*CFP* "MEDIA, NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA: POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES", TWO-DAY CONFERENCE

In an age of increasing media concentration and commercialisation, how can we envision a role for the media in development and for democracy? How can networked communications be better used by social movements, civil society and other marginalized groups who encounter difficulties in having a voice in the public sphere? How can ICTs (information and communication technologies) be used for development? How are feminist NGOs and women’s groups at present making use of communication tools and technologies to shape policy and pursue social change at a global and local level? What are some of the theoretical frameworks on communications and social change that we need to revisit? What are the more appropriate methodologies to study communication for social change (CSC) in the digital era? These are some of the many questions that these workshops, which will be held at UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense) and at City, University of London, ahead of the 2018 IAMCR (International Association in Media and Communication Research) conference in Spain, seek to address. Our keynote speeches will be delivered by professors Thomas Tufte, current Director for the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough University London and Toby Miller, former director of the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at Loughborough.

Our workshops invite research proposals which aim to address the role of the media and communications in social change, for the benefit of social and economic development of countries and of local contexts and inserted within wider debates on democratization of these societies. Our concerns here include the role of communications and new technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development, the use of participatory approaches in community, indigenous and social movements, the relationship between participation, empowerment and gender, particularly in relation to media and how communication tools can be used for activism and political engagement.

Our research also examines community radios and tvs and the use of media by marginalized and underrepresented groups, the development and support of community-based media organizations, the benefits of alternative forms of journalism, the role of NGOs in development and the use of media by international organizations and social movements. We also invite theoretical contributions in the field of communication and social change (CSC), gender, media and development, policy advocacy and activism through communications. The workshops are organized by Dr. Carolina Matos, senior lecturer in Media and Sociology, Department of Sociology, City, University of London, and by Adilson Cabral, associate professor in Social Communications at UFF.

We invite extended abstracts for our following four panels:

1. Communication for development and the role of the state in sustainable communications (chairs: Gabriel Kaplún and Amparo Cadavid); 
2. Media activism and marginalized populations (chairs: Andrea Medrado and João Paulo Malerba); 
3. Media, social movements and questions of gender (chairs: Carolina Matos and Eliana Huértano); 
4. Media, nationalisms and populisms (chairs: João Feres and María Soledad Segura).

Abstract submission deadline - 15th  April 2019

Maximum word limit - 500 words

Please include names and affiliations of all authors. Please indicate who will be giving the paper if successful and which panel the paper is intended for. Abstracts should be submitted by email to Associate Professor Dr. Adilson Cabral acabral@comunicacao.pro.br, Social Communications, UFF, Brazil and Dr. Carolina Matos carolina.matos.1@city.ac.uk, Senior lecturer in Media and Sociology, City, University of London

This is a two-day conference. The first day takes place at City, University of London. The second day takes place at Loughborough University, London Campus (4-5 July, 2019).

For contact and further information, please contact:

Dr. Carolina Matos - carolina.matos.1@city.ac.uk

Conference booking details.