*CFP* “DISCOURSES OF POLITICS AND IDENTITY IN THE DIGITAL AGORÁ”, 3RF MAPD CONFERENCE

MAPD (Multidisciplinary Approaches to Political Discourse) Conference

25-26 de Junio de 2020 

University of Liverpool, UK

In ancient Greece, the agorá was the central public space at the heart of city-states, hosting a wide range of face-to-face social interactions from daily market transactions to political debates and scientific brainstorming. Digital technologies have given rise to a host of new ways for people to communicate, manage social relationships and getting things done. We are witnessing myriads of interdependent, contextualised digital communities evolving in a scenario of constant connectivity, which challenge how we perceive aspects of our identity and life-worlds and most importantly, contributing to a growing digital materialisation of the agorá. 

This panel focuses on the role of social media as a virtual agorá for the production, distribution and consumption of political discourses. New mediation technologies have afforded both a new interactive mode of communication, i.e. Social Media Communication (SMC), as well as providing the digitally enforced geographies of spaces that serve as interfaces for public debates, elections and broader political life.

Two contemporary political and digital phenomena are of particular relevance in the context of the panel. On the one hand, the panel pays particular attention to the digital mediatization of discourses of authoritarianism, nativism/nationalism, sovereignism, populism and far-right movements, and the impact they have on the political debate, especially in the Euro-American zone. On the other hand, focusing on the contemporary digital agorá in its entire multivocality, the panel explores the use of social media platforms and their new semiotic affordances as sites and means of protest, resistance and subversion of hegemonic discourse.

We aim to bring together scholars from a variety of discursive and political approaches to critically examine the challenges we face in such a volatile digital landscape and the theoretical and analytical responses we can provide. Possible topics include, but are by no means limited to, the following aspects:

Digital Politics

• Political Communication & Digital Discourse
• The Role of Digital Media in Global Elections
• Digital Discourses of Authoritarianism / Sovereignism, Alt-Right and Populism
• Free Speech, Hate Speech and Online Politics
• Alternative Facts / Fake News
• (International) Conflicts, Extremism & Terrorism
• Regulation and Data Misuse of Online Political Spaces

Political Activism in the Digital Era

• Political Activism in Electoral Processes
• Social Movements and Digital Collective Action
• Strategies, Resources and Organization in Digital Activism
• Digital Culture and Discourses of Cyber-Activism
• Languages and Identities in Digital Activism
• Research Methods for Studying Discourses of Social and Political

Activism Online

Proposals are invited for paper presentations of 20 minutes + 10 minutes for Q&A.

Abstracts (Max 500 words excluding references) should include the name, institutional affiliation and email address of the author(s), the paper title, and five keywords. Please send abstracts to Dr. Eleonora Esposito (eesposito@unav.es) before December 2nd, 2019.

We especially encourage submissions from early-career researchers, including postgraduate research students and postdoctoral researchers, in particular female scholars and BME communities.