doing so, it addresses questions such as: Which groups are singled out by the global far right for most online hate and what characterises these interactions and choices? Are tech platforms controlling how GenAI and other technological tools are being used for hateful disinformation effectively? And, what should concerned citizens and journalists do to protect against the destruction of human rights and democratic processes?
Bio: Shakuntala Banaji, PhD, is Professor of Media, Culture and Social Change and Programme Director for the MSc in Media, Communication and Development in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professor Banaji's research addresses the intersection between socio-political contexts, media, identities and the public sphere. Her focus is twofold: first on the lives of children and young people in different geographical and class contexts, with a critical take on the ways in which rhetorical conceptions of citizenship, development, engagement and digital media construct the notion of agency, and position child and youth subjectivities. This work is currently tracing global young people’s responses to the idea of the future, including climate crisis, precarity and disinformation worldwide. And second, on the ways in which historical propaganda and current misinformation, disinformation and hate speech are reconfiguring the public spheres of India, the UK and other countries. She has been teaching for 33 years, winning numerous awards including the fourth European Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Social Sciences and Humanities, and the Diener Prize, awarded by Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. Professor Banaji is the author, co-author or editor of 7 books and over 80 papers and monographs, including Children and Media in India (Routledge, 2017) and Youth Active Citizenship in Europe (Palgrave 2020). Her book Social Media and Hate with Ram Bhat (Routledge, 2022) theorises the social and psychological repercussions of the landscape of disinformation and trolling in the U.K., India, Brazil and Myanmar with particular attention to the connections between contemporary and historical racism, discrimination, marginalisation and violence, while her special issue of Javnost (32, 1; 2025) edited with Eviane Leidig, explores the rhetorics and strategies of the global far right.