*CFP* "IMAGINING 'WE' IN THE AGE OF 'I': ROMANCE AND SOCIAL BONDING IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE", STUDY DAY, UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

This is a Call for Papers for the following:

 

Study Day: Imagining ‘We’ in the Age of ‘I’: Romance and Social Bonding in Contemporary Culture

University of  Warwick, Friday 29th March 2019

Following an exciting symposium on 28th September, the key aim of this forthcoming event will be to continue raising questions about conceptualising couples and related social groups today. It will achieve this through an emphasis on the evolving roles and forms of such social units in the cultural imaginary, taking stock of both novel means of engaging with tropes of romance, the family and adjacent forms of bonding and new ways of constructing these that respond to, mediate and feed back into shaping cultural trends in this domain. In other words, we welcome culturally-oriented research, as well as sociological, psychological or more theoretical interventions. 

*CFP* "NOT A FIT PLACE: ESSAYS ON THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE", CHAPTER BOOK

I am looking for proposals for chapters for an academic book on the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House to be published by McFarland & Company.

While the existence of shows such as American Horror Story, Preacher, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, Stranger Things, The Terror, Castle Rock, The Strain and Penny Dreadful gives the impression we are living in a golden age of horror television, The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix seems to be a game-changer that takes small-screen dread to a new height. Less than a month in release, the series has garnered a great deal of praise and media discussion. Stephen King called it “nearly perfect” and “close to a work of genius,” Nerdist posted an article entitled “Why You Should Watch The Haunting of Hill House,” the show has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, was praised in GQ as “the first great horror TV show,” and in Forbes as “perfect for Halloween.” Critical reaction has been mostly glowing, albeit with some very obvious critiques of the series (see, for example, Holly Green’s “How Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House Betrays Shirley Jackson,” which found the series “egregious and disrespectful.”) The show thus is controversial (especially its ending and its approach to its source material) and yet is also highly regarded as effective horror television.

*CFP* "DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN GAMING AND GAMBLING CONSUMPTION", SPECIAL ISSUE OF JOURNAL OF CONSUMER CULTURE

Consumption patterns of video games and gambling are undergoing a number of profound shifts, with new phenomena emerging almost every year to complicate and confuse the once-clear boundaries between these two forms of play. Perhaps the most visible element of this trend is the rise of “loot boxes”, virtual containers that contain an unknown selection of items either cosmetic or gameplay-changing in nature. These are part of a broader trend of “microtransactions” in digital games, small purchases that are designed to enhance or progress a player’s experience; loot boxes in particular are the most “gamblified” of all of these. Similar trends are occurring elsewhere. Within Esports, a growing number of betting sites are now accepting wagers on professional gaming competitions, and the market for Esports wagering is estimated to be seven times the size of the market for Esports itself (Smith, 2018). 

Within Esports games themselves, skin betting entails the wagering of digital cosmetic items, “skins”, against and with other players, sometimes in traditional gambling games and sometimes in custom competitions designed uniquely for that purpose (Perez, 2018). On live streaming websites, broadcasters have developed a wide range of systems that resemble competitions, raffles or even lotteries monetise their content (Johnson & Woodcock, Forthcoming) and encourage viewers to remain loyal. Social casino games reproduce many forms of play from traditional brick-and-mortar casinos on mobile phones, with easy user interfaces and “juicy” game elements designed to maximise appeal and user retention (Cassidy, 2013; Gainsbury et al, 2016). 

*CFP* "COMMUNICATION OF MIGRATION IN MEDIA AND ART", EDITED BOOK

We seek submissions from the humanities and communications studies that engage migration as lived aesthetic experience as expressed through literature, the media, and other forms of expressive culture.

If you have a “completed study” or “almost completed”, please consider submitting it for possible publication.The referee of the chapters began the process of compiling the book for more studies are needed. Within the framework of the migration, the media and the art we look forward to your chapters. Our aim is to bring together scholars to write about the results of the migration’s experience reflections on art, media and literature.

Ultimately, the publication scope is “Communication of Migration in Media and Arts”. The edited book will be published by Transnational Press London and will be available through all mainstream online bookshops in paperback and kindle versions. The chapters submitted will be subject to editorial review and peer review and we may need to go a few iterations.

*CFP* "REPRESENTATION IN THE TIME OF THE POSTHUMAN: TRANSHUMAN ENHANCEMENT IN 21ST CENTURY STORYTELLING", 16TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTEMPORARY NARRATIVES IN ENGLISH

16th International Conference on Contemporary Narratives in English

University of Zaragoza, Spain

May 29-31, 2019

The drive towards personal progress may be considered intrinsic to the human species. Whether intellectual, emotional, spiritual or bodily, perfection –or, less ambitiously, improvement– has always been pursued by different means like education, cultural development, meditation, or physical exercise, to name a few. What seems to have changed in recent decades is the tools available in the race for individual enhancement, given the rapidly evolving fields of science and technology as applied to human desires to enlarge one’s memory and intelligence, lengthen one’s life span, or create genetically stronger and healthier children.

*CFP* CALL FOR PAPERS SHORT FILM STUDIES VOL. 10, NUMBER 1

Short Film Studies is a peer-reviewed journal designed to stimulate ongoing research on individual short films as a basis for a better understanding of the art form as a whole. In each issue, two or three short films will be selected for comprehensive study, with articles illuminating each film from a variety of perspectives. These are the works that will be singled out for close study in Short Film Studies Vol. 10, Number 1:

Remembrance

Stephanie Morgenstern,

Canada, 2001, 19 min.

Blow-Up

Siegfried A. Fruhauf,

Austria, 2000, 1 min 40 sec.

*CFP* "DECADENCE" BOOK REVIEW, VOL.11 (SUMMER 2019) MOVEABLE TYPE JOURNAL

Moveable Type Journal are accepting pitches for reviews of academic works relevant to the theme of decadence, broadly interpreted. Upon the acceptance of a pitch, writers will submit 700 to 1,000 word pieces that critically analyze a recent monograph or edition. 

Potential books could include:

• Critical editions of authors and texts 
• Theoretical works that focus on new or developing critical methodologies 
• Novels, poetry collections or dramatic texts 
• Secondary material on authors that are relevant to the theme of decadence.

*CFP* "THEOLOGY, RELIGION AND POPULAR CULTURE NETWORK", PLAY AND PROTEST CONFERENCE, UNIVERSITY OF KENT

Theology, Religion and Popular Culture Network

Play and Protest Conference

University of Kent, Canterbury

23-25 July 2019

Papers and panels are invited for the bi-annual conference of the Theology, Religion and Popular Culture Network. The aim of this conference is to explore themes related to play and protest as cultural activities and how these themes resonate within all aspects of popular culture. Special attention will be paid to fandom, film and TV, gaming and music, though any aspect of popular culture’s interface with religion and religious themes will be considered. The strands that will run throughout the conference are: Play and Protest; Fantasy and Reality; the Religious and the Profane; Gaming and Literature. We welcome submissions that explore a broad range of topics and researchers from diverse backgrounds.

