Dr Moé Suzuki

Moé works across critical migration and refugee studies, politics, and media studies. Their main interest has been to think about the concept of ‘humanity’ politically in relation to migrants and refugees, using feminist and decolonial theories: what is done in the name of humanity, by whom, for what purpose, and with what implications? Their PhD thesis, ‘The politics of humanity: ‘humanising’ refugees through virtual reality technology’, examined the mobilisation of a modern/colonial conceptualisation of humanity in virtual reality films (‘virtuous VR’) on displacement. More broadly, they are interested in no borders politics, grassroots activism, and theories and practices of feminisms.

At the University of East Anglia where they obtained their faculty-funded PhD, Moé taught on undergraduate and postgraduate modules about digital media and feminist perspectives on technology. Having been involved in grassroots feminist activism in Japan, Moé is interested in the relationship between pedagogy and social change, and believes that theory and practice are intrinsically linked.

Before embarking on the PhD, Moé worked as a researcher and translator in Japan and the UK. They hold a BA in Development Studies and Politics from SOAS, and an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies from the University of Oxford.

Awards and grants

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2023)

Joint winner of the Student Article Prize, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of East Anglia (2022)

Joint winner of UEA Engagement Awards (as part of Black Lives Matter seminar series, Decolonise UEA Society, and Decolonising Academia seminar series) (2021)

Individual and joint winner (as a Postgraduate Committee member) of Outstanding Contribution to the Postgraduate Community, the Student Union, University of East Anglia (2021)

Joint winner of the Special Community Impact Prize, Faculty of Arts and Humanities (as a member of Decolonise UEA Society)

Faculty of Arts and Humanities Postgraduate Research Studentship, University of East Anglia (2019-2022)

Learning, Teaching and Pedagogy Fund (2020)

Oxford-Kobe Scholarship, University of Oxford (2014-2015)

Expertise Details

Migration and Refugee Studies; Digital technologies; Feminist theory; Decolonial theory

Publications

Suzuki, M. ‘Situating the body in digital migration research: embodied methodologies for analysing virtual reality films on displacement’. Doing Digital Migration Studies: Theories and Practices of the Everyday, eds. Leurs, K. and Ponzanesi, S., Amsterdam University Press (forthcoming).

Suzuki, M. (2022) ‘The limits of humanisation: ‘ideal’ figures of the refugee and depoliticisation of displacement in virtual reality film Clouds Over Sidra’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, Volume 25, Issue 5, 1266–1285. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494221076542

Suzuki, M. (2021) (B)ordering Britain: Law, Race and Empire (book review), International Journal of Refugee Law, Volume 33, Issue 1, March 2021, 166–169. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeab022

Chukwuma, K. and Suzuki, M. (2020), ‘What does ‘decolonisation’ mean? A critique of the discourse of decolonisation in the Political, Social and International Studies department at UEA’. Eastminster Blog, University of East Anglia, 7 October 2020. http://www.ueapolitics.org/2020/10/07/what-does-decolonisation-mean-a-critique-of-the-discourse-of-decolonisation-in-the-political-social-and-international-studies-department-at-uea/

Suzuki, M. (2016) ‘Performing the human: refugees, the body, and the politics of universalism’. Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper Series No.177, University of Oxford, 31 July 2016. https://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/publications/performing-the-human-refugees-the-body-and-the-politics-of-universalism

LSE100B: How can we control AI?

Talks and conferences

Presenter, ‘‘Virtuous’ virtual reality on displacement and post-humanitarianism: A conjunctural analysis’, the Department of Media and Communications 20^th anniversary conference ‘Media Futures’, London School of Economics, 15-16 June 2023.

Presenter, ‘‘Humanity’ and virtual reality films on displacement’, Research Forum, University of East Anglia Refugee Week, 7 March 2023.

Co-organiser, creative workshop, ‘What does ‘ESEA’ mean to you? Reflections through drawing and body-mapping’, ‘Doing Race and Gender in the Age of Uncertainties as East and South-East Asian (ESEA) Scholars: Emerging Themes and Theories, Reflections and Resistance’, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, 13 September 2022.

Presenter, ‘Am I a ‘migrant’ studying ‘refugees’? Critical reflections on positionalities and relations’, ‘Positionality and power of migration researchers: Searching for reflexive ways of knowledge production - Part II’, 19^th IMISCOE Annual Conference ‘Migration and Time: Temporalities of Mobility, Governance, and Resistance’, International Migration Research Network, 29 June – 1 July 2022.

Co-organiser of Entangled Exchanges: Decolonising the Classroom conference, CHASE Decolonise Network (funded by CHASE), 5-16 July 2021.

Presenter, ‘Empathy and the everyday in Clouds Over Sidra: forging ‘human’ connections with refugees through virtual reality films’, online international conference Migrant Belongings: Digital Practices and The Everyday, Utrecht University, 21-23 April 2021.

Co-organiser of Decolonising Academia: Realisation and Beyond seminar series, 2020-2021.

Co-organiser of Black Lives Matter seminar series, 7-11 September, 2020.