Miriyam Aouragh presents on “Infrastructures of Empire” at Loughborough University workshop

Image via the Eventbrite page for this event // Sebastian James Rose

Prof. Miriyam Aouragh recently took part in the academic expert meeting “Colonialism and Infrastructure: Rethinking Our Communicative Pasts,” held at Loughborough University London on 25–26 September 2025.

Prof. Aouragh contributed a paper titled “Infrastructures of Empire: Palestine as the World Writ Small,” in which she examined how the Israel/Settler-colonialism in relation to critical infrastructure. Aouragh’s presentation was part of Panel 3: Media Infrastructures of Colonialism and Neocolonialism, alongside contributions from Lisa Parks (UC Santa Barbara), Maia Pal (Oxford Brookes University), and Mandy Tröger (University of Tübingen), chaired by Burçe Çelik (Loughborough University London).

The two-day workshop brought together scholars, artists, and archivists to explore the deep entanglements between colonialism and communication infrastructures, from imperial telegraph and wireless systems of the past to today’s satellites, drones, and digital networks. The event challenged participants to move beyond simplified narratives of globalisation and instead foreground the material, violent, and coercive dimensions of imperial power as embedded in communication technologies.

Learn more about the event here.