*CFP* "MISOGYNY, MEDIA AND THE CLASH OF CULTURES", CHAPTER BOOK

Misogyny and power inequities are at the root of sexual assault, harassment and bullying. Media stories have proliferated and have been amplified by social media in the United States in the case of the Ford-Kavanaugh allegations and the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, the sexual harassment allegations against incumbent President Donald J. Trump, and by the #MeToo movement. Other countries, too, have had stories rooted in misogyny and power inequities.

Contributors should examine misogyny and power inequities from the perspective of critical/cultural studies; political communication; feminism; race, gender and class; and other relevant perspectives. Papers (chapters) should be 25 double-spaced typed pages with citations in APA style.

This proposed book aims to devote chapters to explore issues such as the following:

*CFP* "COMMUNIST VISUAL CULTURES", EXTRA CHAPTERS, EDITED BOOK

We are currently looking for 2-3 extra chapters for a collection of critical-analytical essays on communist visual cultures (currently under contract with Oxford University Press and entering early production stage). Edited by Aga Skrodzka, Xiaoning Lu, and Katarzyna Marciniak, the collection aims to review and reframe the legacy of communist visual culture and its currency today. We are looking for essays that focus on communist and/or post-communist visual culture in any of the following areas: fine arts, posters, film, design, print, material culture, theater, propaganda art, architecture, monuments and memorials, fashion, etc., from different historical periods and geographical locations (Middle East, Latin America, US, (Eastern) Europe, Africa, Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Korea, India, etc.)

 

Essays must be original, previously unpublished, in English, and full length (7,500-9,500 words, excluding bibliography and endnotes). We are happy to discuss your individual completion timeline. 

*CFP* "A WORLD IN TRANSITION: IN-BETWEEN PERFORMATIVE ARTS AND MIGRATION" INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

A World in Transition

In-between Performative Arts and Migration

curated by the Department of Sociology and Business Law of the

University of Bologna

7 March 2019 | Bologna, Italy

The conference is hosted within the Atlas of Transitions Biennale 2019, a ten-days festival to discuss about new ways of perceiving public spaces and cohabitation between European citizens and asylum seekers and refugees organized by Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, in collaboration with the Department of Sociology and Business Law, Department of Arts and Cantieri Meticci.

*CFP* "REGARDING THE PAIN OF OTHERS. WHAT EMOTIONS HAVE TO DO IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITARIAN IMAGES?", CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA

A workshop organised by the Institute for Ethics, History, and the Humanities (iEH2), and the Geneva Center for Education and Research in Humanitarian Action (CERAH), 

4-5 July, 2019, 

University of Geneva, Switzerland

Taking the title of Susan Sontag’s seminal work as a starting point, this workshop aims at re-opening an old debate about the potentialities of exhibiting other’s suffering in order to promote a culture of peace, prevent war and/or resolve conflict. Sontag concluded in her book that images of atrocities had led the Global North to a form of exhaustion, also called compassion fatigue, which has been criticised more recently as a myth. Yet, images remain today the main strategy of humanitarian organisations to raise awareness and funds.

In this workshop we would like to propose considering the importance of images (not only photographs, but also drawings as well as motion pictures) within the long-term history of humanitarianism, in order to explore the role of emotions in shaping and mobilising public opinion. More particularly, we encourage scholars to think about the ways through which humanitarian images affect us as material objects that have expressive effects related to the circuits, places or circumstances in which they are exhibited. 

DEFENSA DE TESIS "PERCEPCIÓN DEL AMOR ROMÁNTICO EN ADOLESCENTES Y PAPEL DE LOS MEDIOS DE COMUNICACIÓN"

Próxima defensa de tesis del Departamento de Periodismo y Comunicación Audiovisual de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. 

Información de la tesis:

"Percepción del amor romántico en adolescentes y papel de los medios de comunicación"

Autor/a: MARÍA ÁNGELES BLANCO RUIZ

*CFP* CALL FOR PAPERS GLOBAL HANDBOOK OF COMMUNICATIONS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In 2015 several member states of the United Nations agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or what is known as the 2030 agenda. The SDGs are expected to address major global challenges such as poverty alleviation, access to education, addressing inequality, climate change, improving access to quality healthcare, eradicating hunger, ensuring environmental sustainability, promoting innovation and infrastructural development among others.

To what extent are the intended beneficiaries of this ambitious plan aware of the 2030 agenda? What is the role of the media in communicating the SDGs? Are the efforts to communicate the global goals reaching the target beneficiaries or do they end up as gathering of elites in major capitals with little to show for in terms of impact for the ordinary people? How can communication be utilized to address the challenges of achieving sustainable development? How is the digital media being utilized in communicating for sustainable development? How can communication serve as a tool for community empowerment in achieving sustainable development? 

*CFP* "MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY AND NEW GENERATIONS: REPRESENTING MILLENIAL GENERATION AND GENERATION Z", CHAPTER BOOK

Even though the millennial generation, and now Generation Z, are two of the most educated and technologically savvy generations in U.S. history, compared with other generations, how they are, particularly millennials, are depicted in the media has not been widely studied (see, among others, Rose Kundanis and Paula Poindexter). For example, unlike previous generations, millennials are widely criticized for being self-centered, lacking curiosity and involvement in politics, mindlessly following cultural and fashion trends, and being victims of the consumer culture, as perpetuated by media outlets. We argue that while millennials are technologically savvy, capable of using different electronic devices and digital platforms, they often do not critically examine either the social and economic impact of these technologies or the ways they are individually affected by them. Furthermore, we argue that they do not critically examine the political and cultural implications of their heavy media and technology usage and how various cultural groups are represented in mediated texts. As a result, they often lack critical media analysis techniques to evaluate their media usage and the messages embedded in mediated texts. These characteristics of millennials are often depicted in various television shows, films, and news, and other aspect of popular culture, advertising and fashion.

