*CFP* "PEACE, INTERSECTIONALITY AND UNCERTAINTIES", THE 6TH INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES CONFERENCE

Peace, Intersectionality and Uncertainties

The 6th International Communication and Media Studies Conference

Eastern Mediterranean University (Cyprus)

Famagusta, North Cyprus: 25-26 November 2021

 

 

The Center of Research and Communication for Peace in the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies at Eastern Mediterranean University invites submissions addressing the general theme of Peace, Intersectionality and Uncertainties the 6th International Communication and Media Studies Conference will be held on 25-26 November 2021 in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus. The conference is dedicated to bringing together a significant number of diverse scholarly events for presentation within the conference program. Thus, academic scientists, early-stage researchers, and graduate students are invited to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of communication. It also provides a platform for researchers to present and discuss recent innovations, trends, and concerns raised with Covid-19 pandemic as well as practical challenges encountered, and solutions adopted in the Communication and Media Studies. 

*CFP* "POLITICS, PERILS AND PRIVILEGES: IMMOBILITIES IN THE TIME OF GLOBAL PANDEMICS", SPECIAL ISSUE, TRANSITIONS JOURNAL

When the COVID-19 global pandemic struck in early 2020, governments around the world reacted by closing international and national state borders, banning or restricting international and interstate travel, and resorting to enforced lockdowns and curfews. The economic and social impacts of these sudden restrictions in movements have been devastating with the lived experiences of everyone impacted. The employed became unemployed, industries whose entire business models are dependent on human interactions such as tourism, hospitality and entertainment collapsed, supply chains were disrupted, remote working and studying became the norm, families were separated from each other and professional and education opportunities were lost.

People around the world frustrated by the impact the pandemic has had on them, and by the systemic and new inequalities that emerged, voiced their anger through street protests and in the online space with the pandemic fuelling both extreme right wing and left wing fervour. The rapid move to the online space to conduct almost every kind of human activity meant a complete reliance on the digital resulting in new kinds of inequalities and challenges. The rise of the digital in the time of forced immobilities has also created completely new opportunities born out of necessity. While mobility was once the life blood for human and individual necessity, progress and advancement, immobility has shown itself to create perils and privileges never really realised. For example, workers not required to be ‘on site’ are able to set up home offices to work from home.

*CFP* "PAINFUL TRUTHS AND UNSPOKEN WORDS: REMEMBERING GENOCIDES AND THE HOLOCAUST IN DIFFERENT GENRES AND REGIONS OF THE WORLD", SPECIAL ISSUE, GENEALOGY JOURNAL

Initial world responses to the Holocaust included the declaration “never again” (Gilbert, 2000; Reese, 2017; Herman, 2018; Power, 2013). This Special Issue on “Remembering Genocides and the Holocaust” invites contributions from different fields, such as the film, music, museums, and literature. Contributions may explore specific representations in their own right or the relationship between representations and lived experiences pertaining to genocide/ holocaust. They may focus on how remembrances of Holocausts and Genocides have been transformed over time, including, but not limited to the globalization, nationalization or privatization of such memories. The following may help illustrate the scope of the Special Issue but are not intended to limit the choice of topic:

• Overview: how have portrayals of Holocausts or Genocides changed in response to the activities of political movements or advocacy groups; who decides official labels and categories, including the role of community representatives; issues of societal acceptability of representations; the different conceptual bases in which such representations are grounded and the historical, social, and political underpinnings of such changes, etc. 

*CFP* "MEDIA, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST", BOOK CHAPTER

We are seeking a limited number of contributions for a forthcoming interdisciplinary edited volume that examines the intersection between media, freedom of expression, political participation, and human rights in the Middle East. The book is currently under contract with Routledge and is due to be published during next year.

You are invited to submit a 250-word abstract and a short biography by June 10, 2021. We welcome theoretical, empirical, or professional contributions of the highest standard on the following topics related to the Middle East including:

• Media and political participation after the Arab Spring 
• Media and human rights in the MENA region
• Media and freedom of expression   
• Online civic engagement and democracy  
• Internet-based activism and political participation 
• Media and democratisation in the Middle East 
• Other topics related to the above are also welcome. 

