In this research seminar, the speakers will present the findings of the research project Citizen-refugeeness: internal displacement and digital order in Greece's Storm Daniel, funded by the LSE Urgency Grant Scheme.
Drawing on digital urban ethnography and interviews with climate refugees in Thessaly region, this presentation examines the role of digital connectivity in climate driven displacement. It explores how media and communication technologies support or hinder displaced people’s management of ecological displacement in the aftermath of Greece’s Storm Daniel. The presentation reveals that the socio-technical milieu of media and communications technologies provides a fertile space for local mobilisation and solidarities, but also demonstrates its failures and limits in amplifying the voices of flood victims on a national scale. The presentation aims to move beyond technosolutionist claims that consider technology as a panacea for climate-driven disasters, and instead highlights that thehyperlocal communication compensates for the loss of natural capital.
Meet our speaker and chair
Dr Afroditi Koulaxi is an LSE100 Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she teaches courses on Artificial Intelligence from a social science perspective and Fairness in contemporary societies. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AdvanceHE). She earned her fully-funded ESRC PhD from the LSE Department of Media and Communications. Her research explores identity and migration at the intersection of sociology, urban studies, media, and communications. Currently, Dr Koulaxi’s work investigates climate-driven displacement, with a particular emphasis on the immediate aftermath of Storm Daniel in Greece’s Thessaly region and its significant impact on citizenship, the digital divide, and resilience. Additionally, her recent research delves into digital culture and gender, examining how femicide is communicated on social media through political formal addresses, grassroots denunciations, and celebrity advocacy in Greece. Her forthcoming monograph, “Citizenship in Crisis in Athens: Migration, Media and Identity”, will be published next year by Routledge.
Dr Maria-Christina Vogkli is a Research Associate at the Hellenic Observatory and a Guest Teacher at the LSE Sociology Department. Maria-Christina holds a PhD in Sociology from LSE. Funded by ESRC, her thesis was a multi-sited urban ethnography looking at the intersection of care, homelessness, and urban space. She has served as a Research Officer at LSE and has taught Advanced Research Methods, Criminology, and Digital Humanities at LSE and King’s College London. During her PhD, she was a Research Assistant in two collaborative projects on financial inclusion and equity crowdfunding. In addition to her academic work, Maria-Christina works as a researcher and consultant with local authorities and NGOs in Greece and the UK on projects investigating vulnerable groups, homelessness, service provision, the commissioning of social care and the experiences of those providing and receiving support. In this capacity, Maria-Christina has presented her findings and participated in international conferences, NGOs, local authorities, and scrutiny review meetings of councils.
Vassilis Monastiriotis is the Hellenic Observatory Director, Eleftherios Venizelos Chair of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor of Political Economy.
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The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.
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