VIGO is a study of how visuality affects governance. The project builds on the idea that visuality creates and shares social meaning, thereby shaping governance – intended as the conceptual representation of change in underlying social systems and the efforts to manage or steer the effects of these changes. The VIGO project addresses the significant but understudied impact of visual representations on governance, through the lens of migration governance. With the rise of visual media, images have become central in shaping perceptions and policies concerning critical issues such as the migration crisis, evident in viral images of migrant boats and refugees. This issue is vital for society because visuals rapidly communicate complex situations, evoking empathy, solidarity, and sometimes even fear, thereby influencing public sentiment and policy decisions. Indeed, as the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Yet, surprisingly, scant research has been devoted to understanding the effect that visual representation has on governance. This is precisely where ‘VIGO – Exploring the Role of Visuality in Governance’ aims to produce crucial insights. By adopting a comparative multi-scalar and multi-modal methodology, the project is the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive analysis of the role of visuality in (migration) governance. The project looks at the visual governance of migration in Europe and Canada, which is high on the agenda of political debate, policymaking, and media discourse in both (and beyond). In doing so, VIGO has three key objectives:
• Contribute to theory-building by conceptualizing visual governance. By bringing the literature on visuality into conversation with literature on governance, VIGO seeks to offer a novel theoretical approach to think about the powerful role of images in systems of international government today.
• Explore the role of visuality in governance at the macro, meso and micro levels across two geographic areas. This project will provide in-depth empirical insight into the interconnection of visuality and governance, shedding light on the role of three typologies of actors located at different levels of governance.
• Test innovative methodological approaches in International Relations. By adopting a multi-modal and multi-scalar approach, VIGO uses the latest methodological developments in the social science to enable a fine-grained investigation of governance processes.