*CFP* "LGBT+ VISUAL ARTS AND POLITICS IN ROMANIAN CINEMA", SPECIAL ISSUE, EAST EUROPEAN FILM BULLETIN

With a penal code (article 200) inherited from the Ceausescu regime, which criminalized same-sex relationships, and which was only repealed in 2001 as a way for the country to enter the European Union, Romania remains a largely traditional society regarding LGBT+ rights. However, customs and mores are slowly changing thanks to political, legal as well as artistic fights. Audiovisual art has substantially contributed to this change. Films such as Mungiu's Beyond the Hills (2012) or Olteanu’s Several Conversations about a very Tall Girl (2018); installation and video art, pioneered by artists such as Sorin Oncu, are prime examples of Romania’s emerging queer art. Showing such films in Romania often causes quite a stir. Campillo’s 120 Beats Per Minute had one of its screenings interrupted by a Romanian Orthodox movement in Bucharest, exemplifying a divided society struggling with its communist past and the state of capitalist democracy. This also poses the question of what type of LGBT+ culture Romania can put at the forefront, whether through western European/American films, or domestic productions.

‘In an increasingly less tolerant context which led to the recent ban of gender studies in Romanian universities, such an issue is more than warranted.

*CFP* "COLLABORATIVE KNOWLEDGE PRACTICES AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: FREE TECHNOLOGIES AND CITIZEN MEDIA TO PRODUCE COMMON GOODS", SPECIAL ISSUE, COMUNICACIÓN Y SOCIEDAD JOURNAL

From spray-on-wall to fanzines and community radio and television (Downing, 2008), social movements have historically appropriated ICTs to disseminate campaigns and contents as a necessary precondition for collective action (Stephansen, 2016). In the last decades, Internet technologies -e.g., mobiles, applications, socio-technical networks, webs, etc.- have been adopted to develop innovative organization and participation formulas, as well as to disseminate information in the network. Together with new decentralized and ubiquitous communication repertoires (Mattoni, 2013), the current "technologization" of collective action has led to transmedia mobilizations (Costanza-Chock, 2013) and hybrid activist practices (Treré, 2019). 

 

These transcend the production of alternative contents to aim at the coproduction of knowledge, its circulation, aggregation, and remix (Lessig, 2012). Thus, Internet must be theoretically approached not just from its symbolic dimension but also as a new physical the infrastructure that offers certain "affordances", in special when social movements use private digital platforms (Cammaerts, 2015) that belong to corporations which are increasingly concentrated and dominated by a few global actors (Birkinbine, Gómez & Wasko, 2016).

*CFP* "NEW FASCISMS AND NEW RESISTANCES: TRAJECTORIES AND PERSPECTIVES IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE", CONFERENCE

New Fascisms and New Resistances: Trajectories and Perspectives in Contemporary Culture

University of Bergamo, Bergamo (Italy), 

22-23 April 2021

 

During the last decade, the term ‘fascism’ has increasingly regained prominence within public debates and cultural discourses concerning contemporary society; these debates have focused on its different forms and a wide array of issues: from (1) the extreme right-wing drifting of many political parties worldwide, (2) the re-enactment of the totalitarian ideology of the Thirties and Forties in several, alarming incidents reported by the news, and (3) to the increasing adoption of aggressive and violent rhetoric in public discourse. In dialogue with what Umberto Eco affirmed when establishing that the fascist tendency represents “a synecdoche, that is, a word that could be used for different totalitarian movements”, the reality of daily reports, which grow progressively crueller, contributes to highlighting how “[f]reedom and liberation are an unending task.” (Eco 1997).

