Professor Mirca Madianou

Staff details

Mirca studies the social consequences of communication technologies, infrastructures and AI in a global south context.

Mirca Madianou is Professor in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her current research focuses on the social consequences of communication technologies, infrastructures and artificial intelligence (AI) in a global south context especially in relation to migration and humanitarian emergencies. She is currently Principal Investigator on a British Academy grant on digital identity programmes in refugee camps in Thailand. Her latest book, 'Technocolonialism: when technology for good is harmful' is published in October 2024. Earlier books include: Mediating the Nation: news, audiences and the politics of identity, and Migration and New Media: transnational families and polymedia. At Goldsmiths, Mirca is academic co-director of the newly established Migrant Futures Institute and co-convenor of the Digital Culture Unit.

Academic qualifications

  • PhD Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science 2002

Grants and awards

2024: Reimagining digital identity: towards responsible digital identity practices among Karen refugees in Thailand
This is a British Academy funded project under its ODA Challenge-Oriented Research Grants 2024 Programme. The project is a collaboration with Chiang Mai University.

Publications and research outputs

Book

Madianou, Mirca. 2024. Technocolonialism: when technology for good is harmful. Cambridge: Polity Press. ISBN 9781509559022

Madianou, Mirca and Miller, Daniel. 2011. Migration and New Media: Transnational Families and Polymedia. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-67928-2

Madianou, Mirca. 2005. Mediating the Nation: News, audiences and the politics of identity. London: UCL Press / Routledge. ISBN 978-1844720286

Edited Book

Couldry, Nick; Madianou, Mirca and Pinchevski, Amit, eds. 2013. Ethics of Media. London: Palgrave. ISBN 9780230347632

Book Section

Madianou, Mirca. 2022. Technological Futures as Colonial Debris: ‘Tech-for-Good’ as Technocolonialism. In: Joanna Zylinska, ed. The Future of Media. London: Goldsmiths Press, pp. 281-294. ISBN 9781913380144

Madianou, Mirca. 2021. Technocolonialism. In: Lilie Chouliaraki and Anne Vestergaard, eds. Routledge Handbook of Humanitarian Communication. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 185-202. ISBN 9781138230576

Madianou, Mirca. 2020. Polymedia and Mobile Communication. In: Richard Ling; Leopoldina Fortunati; Gerard Goggin; Lim Sun Sun and Li Yuling, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Mobile Communication and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 68-81. ISBN 9780190864385

Article

Madianou, Mirca. 2021. Polymedia Life. Pragmatics and Society, 12(5), pp. 859-866. ISSN 1878-9714

Madianou, Mirca. 2021. Nonhuman humanitarianism: when ‘AI for good’ can be harmful. Information, Communication and Society, 24(6), pp. 850-868. ISSN 1369-118X

Madianou, Mirca. 2020. A second-order disaster? Digital technologies during the Covid-19 pandemic. Social Media + Society, 6(3), ISSN 2056-3051

Report

Madianou, Mirca. 2020. Reproducing colonial legacies: technocolonialism in humanitarian biometric practices. Technical Report. Goldsmiths, University of London.

Conferences and talks

2024: Technocolonialism: when technology for good is harmful
Forthcoming Public Lecture at the LSE to launch my new book, Technocolonialism. December 5 2024

Technocolonialism: when technology for good is harmful
Forthcoming Public Lecture at the University of Bielefeld on my new book, Technocolonialism. January 21 2025

2024: Technocolonialism: when technology for good is harmful
Book talk at New York University's Institute of Public Knowledge, September 18 2024