Journal of Global Diaspora & Media. Special Issue

Deadline: January 30, 2023

Guest Editors:

Alicia Ferrández Ferrer, Universidad de Alicante (Spain)

Ola Ogunyemi, University of Lincoln (UK)

Previous studies by social psychologists in the past two decades reveal the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is higher among journalists than the general population (Aoki et al. 2012; Backholm & Björkqvist 2012; Dworznik, 2011). However, we have little understanding of work-related trauma among diaspora journalists, because they were hardly included in these empirical studies. 

Less attention has also been paid to the experiences of work-related trauma among diaspora journalists in diaspora studies which mostly prioritise the diversity and complexity of migratory processes, the motivations that push people to leave their own country to reside in another, and the profiles of those who migrate. 

However, the risks of being a journalist in countries with regimes eager to control freedom of the press and being forced into exile have the potential to cause emotional and psychological trauma among diaspora journalists. To compound the problem, they suffer secondary trauma by reading statistics about physical attacks on and killings of journalists such as ‘2,174 journalists have been killed in the exercise of their profession between 1992 and October 2022’ (Comitee to Protect Journalists, 2022); that ‘48 journalists/media collaborators have been killed, and 524 have been imprisoned in 2022’ (Reporters Without Borders, 2022); and that ‘1,811 have been imprisoned for carrying out their work in the last 6 years’ (Reporters Without Borders, 2022). 

This special issue focuses on exploring the experiences of work-related trauma among diaspora journalists from a multidisciplinary perspective in order to bridge the hiatus in literature. The scope of themes includes, but not limited to, an understanding of the perception and personal experiences of work-related trauma among diaspora journalists; an understanding of the causes of work-related trauma; the coping strategies in response to exposure to traumatic events; the family, organisational and social support available to diaspora journalists to cope with trauma; the ‘training needs’ to cope with work-related trauma in specific cultural and socio-political contexts; the trauma induced by physical and online attacks on diaspora journalists; and the experiences of secondary trauma in the host country. Responses to one or some of these themes, and other related themes, from a diversity of methodological and theoretical approaches are welcome. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Submissions 

Submission of abstracts should include: name, institutional affiliation, contact information, title and a 300-word abstract.

Email your abstracts to both guest editors: Alicia Ferrández Ferrer, alicia.ferrandez@ua.es ; Ola Ogunyemi, oogunyemi@lincoln.ac.uk 

Publication deadlines and timeline 

Submission of abstracts: 30 January 2023 

Confirmation of acceptance: 01 March 2023 

Full manuscripts: 25 September 2023 

Post-review acceptance decisions: 31 January 2024 

Publication of Special Issue: May/June, 2024 

For more information, visit https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-global-diaspora-media