*CFP* "MEMORY, MELANCHOLY AND NOSTALGIA", 5TH INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY ONLINE CONFERENCE

Memory, Melancholy and Nostalgia

5th International Interdisciplinary Conference (Online Conference)

Gdansk, Poland

InMind Support

10-11 December, 2020

 

In our modern world, which some have argued to be disjointed while immersing itself ever deeper in crisis, the turning back towards “the olden days” and the ensuing nostalgia constitute a noticeable phenomenon, both individually (the memory of biography) and collectively (the memory of History). Another important – and seemingly also quite noticeable – phenomenon is the longing for something vague, indefinite or never existent.

*CFP* "NO GOING BACK: GLOBAL COMMUNICATION AND POST-PANDEMIC POLITICS", FELLOWS CONF

Biennial Early Career CARGC Fellows Conference

No Going Back: Global Communication and Post-Pandemic Politics

8th-9th April, 2021

University of Pennsylvania, EEUU

On suddenly sparse streets, artists confront the grim reality of the moment. With a nod to the anti-globalization movement or the music notes seemingly playing off the guest that has overstayed its welcome, both messages diagnose the ailment and gesture toward a hope for and belief in change. In a moment shaped by closures – of borders, stores, schools, offices, jobs, and, for many, a dream of “going back to normal” – what openings are made possible?

The second biennial early career conference by the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania asks: What are post-pandemic politics? We understand post-pandemic, not as a myopic focus on COVID-19, but rather as an optic illuminating both persistent and emergent conditions of inequity and precarity. We also use post-pandemic as an opportunity to imagine new forms of politics, community, solidarity, and action.

*CFP* "NO GOING BACK: GLOBAL COMMUNICATION AND POST-PANDEMIC POLITICS", FELLOWS CONFERENCE ON GLOBAL COMMUNICATION AND POST-PANDEMIC POLITICS

Biennial Early Career CARGC Fellows Conference

No Going Back: Global Communication and Post-Pandemic Politics

8th-9th April, 2021

University of Pennsylvania, EEUU

On suddenly sparse streets, artists confront the grim reality of the moment. With a nod to the anti-globalization movement or the music notes seemingly playing off the guest that has overstayed its welcome, both messages diagnose the ailment and gesture toward a hope for and belief in change. In a moment shaped by closures – of borders, stores, schools, offices, jobs, and, for many, a dream of “going back to normal” – what openings are made possible?

The second biennial early career conference by the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania asks: What are post-pandemic politics? We understand post-pandemic, not as a myopic focus on COVID-19, but rather as an optic illuminating both persistent and emergent conditions of inequity and precarity. We also use post-pandemic as an opportunity to imagine new forms of politics, community, solidarity, and action.

*CFP* "ANARCHISM", SPECIAL ISSUE, THE JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF RADICALISM

JSR: Journal for the Study of Radicalism is interested in articles for an issue that explores the history of anarchism, including recent history of anarchist movements, groups, and individuals. We are also interested in related currents, which include Black bloc, antifa, and the creation of autonomous zones, as well as ecological movements or groups like Extinction Rebellion.

We seek articles on transnational subjects as well as on lesser-known examples of radicalism, as well as in articles that include theoretical and methodological considerations. We are interested in articles on radicalism in a wide range of contexts and areas, and encourage articles from humanities and social science perspectives. The Journal for the Study of Radicalism engages in serious, scholarly exploration of the forms, representations, meanings, and historical influences of radical social movements. With sensitivity and openness to historical and cultural contexts of the term, we loosely define “radical,” as distinguished from “reformers,” to mean groups who seek revolutionary alternatives to hegemonic social and political institutions, and who seek the sudden dramatic transformation of society through violent or non-violent means. The journal is eclectic, without dogma or strict political agenda, and ranges broadly across social and political groups worldwide, whether typically defined as “left” or “right.” We expect contributors to come from a wide range of fields and disciplines. We especially welcome articles that reconceptualize definitions and theories of radicalism, feature underrepresented radical groups, and introduce new topics and methods of study.

*CFP* "DOCUMENTARY AND DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS", VISIBLE EVIDENCE XXVII CONFERENCE

Visible Evidence XXVII. 

