International Conference Organised by: Communication and Media Research Institute & The Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster, UK
17 April 2020
The Boardroom 309 Regent Campus,
University of Westminster, London, W1B
2HW
Institutional and structural racism are major realities that impede
different areas of social life, both domestically and internationally. Over the
past decade, mass protests in West Asia, North Africa, South America, and other
parts of the world created an important transformative momentum, which in turn
triggered debates about race, cultural difference and the role of anti-racism
in grassroots politics against authoritarianism. The (not so) new issues
activists are facing include migration, modern forms of slavery, backlash
against indigenous assertion, the plight of south-Asian and African (domestic, construction)
workers, the trafficking of female migrants across Europe, colourism and the
mainstreaming of Far Right politics speaking against liberal multiculturalism
in the defence of the imagined majority.
The 2020 International Conference: Mediating, Constructing, Dismantling Race(ism) is centred around the notion of ‘Race’ and its different cogent
variations – ‘racism’, ‘racialisation’, ‘racialised’ – but brings race into
conversation with global capitalism, transnational political processes,
historical and contemporary social change and technological mediation. Firstly,
the conference welcomes papers that explore a new economy of power relations
and its interdependency with resistance; this particular connection remains
largely understudied in relation to race and racism in non-western contexts.
Secondly, we are interested in focusing on ‘transversal’ struggles that are not
limited to one county, or necessarily confined to a particular political or
economic form of government, but as a form of power that applies itself to
everyday life, categorises, makes individuals subjects, subjugates and makes
subject too. In this respect, and thirdly, the conference also encourages
contributions that may focus on ‘immediate’ struggles that are closer to
individuals and their everyday experiences and act as vantage points from which
to critique instances of power. Although many campaigns focus on ‘immediate’
struggles that have initiated a scathing critique of nationalism and nativism;
of exclusionary discourses of citizenship vis-à-vis minority communities; of
rationalisations of beauty; we are interested in approaches that embed the way
modern subjectivities are constructed in particular ethnographic social
hierarchies, and invite frameworks that trace these convergences along the ways
capital flows create the conditions under which colonial manifestations (such
as slavery) return. More precisely:
This conference invites speakers to ask:
- How is the notion of race historically (re)constructed through socio, economic, religious and technological contexts?
- What is the relationship of racism and capitalism in the context of the media and ideology?
- How are ideas around race mediated through channels of knowledge production and in turn hegemonised?
- What are the formal and informal media platforms that disseminate ideas about race?
- How does race politics function in non-white contexts?
- How is race mediated in everyday life in institutions and communities in different parts of the world?
- How are the ensuing processes of othering resisted, undone and thus dismantled against the backdrop of global crises?
These are but a few relevant lines of investigation. We invite papers
from across the world that critically deconstruct the politics of race beyond
the usual binaries of the ‘west-and the rest’ and focus on the complex and
fluid inter and intra-dynamics through which notions of race/racialism are
constructed, maintained and dismantled. We are also keen to solicit
theoretically innovative, empirically rich and conceptually thought-provoking
presentations that are able to empirically illuminate phenomena around race
formations. We don’t only value papers that describe these problematics, but
also those that address ways to dismantle structural racism and create positive
change for peoples’ everyday realities. This thematic is one that demands a
combination of theory and practice. We have programmed two internationally
renowned keynotes to shed broader light through theoretical and practical areas
of investigation.
This event is an initiative of the Communication and Media Research
Institute’s newly established Global Media Research Network (GMRN) and the
Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster. The
full-day conference on the 17th of April 2020 provides a space to debate these
questions; to understand the often-contentious relationship between theory and
practice across disciplines; and to bring the work of activists and academics
closer together. This event is part of the underlying aspiration to encourage
critical collaboration between scholars and activists.
Programme and registration
This one-day conference on Friday, 17th of April 2020, will consist of 2
academic keynote presentations, four parallel panel sessions and 3
academic-activist keynote presentations. The fee for registration for all
participants, including presenters, will be £45, with a concessionary rate of
£15 for students and unwaged, to cover all conference documentation,
refreshments and administration costs.
Deadline for abstracts
The deadline for abstracts is Tuesday 14th January 2020. Successful
applicants will be notified by Tuesday 21st of January 2020. Abstracts should
be 250 words. They must include the presenter’s name, affiliation, email and
postal address, together with the title of the paper and a 150-word
biographical note on the presenter. Please send all these items together in a single
Word file, not as pdf, and entitle the file and message with ‘CAMRI 2020’
followed by your surname. The file should be sent by email to both: Dr Miriyam
Aouragh (m.aouragh@westminster.ac.uk) and Dr Tarik Sabry
(sabryt@westminster.ac.uk).
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