The Language of Displacement: Identity and the Power of Words

The Language of Displacement is coming to Northrop's Best Buy Theater on Thursday, October 29, as part of the (In)Justice Series on Data & Power. It's presented by the University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Study, and the session focuses on how the language used around displacement shapes public perception and power.

To get the full picture, it helps to know where this fits. The session is part of the 2026-2027 (In)Justice Series, which looks at data through the lens of diaspora—how people on the move experience the data that defines them. It builds on previous conversations about how different forms of data influence power, identity, and justice. This year, the speakers are exploring how institutions use data to classify people, regulate their movement, and control whose histories are preserved or erased.

The whole program follows four interconnected questions: 'Who gets to belong?', 'Who gets to move—and who gets tracked?', 'Who gets mapped?' and 'Who gets remembered?' Each session brings together interdisciplinary scholars, artists, practitioners, and community members to look critically at the information systems that define our world. This particular conversation on the language of displacement fits right into that, looking at the words and labels that follow people as they move.

It's free and open to the public, and if you can't make it to the theater in person, there's hybrid access via Zoom. The session is on Thursday, October 29, at Northrop's Best Buy Theater in Minneapolis.