Documentary and Democracy in Crisis

16th-19th December 2020

Institute for Theatre, Film and Media Studies (TFM) at Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany

What we call documentary today emerged in the 1920s and 1930s in response to a perceived crisis of liberal democracy, as a mode of factual representation which empowers citizens to participate in the

political process. But how does documentary respond to what has been widely diagnosed as the current crisis of democracy? How does documentary react to the return to nationalism and other forms of political tribalism in the face of global migration? How does documentary shape our perceptions of the consequences of globalization, from climate change to the transformation of the economy? And how can documentary in theory and practice contribute to defend the space and modes of deliberation necessary for the life of democracy?

*CFP* “WOMEN AND ACTIVISM IN THE DIGITAL AGE”, CHAPTER BOOK

The #MeToo movement has been mentioned in academic discourse as an effective online campaign that became widely spread and was covered extensively in the news media worldwide. When referring to this campaign, Internet researchers highlight the powerful role of social media platforms in activism in the digital age and many scholars talk about this campaign in this context. However, there is a very limited discourse about the fact that women are the leading figures behind this successful campaign or about their distinctive use of and related experience in the online public sphere. In fact, academic discourse has rarely put forward the topic of women activists and their use of social media. 

Why is it so important to place this issue at the focus of research? First of all, because the field of politics and extra-parliamentary politics is known as an extremely male-oriented/dominated sphere in which women are forced to struggle to successfully promote themselves and their agendas. Secondly, women’s organizations have unique features, specifically related to the way they run their organizations and operations, which often are more democratic and egalitarian. Thirdly, saliency and reliable representation in public discourse is a challenge, not only for women’s groups but also for all minority groups. The Internet may constitute an alternative, possibly more egalitarian, communications platform.

*CFP* “REVISITING THE MARGINS: CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES IN NORTH AMERICAN STUDIES”, ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NORTH AMERICAN STUDIES

Annual Conference of the Graduate School of North American Studies

Revisiting the Margins: Contemporary Perspectives in North American Studies

10-12 de Junio de 2020

Freie Universität, Berlin

Keynote speakers

Jacob Breslow (London School of Economics)
Nikita Dhawan (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen)
Tiffany Lethabo King (Georgia State University)
Ellen McCallum (Michigan State University)

Claims about marginality are increasingly being made in order to explain and justify a wide variety of actions in North American culture and politics, economics and the arts. As a result, the concepts of the margins and marginalization seem to have renewed urgency. The center-margins binary is far from new, having been crucial to poststructuralist, postcolonialist, and intersectional criticisms of the 1980s and 90s. Since then, however, numerous theoretical interventions have attempted to redirect critical discourse away from this dichotomy.

*CFP* “REPRESENTING ACTIVISM IN POPULAR CULTURE" PANEL, EUROPEAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH AND EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ECREA 2020 CONFERENCE

European Communication Research and Education Association Ecrea Conference  

Communication & Democracy section

2-5 de Octubre de 2020

University of Minho-Braga, Portugal

Delia Dumitrica is seeking contributions to a panel on the representation of contemporary activism (e.g. protests, boycotts, hashtag movements, etc.) in popular culture for the Communication & Democracy section at the European Communication Research and Education Association ECREA 2020 conference. 

Panel title: Representing activism in popular culture 

While the news coverage of activism – and particularly protest – is a rich research problematic, work on the symbolic construction of activism across cultural texts such as novels, films, documentaries, advertising, memes, songs, art installations, etc. is largely missing. Such cultural texts contribute to the shared political imaginary by informing public values and social identity, proposing shared cognitive maps for political sense-making, and discussing public norms (Curran, 2011).

*CFP* "CULTURE AND POLITICS OF POPULIST MASCULINITIES", EDITED COLLECTION

We invite proposals for contributions to an edited collection on masculinities and populism, with abstracts of 300-500 words due on Tuesday, December 10, 2019.

