ABSTRACT
The 2018 TEDxKakumaCamp event provided a platform and counter-narrative space for Kenyan-based refugees, the staff of humanitarian organizations and refugee advocates to speak back against dominant local and global media representations. Refugees are commonly portrayed in the media as passive, dependent, helpless, hopeless or, in a more sinister vein, as a burden, a threat or a problem. Socially progressive in nature, TED talks and TEDx events spread ideas and engage diverse audiences on a wide range of pressing contemporary issues. In facilitating a voice for refugees and concerned others, TEDxKakumaCamp provided presenters with an opportunity to highlight strengths, skills and talents and, in the process, challenge dominant stereotypes and promote agency. Our analysis of the TEDxKakumaCamp event examines the relative value of the event for camp inhabitants and audience uptake as well as the Neoliberal nature of some of the dominant themes espoused. The discussion evaluates whose voices were heard and, ultimately, the potential of events such as TEDxKakumaCamp to challenge wider normative and typically negative, media representations of refugees.