*CFP* "REFOCUS THE FILMS OF JANE CAMPION", EDITED COLLECTION

As the only female director to win the Palme d’Or, and the second to be nominated for an Academy Award (both for The Piano [1993]) which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, Jane Campion is a figure who garners both critical and popular acclaim, as well as industry-wide respect. With over thirty years standing as a film, and now television, director (with Top of the Lake attracting collaborations with critically acclaimed actresses such as Elizabeth Moss, Holly Hunter, and Nicole Kidman), Campion’s work shines a spotlight on gender roles, often through complex female characters and an innovative approach to the screen representation of women habitually at the edges of society. As such, Campion’s name is synonymous with women on screen. Indeed, Campion is also vocal about the under-representation of females in the film industry more generally, concluding that, as ‘women are going to tell different stories – there would be many more stories in the world if women were making more films’ (Pulver, A. The Guardian, 14th May, 2014).

However, her commitment to the place of feminism itself is tempered by an ambivalence towards the term. Indeed, Campion has stated that ‘I no longer know what this [feminism, in the context of her filmmaking] means or expresses...I am interested in life as a whole. Even if my representation of female characters has a feminist structure, this is nevertheless only one aspect of my approach’ (Wright-Wrexham, 1999). The body of scholarship on her work to date is testament to her celebrated position within film, producing an eclectic and wide-ranging mix of responses extending to biography, nation and identity, adaptation, sex and eroticism, as well as authorship in her work. All these contributions celebrate the multiplicity in, and breadth of, her art and her vision. 

*CFP* "CROSSING BOUNDARIES IN PEDAGOGIES, POLICIES AND PRACTICES OF THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY", CONFERENCE MIL&LAB PROJECT

The MIL&LAB project is currently accepting paper for conference which will take place in Riga, Latvia on 24th January, 2019. The theme for the conference is “Crossing Boundaries in Pedagogies, Policies and Practices of the Media and Information Literacy”.

If you have any questions regarding the conference, please contact Marta Dziluma coordinator, The National Library of Latvia marta.dziluma@lnb.lv or Professor Anda Rozukalne, Dean of Faculty of Communication Riga Stradins University, Latvia anda.rozukalne@rsu.lv

Event

A one-day conference in Riga, Latvia

January 24, 2019

Organizers: Erasmus+ Project MIL+LAB and the National Library of Latvia

*CFP* "COUNTER-IMAGE" INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA

Counter-image

International Conference

Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

6th and 7th May 2019

The research on History, made by authors such as Benjamin and Foucault, sustain a counter-discourse and counter-narrative way of thinking that aims to embrace the voices of those who have been voted to silence by the hegemonic powers of society, asserting themselves as counter-memory. The practices of memory are thus fields of political action where various agents interact in relationships of power that seek to give visibility to memory, against forgetfulness, marginalization and subjugation. The productions of memory and forgetfulness are not passive acts, but denote conflicts and tensions between different modes of knowledge. We seek to highlight the different perspectives and multiplicities of discourses that converge in the formation of memory guided by heterogeneity and plurality.

*CFP* "THE DARK SIDE OF COMMUNICATION", 2ND INTERNATIONAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON DISCOURSE AND COMMUNICATION IN PROFESSIONAL CONTEXTS

The 2nd  International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Discourse and Communication in Professional Contexts will be held at Aalborg University, Denmark, August 14th  – 16th , 2019

Recent years have seen a veritable upsurge in research into organizational communication, PR communication, corporate communication, branding communication etc. Whereas this voluminous strand of research has delved ever deeper into the instrumental nature of organizational/corporate communication, so far little attention, outside organizational discourse studies, has been devoted to seriously examining what happens when we allow organizational/corporate communication to constitute the reality in which we live. Be it as employees or – in a wider sense – as citizens of late-modern societies.

The expression “the dark side” seems to have become a portmanteau term for all things unwanted. In strategic communication, “the dark side” pertains to (corporate) communication perceived as intentionally ambiguous – and maybe unlawfully so. In organization studies, “the dark side” encompasses deviant or even harmful organizational behavior. In interpersonal communication, “the dark side” deals with immoral, dysfunctional or malicious communication. 

*CFP* "VIRAL MEDIA", EDITED BOOK

Social media are changing the way we receive, share and consume fact and opinion. One of the reasons for that is the affordances of social networks that facilitate the rapid, immediate spread of information (Nahon & Hemsley, 2013). Another reason is the decreasing attention span of digital users and the ‘logic of acceleration’ (Rosa, 2013) – people spend less time to engage with a topic, but are more likely to form their opinion based on a headline, a meme or a short tweet.

This edited collection aims at establishing the theory and empirical research on this topical subject, viral media. General public, academics and journalists use “viral” in many ways. This book will narrow down the definition for media studies and conceptualise the buzzword into a consistent theory. The working definition of “viral” is the spread of information, opinion and entertaining pieces that catch like a wild fire in a short period of time. It is similar to a biological “virus”, as people pick it from others – close and broad networks, acquaintances and strangers – and then pass on to the close as much as broader networks. The biological definition is not enough, so we are looking at the sociological and psychological explanations, too.

*CFP* "POWER AND THE MEDIA", XXVIII AMHIST CONFERENCE, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY

XXVIII AMHIST Conference: POWER AND THE MEDIA

Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, 

16-19 July 2019

Confirmed keynote speakers include:

James Curran (Goldsmiths, University of London)

Jennifer Smyth (University of Warwick)

Papers and panels are invited for the 2019 conference of the International Association for Media and History. The conference theme this year is POWER AND THE MEDIA. Scholars of media history have not just been concerned with analysis of the individuals, institutions and elites exerting control, but also with how the media has represented, perpetuated or challenged power structures. Taking place in the immediate aftermath of Britain’s planned exit from the European Union, the conference invites scholars and practitioners from all relevant disciplines to take part in a timely conversation about the relationship between power and the media, from the film and broadcasting industries and the press, to new media, social media and advertising. In addition to keynote presentations, the conference will include film screenings, events geared towards PhD and early career scholars, social events, and a roundtable on the subject of academic power relationships.

*CFP* "SCREEN STUDIES BEYOND THE FIELD", 29TH INTERNATIONAL SCREEN STUDIES CONFERENCE

The 29th International Screen Studies Conference, organised by the journal Screen, will be programmed by Screen editors Alison Butler and Alastair Phillips.

Confirmed keynote speakers are :

• Dr David Campany (University of Westminster) 
• Professor Laura Marcus (University of Oxford) 
• Professor Haidee Wasson (Concordia University)

The Editors welcome proposals for papers, audiovisual essays and pre-constituted panels on any subject for this year’s conference. We are particularly keen to encourage contributors to a programming strand titled ‘Screen Studies Beyond the Field’, devoted to the themes of interdisciplinarity and impact in the contemporary audiovisual humanities and beyond.