Whether it is the rhetoric of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, or Nigel Farage; movements like the Transfer of Public Lands Movement in the United States or the Five Star Movement in Italy; alt-right memes and reactions against Hollywood portrayals of gender; parodies and critiques of populist masculinities in late night shows, stand-up comedy, and social media posts; populism is intertwined with cultural and political assumptions and performances of masculinities. The complex relationship between populism and masculinity serves as the framework for this edited collection, combining cultural, political, and historical perspectives to improve our understanding of populism. How is masculine populism articulated? What kinds of historical interpretations do populist masculinities draw on? What is problematic about a specifically masculine populism and is there hope for a pluralist, inclusive, even progressive form of masculine populism?

*CFP* “THE RISE OF THE FAR RIGHT IN PLATFORM SOCIETIES”, DIGITAL SOCIETIES RESEARCH GROUP CONFERENCE

The Rise of the Far Right in Platform Societies 

25 de Marzo de 2020

University of Surrey, UK

Opening Plenary

The event features an opening plenary bringing together experts on online hate speech, extremism in platform societies and the Far Right. Plenary speakers include Shakuntala Banaji of the London School of Economics, Irene Zempi of Nottingham Trent University, Chris Allen of Leicester University.

Call for Papers

*CFP* “POLITICAL INFLUENCERS AND OPINION LEADERS IN THE DIGITAL PUBLIC SPHERE”, SPECIAL ISSUE, THE COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY JOURNAL

Social media have introduced a new actor in the field of political communication which is the political influencers or ‘digital’ opinion leaders; whose main role originates from the digital public sphere. Nevertheless, they do not renounce from participating in conventional or mainstream media. Instead, they try condition the configuration of the public agenda and public opinion through the exercise of technologically mediated personal influence. For that purpose, they present new dynamics, relationships, and processes in the digital public sphere and the field of political communication. The objective of this monograph is to analyze the roles, characteristics, and effects of political influencers or "digital" opinion leaders on the current political communication, democracy, and society.

The study of opinion leaders comes within a long tradition of research that focused on how influence is exercised. This core issue grabs the attention of the pioneer researchers working in the field of communication. Authors such as Katz, Lazarsfeld, Berelson or Gaudet developed their researches in the mid-1950s, including The People’s Choice and Personal Influence, to examine the impact of their presence in the public opinion formation process.

*CFP* “RESISTANCE AND ACTIVISM”, INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MEDIA & THE MIDDLE EAST 2020

Resistance and Activism

International Symposium on Media & The Middle East

6-7 de Marzo de 2020

University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

University of East Anglia invites proposals for An International Symposium on Media and the Middle East. The symposium aims to bring together scholars, and filmmakers from around the world interested in exploring ideas of Resistance and Activism in the Middle East in relation to a range of media including film, television, radio, video, and digital media. Papers may be historical or contemporary in scope.

The event will begin with a film screening of For Sama (Waad Al-Kateab, 2019) at Cinema City Norwich on Friday March 6, 2020. A symposium filled with panel discussions, short film screenings and a keynote by Dr Saeed Talajooy (University of St Andrews) will follow the next day on Saturday March 7, 2020. 

*CFP* "PSA AT 70: RE-IMAGINING POLITICS", 70TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE POLITICAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION

Political Studies Association, 70th Annual International Conference

6 - 8 April 2020, Edinburgh International Convention Centre and Sheraton

Grand Hotel & Spa, Edinburgh, #PSA20

The PSA Media and Politics Group invites members to submit paper abstracts or panel proposals for the PSA Media and Politics stream at the PSA Annual International Conference 2020.

Papers may be related to the conference theme, Re-imagining Politics, but other topics from across the disciplinary and methodological traditions are also welcomed.

Please submit abstracts (max. 300 words) and panel proposals by email to James Dennis: James.Dennis@port.ac.uk by Monday 7 October (please note that this is an earlier deadline than the direct individual submission to the PSA). We also welcome emails earlier than this date to ask for our advice on potential panel proposals.