*CFP* "COMMUNICATION OUTBREAK", VOL. 3, Nº 2 (2021), SOUTHEAST ASIAN MEDIA STUDIES JOURNAL

The World Health Organization has characterized COVID – 19 as pandemic based on its “spread and severity”. Many reports say that COVID-19 can be transmitted through human contact demonstrating the capacity of individuals to move from one place to another. As part of mitigating the spread of this virus, “social distancing’ is now being implemented. In Southeast Asia, most countries are implementing a wide range of policies: from variations of quarantine, area-specific lockdown to that of the “business as usual” mode of operation consequential to varied, and sometimes, unpredictable human actions.

Interesting thoughts can be derived from this current event that underscores the importance of communication as part of survival. In the implementation of the practice on “social distance,” more people are utilizing alter forms of communication to maintain relationships. The field of communication becomes more relevant as people demand more information and knowledge on the pandemic and other issues that pertain to it. Alongside the establishment of communication as a need for maintaining human relationships and for gaining knowledge are inquiries on rights: Are we getting all the information that we need to survive this pandemic? Do we all have access to internet? Can we say that maintaining relationships can be temporarily replaced by online or remote forms of communication? Evident in this event as well are numerous forms of human actions that emerge problems on power relations and bold displays of social differences.

Focusing on Southeast Asian countries as points of reference, we examine the pandemic as a communication phenomenon.

This special issue of the Southeast Asian Media Studies titled “Communication Outbreak” focuses on Southeast Asian countries as points of reference for examining the pandemic as a communication phenomenon. As a special issue, we accept contributions for two formats: scholarly articles and essays.

Scholarly articles (5,000-7,000 words):

Articles that take on critical and cultural discourses on the following topics:

• Critical histories of crisis media/communication
• Crisis communication management 
• Misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation 
• Media framing; political economy of media; media control 
• Communication technology for education, religion, politics, and propaganda 
• Equity and access to communication and information
• (Re)construction of human communication and interaction; evolving language 
• Changes/adaptations in media selection, production, distribution, and/or consumption 
• Online/digital expressions of pandemic anxieties, hopes, and others (poetry, memes, etc.) 
• Online "produsage" as escape (vlogging, Tiktok, Twitter games, Facebook memories, etc.)

Essays (2,000-3,000 words):

Critical reflections on the quarantine experience, crisis response and/or non-response, language of COVID-19 phenomena, etc.

Dates to remember:

Abstract Deadline - 15 June 2020

Notification of Acceptance - 30 June 2020

Full Manuscript Deadline - 15 September 2020

Submission guidelines:

All submissions must be original and may not be under review by another journal or other forms of publication. Authors should follow the guidelines found here.

All submissions and inquiries should be sent to editor.seams@gmail.com.

Please use the subject “SUBMISSION: Vol.1 No.2_Surname_Short Title” (e.g. SUBMISSION: Vol.1 No. 2_Nguyen_A Review of Southeast Asian Media Theories).