*CFP* INTERFACING PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY", SPECIAL ISSUE 10.3, JOURNAL OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND POLICY

Public organizations tasked with the delivery of universal service in communications (e.g. broadcasting) and social welfare (e.g. health services) have been redesigning their service delivery through digital transformation for almost two decades now. At the centre of these systems and infrastructures are digital interfaces enabling the flow of information and data between organizations and their publics, mediating access to services and generating data about service users.

Originating in engineering to describe a face of separation between substances (Bottomley 1882) and, later, places or surfaces where two bodies or systems come together (OED 1990; McLuhan 1962), the concept of the ‘interface’ entered common use in new media studies at the turn of the century to denote mediations between human and computer, between computers or between humans. Interfaces are both technical devices and conceptual spaces. In digital communications, the word ‘interface’ denotes the software and hardware that conditions the interaction between computers and between computers and humans, as well as the interweaving of information and forging of connections that is directed through digital code. 

*CFP* "CAN SUPERHEROINES ESCAPE THEIR GENDER?", AUTUMN 2019 SPECIAL ISSUE GENRE EN SÉRIES

Can superheroines escape their gender?  by Sophie Bonadé, doctoral student (UEVE/Saclay, SLAM) and Réjane Hamus-Vallée, professor (UEVE/Saclay, Centre Pierre Naville)

"Jewel is a great superhero name! »

" Jewel is a stripper's name. »

dialogue in Jessica Jones

In 1938, the first issue of Action Comics featured the character of Superman on its cover. Success came fast. Although Superman was not the first superhero (Gabilliet 2004), he would become the prototype of the American superhero story. As products of mass culture, which today have a worldwide influence, superheroes did not confine themselves to comic books for long. In 1941, Superman also reached TV screens through the animation series produced by Fleischer Studios (Fleischer 1941). The same year, Adventures of Captain Marvel (English and Witney 1941) was published, a serial divided into 12 parts. In 1952, the television series Adventures of Superman (Syndication, 1952-1958) was the first live-action adaptation of Superman's adventures. Many other superhero story adaptations have since been produced, which soared in the early 2000s with many television, film and video game adaptations of the stories by the two main publishers of the superhero genre: Marvel and DC Comics.

*CFP* "AFRICAN DIGITAL DIASPORAS", SPECIAL ISSUE AFRICAN DIASPORA, JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL AFRICA IN A GLOBAL WORLD

Digital media have come to play an essential role in the ways in which African diasporas (re)imagine themselves and transnational migrant communities connect across political boundaries and geographic distances. The internet has offered new ways of creating or maintaining a sense of belonging and connectedness among diasporic groups, new modes of political activism and organizing, and means for connecting with people and institutions in the homeland. Social media, homeland-focused websites, and other platforms are facilitating connections that build on existing communities and diasporas with a national, regional, local, ethnic or religious focus. Digital media also have opened up new linkages between older diasporas, such as those resulting from the transatlantic slave trade, and African organizations, and newer African diasporas. African Diaspora is inviting empirically based contributions which explore the various dimensions of African digital diasporas from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. Some possible issues to consider that reveal the dynamics of these on-going processes include but are not limited to:

*CFP* "RADIO'S SECOND CENTURY: A READER", CHAPTER BOOK

As radio enters its second century of serving the news, information, and entertainment needs of listeners around the world and despite seismic shifts both internally and externally, it has remained a very robust and vital media industry. Undeniably, the radio industry has witnessed extraordinary changes and challenges since the passage of the Radio Act of 1927, and it remains a primary mass media outlet around the globe.

Recent research indicates that 91% of Americans, or243 million people, aged 12+listen to radio weekly, 53%listen to online radio monthly from mobile phones and computers, and81%listen to radio when they are in automobiles. Research also indicates radio continues to have the ability to appeal to new listeners. Millennials, those born between 1982 and 2004, are now the largest share of the radio audience. Moreover, UNESCO asserts: “Radio is the mass media reaching the widest audience in the world.” There are more than 40,000 radio stations worldwide. Undeniably, despite numerous challenges, radio is thriving. This book will explore and explain how the radio industry has been able to remain relevant.

*CFP* "CIVILIZATIONS AND GLOBALIZATIONS", SPECIAL ISSUE, GLOCALISM JOURNAL

The possibility that a civilization might not succumb to the advance of history depends on its capacity to react to the challenges that emanate from it. If, on one hand, ascent and decline are (in general) considered characteristics typical of all civilizations, on the other hand it is possible to also see them as a different and less evident phenomenon: one which is made up of the transformation of civilizations into other civilizations and in their expressions of social innovation phenomena.

Clearly, it does not make sense to reason in terms of universal determinism, that is, with the idea of a necessary cycle that always works similarly both in different historical moments as well as in geographic and social contexts. Nor is it correct to reduce the multiplicity of civilizing processes to a unique model of “civilization”. The historical dynamics of civilization work differently and do not act only from the outside upon individuals and social groups. On the contrary, within these processes, individuals generate or internalize certain values, which make them bearers – through their existence – in the increasingly broader environment in which they live.

*CFP* "SMART DATA SPRINT: BEYOND VISIBLE ENGAGEMENT", DIGITAL MEDIA WINTER INSTITUTE 2019

Digital Media Winter Institute 2019

SMART Data Sprint: Beyond visible engagement

28 January – 1 February, 2019.

9:30 – 17:30 I #SMARTdatasprint I Research Blog I

Facebook Group: SMART Data Sprint I @iNOVAmedialab

Universidade Nova de Lisboa I NOVA FCSH I iNOVA Media Lab

SMART Data Sprint

SMART Data Sprint is an intensive hands-on work, driven by online data and digital methods. We adopt experimental and inventive ways of reading, seeing and analysing platform data, with the aim of responding to a set of research questions. For one week, participants will have the chance to attend keynote lectures, short talks, and parallel sessions of practical labs. After that, experts and scholars will invite participants to join projects and work in a collective problem.

*CFP* "IDENTITY IN THE VISUAL", 7TH EUROACADEMIA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

"Identity in the Visual"

As part of the 7th Euroacademia International Conference

The European Union and the Politicization of Europe

Bruges, Belgium, 25 - 26 January 2019

Panel Organizer: Daniela Chalániová (Anglo-American University, Prague)

Ever since the so-called linguistic turn in the 1970s, majority of research on identity in political and social sciences has been focused on language and text - as language has been considered the primary tool for meaning formation, and ideas exchange. Today, we are twenty years from a digital revolution of the 1990s, which on the one hand, made communication faster, more efficient and more global, on the other hand made the linguistic exchange just one of many possibilities. While arguably some visual elements such as symbols and flags have been recognized as important for collective identification, the impact of journalist, fashion and travel photography, films, comic books and documentaries, billboards and brands, sports and arts has largely been neglected by mainstream political science scholars, who viewed images as something rather suspicious. However, with increasing interest in the visual/aesthetic aspects of political and social life (the so called visual/aesthetic turn of the late 1990s) it is only logical to take a hard look at identity beyond language, that is, from an interdisciplinary visual perspective.

*CFP* "PEOPLES AND CULTURES OF THE WORLD" INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, PALERMO UNIVERSITY

Peoples and Cultures of the World

International Conference

Palermo University, January 24-25, 2019

Building 19, Viale delle Scienze

Rooms: Aula Seminari A and B

In this interdisciplinary conference we aim to study different peoples and cultures of the world by taking into account the various ways peoples and cultures define themselves and others, thus shaping their identities. The organising committee (including anthropologists, geographers, semioticians and urban planners) is open to all disciplines and invites contributions from these and other fields of study. We aim to explore the complex relationships being established between cultural dynamics and identities in their spatial and/or chronological dimensions. In our modern world, how can we still talk of homogeneous, spatially defined cultures? In what terms, nowadays, can we conceive a people and a culture stressing their various aspects, as they are stressed in the culture itself? Or, on the contrary, should we resort to other concepts and theories to define peoples by differences and by comparison? In its turn, how does globalization contribute to the delineating, crystallizing or altering of identities? How can we look more effectively at cultural differences through the lens of social sciences? And, most of all, what is the role played by natives and ethnic minorities in our modern world? 

*CFP* "REPRESENTING TRANS", SPECIAL ISSUE VOLUME 24 (2020), EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES

The last couple of years have been shaped by a paradoxical simultaneity of unprecedented trans visibility in the arts and media and of ongoing transphobic violence, disproportionately affecting economically disadvantaged and communities of colour. How can we approach the (international) success of shows such as Transparent, Hit & Miss, Orange is the New Black, Sense8, The OA or the independent film Tangerine (2015), foreign-language Oscar-winner Una Mujer Fantástica (A Fantastic Woman, 2017) or Arekti Premer Golpo (Just Another Love Story, 2010), and others? How do these visual representations negotiate traditional gendered binaries of the ‘male gaze’ (Villarejo 2016) and the dynamics of trans feminine hypervisibility and trans masculine invisibility? How do these artefacts navigate “the trap of the visual” that offers trans visibility as the “primary path through which trans people might have access to livable lives” (Gossett, Stanley and Burton 2017)? Have we indeed reached a “transgender tipping point” in public and political discourse as the June 2014 heading of Time Magazine, featuring actress Laverne Cox as the first open trans woman on the cover, suggests? What kind of tensions does the mainstream marketability and recognition (e.g. of celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner or Chaz Bono) create?

*CFP* "STUDYING INCIDENTAL NEWS: ANTECEDENTS, DYNAMICS AND IMPLICATIONS", ISSUE JOURNALISM: THEORY, PRACTICE, CRITICISM

The term 'Incidental News' refers to the ways in which people encounter information about current events through digital media when they were not actively seeking the news. The past few years have seen a significant increase in incidental news consumption on digital platforms and social media, accompanied by heightened scholarly attention to the phenomenon. The aim of this issue is to contribute to and develop research on this phenomenon, and its implications on areas such as media consumption habits, journalistic practices, and democratic participation. Research in mass communication and political communication has examined issues related to incidental news consumption since the pioneering work of Downs (1957). Since then, and in particular in relation to the rise of social media, there has been growing interest among scholars related to understanding the causes, dynamics, and consequences of consuming news in an incidental fashion online.

The editors invite contributions related to the topic of incidental news, including both rigorous empirical articles (using quantitative, qualitative, computational and/or mixed methods) as well as theoretical articles with conceptualizations and synthesis of relevant literature. Articles should clearly define and delineate their use of the concept incidental news and/or its relation to other concepts used. We are interested in contributions that examine the topic through different methodologies, perspectives (e.g. audiences, texts, media platforms) and contexts.

*CFP* CALL FOR PAPERS "UNDER FIRE" SECTION, CRITICAL ARTS JOURNAL

The post-millennium world has seen a rapid escalation of violent conflicts in the Middle East, West, Central and some areas of Southern Africa, and ongoing civil wars, refugee migrations on unprecedented scales and human rights abuses in a variety of other regions across the world. As a means to engage these developments, Critical Arts instituted a new Section, “Under Fire” in 2002. This is in keeping with its interpretation of cultural studies as a form of praxis, of experience, and of strategic intervention, in which individuals find themselves caught up in broader process over which they may have little or no control. The aim of this section is to invite short (anything up to 2000 words) theorised autobiographies, authoethnographies, and dramatic narratives of what it is like living under fire, of the relevance of cultural studies in such circumstances, and how it could be deployed to challenge such conditions. The original Call emanated from a number of unsolicited submissions we had been receiving from colleagues in Palestine and Zimbabwe, letters from friends in Israel, and marginalised groups in South Africa, and from academics whose research and work is pilloried by hostile authorities. The exigencies of being under fire make it hard to find the discursive space in which participants can catch enough breath to speak the truths of their own participation:

2ª SESIÓN SEMINARIO DOIMECO, "ETNIA Y AUTORREPRESENTACIÓN CON LA LLEGADA DEL CINE DIGITAL EN HISPANOAMÉRICA: LOS EJES DE ESPAÑA, MÉXICO Y ARGENTINA"

*CFP* "CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS IN HORROR STUDIES", NEW SERIES LEHIGH UNIVERSITY PRESS

Lehigh University Press is introducing a new series, Critical Conversations in Horror Studies, edited by Dawn Keetley, Professor of English at Lehigh University. We are seeking manuscripts in all areas of horror studies, broadly defined.

 

Publishing cutting-edge research that is accessible to both general and academic audiences, this series takes on important critical conversations about horror. The series offers a broad scope of scholarly inquiry. Not only do its books examine a range of media including film, television, and literature, but its publications also consider a variety of historical eras extending into the contemporary moment and reaching as far back as the origins of horror itself.

Manuscripts should be focused around a specific topic, the importance of which should be made very clear, and should range from 50,000 – 90,000 words.

*CFP* "MEDIA MIXING", INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM AT LUND UNIVERSITY

Media Mixing

International Symposium at Lund University, Sweden

Department of Communication and Media, March 14th 2019

Organisers: Annette Hill and Magnus Johansson

Mixed modes of storytelling abound in the contemporary media landscape. There are mixed genres, such as political comedy or docudrama, that mine the generic elements of information and entertainment to create storytelling based on real events. There are mixed modes of production and distribution, such as webisodes, or cross media content in scripted reality, attracting audiences from dispersed sites of reception. And there are the inter-generic spaces of media content, such as crime documentaries or podcasts, that draw upon the real world spaces of true life, the dramatised spaces of reconstructions, and the created for media spaces of studios, social media and live events. 

*CFP* "MCCARTNEY 21: SIR PAUL IN THE NEW CENTURY", EDITED COLLECTION

Much has been written about the life and career of Sir James Paul McCartney, particularly in terms of his work with the Beatles and Wings as well as as a solo artist in the 1980s and 90s, but little scholarly attention has been paid to his output in the twenty-first century. 

During the almost two decades since the turn of the century, McCartney has released albums of covers and of original material, including pop, classical, and experimental music as well as collaborations with musicians associated more closely with electronica and rap. 

As the new century dawned, he emerged as a key figure in the early responses to the tragedy of 9/11. He continues to be embraced by young and old around the globe, arguably having become one of the most famous—and the most celebrated—people in the world. 

*CFP* "BAD OBJECTS", THE VELVET LIGHT TRAP ISSUE 85

The concept of a “bad object” has long been a moving target in media studies. Although the term is rarely defined with any specificity, a “bad object” is typically a text that is used in critical analysis with the implicit or explicit acknowledgement of its perceived violations of “good” taste. Excess, camp, escapism, the abject, and negotiations of the margins of mainstream culture often mark these objects. The concept is important in feminist and psychoanalytic theories, as well as in genre studies, in which it is mobilized to justify the examination of B-horror, exploitation film, or pornography, for example. The term has helped challenge hierarchies of medium specificity. For example, Michele Hilmes has written that television was treated as a “bad object” of media studies, a sentiment echoed by many other scholars. These uses of the term reflect the fact that age, class, gender, and race have often been motivating factors in the construction of evaluative canons.

Yet the applications of this term have rapidly diversified in the past decade. With the increase in scholarship on new media, social media, video games, and global flows, together with greater attention to diverse identities behind/on/in front of the screen, the conversation on taste cultures has shifted significantly. This issue seeks to expand or question the boundaries and applications of the “bad object” as an analytical framework. We welcome pieces that challenge the foundations of this divide. How can we re-calibrate these and other approaches to address purported bad objects within our contemporary media landscape? Can we approach bad objects beyond the text itself in issues of production cultures, distribution, and consumption?

*CFP* CALL FOR PAPERS ROUTLEDGE ADVANCES IN TRANSMEDIA STUDIES, NEW BOOK SERIES

This series publishes research monographs and edited collections that sit at the cutting edge of today's interdisciplinary cross-platform media landscape, considering emerging transmedia applications in and across industries, cultures, arts, practices, or research methodologies. The series is especially interested in research exploring the future possibilities of an interconnected media landscape that looks beyond the field of media studies, broadening to include socio-political contexts, education, experience design, mixed-reality, journalism, the proliferation of screens, as well as art- and writing-based dimensions to do with the role of digital platforms.

Matthew Freeman is Reader in Multiplatform Media and Co-Director of The Centre for Media Research at Bath Spa University. He is the author of Historicising Transmedia Storytelling (2016) and Industrial Approaches to Media (2016), the co-author of Transmedia Archaeology (2014), and the co-editor of Global Convergence Cultures (2018) and The Routledge Companion to Transmedia Studies (2018).

*CFP* CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS, SPECIAL ISSUE CULTURE, THEORY AND CRITIQUE JOURNAL, TAYLOR & FRANCIS

Culture, Theory and Critique invites original full-length article submissions for its upcoming open issues.

Culture, Theory and Critique is a refereed, interdisciplinary journal for the transformation and development of critical theories in the humanities and social sciences. It aims to critique and reconstruct theories by interfacing them with one another and by relocating them in new sites and conjunctures.

Culture, Theory and Critique is an international as well as interdisciplinary journal whose success depends on contributions from a variety of sources, so that debate between different perspectives can be stimulated. One of the aims of the journal is to break down theoretical hierarchies and latent intellectual hegemonies. To this end, every endeavour will be made to incorporate perspectives from diverse cultural, intellectual and geographical contexts. 

*CFP* "TWIN PEAKS: SEASON THREE", SPECIAL ISSUE OF NEW AMERICAN NOTES ONLINE (NANO)

This special issue of New American Notes Online NANO will explore the significance of the recently released third season of the seminal television show, Twin Peaks. Controversial from the outset and divisive to fans and critics alike, the new Twin Peaks (2017) is emerging as perhaps even more radical and important than the original series (1990-1991). The original Twin Peaks is often considered the first cult television show that spawned intensive fan followings in the emergent world of the web, and the immense catalogue of paratexts and influences the series has inspired since has never been fully tabulated. As a central work of American surrealism, a universe of oddities continues to find Twin Peaks’s orbit.

It is challenging even to define the latest Twin Peaks season. Creator David Lynch has referred to it as an 18-part feature film, and it has been presented on the big screen as a film at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and other venues. While Twin Peaks has always played with the tricks and tropes of genre television, especially detective fiction and soap operas, it has also pushed beyond the conventional limits of television and transgressed and exploded expectations. Season three of Twin Peaks is amorphous both in terms of its media formations and its constantly shifting tableaux of symbols and themes. It is an origin myth and tale of apocalypse, a profound questioning of the nature of good and evil, a veritable dictionary of post-modernity, a slow-moving narrative painting, a testament to the strength of a single woman, a series of elegies for actors and actresses who died between seasons two and three, a retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey, a cosmic dream, and a forum for music videos. Co-writer Mark Frost has extended its world back to ancient Sumerian mythology, but season three of Twin Peaks also tracks the pulse of the moment with major statements on the current opioid crisis and the puzzling reversal of the FBI as an institution being looked to for salvation by a significant portion of the American left.

*CFP* "BACK TO THE FUTURE: TELLING AND TAMING ANTICIPATORY MEDIA VISIONS AND TECHNOLOGIES", SPECIAL ISSUE OF CONVERGENCE JOURNAL

Digital media, networked services, and aggregate data are beacons of the future. These incessantly emerging tools and infrastructures project new ways of communication bring unknown kinds of information and open up untrodden paths of interaction. Yet digital technologies do not only forecast uncharted times or predict what comes next. They are, it seems, both prognostic and progressive media: they don’t await the times to come but realize the utopian as well as dystopian visions which they have always already foreseen. At the same time, all calculation of anticipations has to rely on past data that profoundly shape our ability to manage expectations and minimize uncertainties.

In these fast forward dynamics, the special issue of Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies examines the futuremaking capacity of networked services and aggregate data. 

*CFP* PROPOSAL FOR SPECIAL ISSUE OF CULTURAL STUDIES JOURNAL, TAYLOR & FRANCIS

In the now classic Homo Ludens, Huizinga situates ‘play’ as the foundation of culture – the point from which all human structures, ideas, and societies stem. Sutton-Smith’s The Ambiguity of Play posits an equally broad scope, with ‘play’ encompassing everything from the imaginary, the development of individual identity and passing on of traditions through rituals, power-plays in politics and war, fate and games of chance, and pure frivolity and humour. The entertainment and creative industries are billion-dollar businesses, but Huizinga and Sutton-Smith imply that almost any aspect of human culture could be conceptualized as forms of play – and yet in so doing introduces great seriousness into such ‘games’.

The proposed special issue invites papers that explore the concept of play from the perspective of Cultural Studies. We particularly invite papers that interrogate the concept of play theoretically or engage in applications of play in new contexts. The issue aims to provide answers to the question: “What can Cultural Studies contribute to theories and practice of play, and how, in turn, might those theories and practice advance the field of Cultural Studies”.

*CFP* "DIGITAL DIASPORAS AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IN THE AMERICAS", EDITED COLLECTION BRILL'S SERIES

David Dalton (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) and David Ramírez Plascencia (University of Guadalajara) invite abstracts for the edited collection Digital Diasporas and Public Engagement in the Americas, which will be submitted to Brill’s Series, Critical Latin America. The series editors with Brill have already expressed great interest in the project.

This volume focuses on the intersection amid the research on the conformation of digital diasporas and studies related to public engagement and social activism, particularly on how social platforms and mobile applications enable the conformation of virtual communities of Latin American migrants living abroad. Thanks to spaces of socialization like Facebook closed groups, Bulletin Board System (BBS), and WhatsApp groups among others, Latin Americans are able to stay in contact with the culture that they left behind. Members of these groups share information related to their homeland through discussions of food, music, celebrations and other cultural elements. Of course, these groups also discuss news and data related to the political, social, and economic situations of both their host country and their home countries. This everyday interchange encourages cohesion and solidarity, and it strengthens the feelings of belonging even when people may be thousands of kilometers apart. These diasporic virtual communities are not distant to the struggles in their homelands; on the contrary, thanks to digital technologies, people from these groups organize public and virtual demonstrations, thus constructing transnational solidarity chains to denounce injustices and discrimination in their country(ies).

*CFP* "THE DIGITAL IN CHILDREN'S EARLY YEARS: RESEARCH, DESIGN AND PRACTICE", EDITED BOOK

Following the successful Digitising Early Childhood Conference held in Perth, Western Australia, in 2018, the conference convenors are calling for book chapters from interested contributors.

The theme of the book is as follows:

Contemporary 0-8 year olds are discovering what it is to have a digital childhood, and in doing so are introducing families, schools and policy makers to new ways of thinking, doing and being with uncertain implications. This edited book seeks to build bridges across the many strands of research in this area, forging new ways forward and consolidating the base of what we already know and what we have yet to investigate and address.

Abstracts (500 words) should be forwarded to DECeditors@gmail.com by December 10, 2018.

*CFP* "PORN CULTURE(S) NOW!", PORN STUDIES CONFERENCE, GORIZIA SPRING SCHOOL

Porn Culture(s) Now!

Gorizia Spring School / Porn Studies Section

March 23rd-26th, 2019

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the 2019 edition of the Porn Studies section aims to provide an overview of contemporary pornographic cultures. During the past ten years the pornosphere has been transformed in many respects in terms of the methods of production and distribution, the forms of access, consumption and reception, as well as the ways in which pornography is understood and conceptualized in media and scholarly discourses. More specifically, the section will take into account three interrelated aspects:

*CFP* "CENSURA Y FORMA FÍLMICA. EL IMPACTO DEL CÓDIGO HAYS EN LOS PRINCIPIOS ESTÉTICOS DEL CINE CLÁSICO NORTEAMERICANO", REVISTA L'ATALANTE

Sin necesidad de justificar por ello los buenos viejos tiempos de la censura, no pocos estudiosos han señalado la coincidencia entre la denominada «edad de oro» del cine clásico y el periodo en que el Código Hays se aplicó con particular firmeza. Aparato represivo y esplendor del cine norteamericano se presentan inevitablemente ligados entre sí, lo que podría parecer paradójico si no supiéramos que toda erótica requiere del tabú, y que las puritanas prohibiciones del Hollywood clásico tal vez no redujeron el potencial placentero de su cine, sino que constituyeron, más bien, el fundamento de todo un modelo narrativo y de puesta en escena basado en la interrupción y la prórroga del deseo voyeur del espectador como fuente de placer.

Lo cierto es que el Código de Producción, conocido popularmente por trivialidades, se nos revela como un pilar básico del edificio hollywoodiense si tenemos en cuenta que aspiraba a regular aspectos en absoluto anecdóticos del proyecto cinematográfico clásico: durante más de treinta años, rigió sobre la representación de cuestiones tan centrales en cualquier relato como el deseo, lo prohibido, la transgresión o el mal, y sobre las atracciones visuales más primarias del cine como espectáculo, el sexo y la violencia. Tan ambiciosa regulación, por supuesto, afectó en primer lugar al contenido y el discurso de los textos fílmicos. Pero, al mismo tiempo, al establecer las formas legítimas de representación de los cuerpos y articular soluciones que permitieran abordar el pecado en sus historias, el Código tuvo que generar necesariamente un impacto más que considerable también sobre el estilo visual y narrativo que dominó durante décadas el cine norteamericano.

*CFP* "EXPERIMENTAL NARRATIVE IN NONFICTION", INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF NARRATIVE CONFERENCE

 “Experimental Narrative in Nonfiction” 

International Society for the Study of Narrative

 Pamplona, Spain (May 30 - June 1, 2019)

The proposed panel aims to build on enthusiasm for the “Experimental Narrative in Nonfiction” panel, held at the ISSN conference in 2018. It will continue to explore how and why nonfiction uses “experimental or unnatural devices,” and the differences that obtain when such devices are used in nonfiction as opposed to fiction.

Unnatural and otherwise strange narrative devices are often used in nonfiction, in apparently contradiction with nonfiction’s imperative of truth-telling. Thought experiments in philosophy and physics routinely deploy impossible situations in order to clarify problems or paradoxes in current theory. Claude Lanzmann’s documentary Shoah eschews chronological telling in order to repudiate notions of historical causality and inevitability; Richard Dawkins’ history of life on earth, The Ancestor’s Tale, uses similar manoeuvers—for very different reasons. 

*CFP* "VERY SPECIAL EPISODES: EVENT TELEVISION AND SOCIAL CHANGE", ANTHOLOGY

A staple of television in the network era, very special episodes typically describe a particular brand of well-meaning but corny television where family- and teen-oriented sit-coms and primetime dramas alike engage topical social or other challenging issues. Arnold Drummond gets molested. Alex P. Keaton mourns the death of a friend. And numerous high schoolers have gotten hooked to over-the-counter drugs (including, perhaps most famously, Jessie Spano’s bout with caffeine pills).

Very special episodes and their ilk are largely reviled by scholars and critics alike for representing deeply painful social issues and problems as simplistic, gimmicky, and easily solved (Rhonda Wilcox, 1999, Kelly Kessler, 2011, Jack Holland, 2011). But should we be so dismissive of television’s attempts to engage serious issues, especially those facing young people? And should we limit our understanding of this phenomenon to only its least successful examples? How can we take this criticism seriously while also considering their value in both the history of television and the lives of viewers? How do specific very special episodes and the VSE as a concept challenge and/or clarify our understanding of the history of network television and its place in American Culture? Guided by these questions, we seek chapters for an edited collection that historicize and interrogate the role of very special episodes in the television industry and the cultures that surround them. In particular we are interested in work that examines the phenomenon of these episodes as indicative of a broader impulse throughout television history to address significant social issues with event programming.

SESIÓN "APROXIMACIÓN AL DEPARTAMENTO DE DIRECCIÓN DE FOTOGRAFÍA, CLUB INTERNACIONAL DE CINE 2018/2019, UC3M

*CFP* 2019 WORKSHOP ON COMICS/FANDOM, GERMAN SOCIETY FOR MEDIA STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

2019 Workshop on Comics/Fandom

Committee for Comics Studies (AG Comicforschung) and the Committee for the Studies of Fandom and Participatory Culture (AG Partizipations- und Fanforschung) at the German Society for Media Studies (GfM)

University of Cologne, 28/03/2019 – 29/03/2019

Considering how crucially comic book marketing depends on loyal customers, especially fans, and to how great an extent the ever-expanding franchises surrounding Marvel’s or DC’s comic worlds rely on user participation and fandom, it seems striking that the connection between Comics Studies and Fan Studies has hardly been explored in any great detail so far.

Is this because Comics Studies focus on the text and Fan Studies on its recipient? At least in Germany, Comics Studies have strong roots in (Comparative) Literary Studies, Art History, or Philology while Fan Studies are either grounded in Media and Cultural studies or in Sociology (focusing on individual and mass consumption practices or group phenomena).

*CFP* "FUTURES OF MEDIA: SHIFTING SPHERES", SPECIAL ISSUE KYBERNETES

The concept of publicity as a sphere was first introduced to scientific discourse by Jürgen Habermas in the 1970’s and has had a remarkable career ever since. In this special issue of Kybernetes, we want to turn our attention to three thematic spheres surrounding the concept of the sphere:

1. The concept: This may include its origins, its history, and its potential, as well as its limitations. At this meta-theoretical level, comparisons between the ostensibly antagonistic theoretical perspectives of systems theory and the theory of communicative action of the two become possible. As a consequence, the concept of sphere may create a theoretical sphere for discussing the extent to which the central aspects of both perspectives are compatible, and further, at which junctures they might even be coupled. 
2. The question of which structural and semantic transformations the so-called ‘public sphere’ and ‘private sphere’ have undergone in recent decades, particularly with regard to globalization and the digitization of society. 
3. The idea of transformation: What is it exactly that defines change in contrast with its opposite—i.e., the perseverance and consistency of structures?

*CFP* "OFF THE GRID", SPECIAL ISSUE SOAPBOX: JOURNAL FOR CULTURAL ANALYSIS 1.2

Grids govern our landscapes and cityscapes, our paintings and grocery lists, our maps and our borders, both walled and imaginary. They get us our energy and water, they fuel our online social lives, and structure the ways we perceive and move through space. On the one hand, the grid is a representational mode, one of rendering the world under a Euclidean regime of points, lines, and areas. On the other, it is the material infrastructure of utilities, transit routes and architecture. In an increasingly networked control society, data, numbers, and figures are in a constant feedback loop with material reality. Across this material-physical and the cultural-technical – between instantiations of the grid as artistic practice and as the “stuff you can kick” (Lisa Parks 2015) – we find a mess of politics and ideology, corporate and common interest.

For this issue, we encourage thinking ‘Off the Grid’ – calling for papers that envision and/or enact within, outside, through or against systems of perception, matter, energy and space. Papers might explore perspectives against logics that distribute power across concepts and cables, design and tarmac, techniques and technologies. This might mean engaging with what Shannon Mattern calls the “ether and ore” of contemporary urban and rural societies (2017), or it could involve tracing (dis)order in less concrete structures of visuality, spatiality and discourse. 

*CFP* "EXPLORING FASHION AS COMMUNICATION", SPECIAL ISSUE POPULAR COMMUNICATION, TAYLOR & FRANCIS

The editors of Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture invite submissions for a special issue on the topics of Fashion Journalism and Fashion as Communication.

With the consolidation of fashion studies as an academic field, the study of fashion, dress, and costume has become a fertile ground for interdisciplinary research for scholars from communication and media studies. Media studies scholars have considered fashion, dress, and costume in relation to film and other visual media formats. Fashion journalism remains a less- explored territory under media studies as an umbrella discipline. This special issue offers a unique opportunity to look at the role of journalism as a profession and as an industry key player in the context of fashion, popular communication, and consumer culture.

The function of fashion and dress as language and communication has been observed for over a century (Veblen 1899; Barthes 2006; Barnard 2013). Fashion journalism as a cultural mediator for encoding and decoding, however, has generally been neglected. Historical studies of the development of fashion journalism have predominantly focused on the United States press or have rested uncritically on dated secondary sources. 

*CFP* CALL FOR PAPERS 22ND ISSUE AFRICAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

We are pleased to inform you that the African Communication Research (ACR) is now inviting submissions for its 22nd issue scheduled for May 2019. African Communication Research is a peer-reviewed publication published three times a year: May, September and December. ACR is a service of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communications at St. Augustine University of Tanzania, for communication researchers of Africa. The journal has been publishing since 2008 and selected numbers can be viewed at the website:  an open access journal, ACR is hosted by the UNESCO Chair of Communication based at the University ofKwaZulu-Natal, Durban.

The journal seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of communication and media studies and welcomes articles in all areas of communication and the media including, but not limited to, mass communication, mass media channels, traditional communication, organizational communication, interpersonal communication, development communication, public relations, advertising, information communication technologies, the Internet and computer-mediated communication.