Diversity in Transcultural and International Communication
October 2-3, 2014
Haus der Wissenschaft, Bremen, Germany
Conference of the International and Intercultural Communication Section of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) in Cooperation with the Creative Unit “Communicative Figurations” at the University of Bremen
Hosted by the Institute for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), University of Bremen
Coordination team: Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz, Rebecca Venema, Gabriele Gerber
The conference addresses both the meta-analysis of “diversity” and an analysis of the organization and practice of diversity. Diversity concepts take different sociocultural categories into account and implement these in organizational and institutional contexts. As such “diversity“ can be seen both as a normative concept and as a social phenomenon. Normative ideas can be found in concepts such as “representation“ (e.g. the representation of social minorities in the media), “participation“ (the participation in public communication of diverse layers and groups within the population), “plurality” or “variety” (among communicators, contents and opinions).
Does our discipline provide the appropriate tools for researching diversity in communication processes? Which theories and concepts are available for the research of communication ethics in inter-national and/or transcultural communication with respect to the phenomenon diversity? Which normative and empirical foundations are they based on? This leads to a second, more application-oriented issue and potential key topic of the conference: diversity as an operational instruction, task and/or practice.
Contributions on the following topics are welcomed:
1. Theoretical Concepts of Diversity
• State of the art: disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches; basic theories and medium-range theories concerning the research of “diversity”
• Boundaries and overlaps of terms and theories concerning the concepts of “cosmopolitanism,” “multiculturalism,” “interculturalism,” “transculturalism” and “hybridity” among others
• The typology and analysis of intercultural communication processes and situations from the point of view of communication ethics
• International comparisons: Which diversity concepts exist and how do other research communities in other countries research “diversity”? Is diversity research euro-centric?
2. Empirical Research on Diversity
• Public representations and constructions of social differences and equality in mass media content, in (micro-)blogs, social media, event communication, PR etc.
• Analysis of public and/or academic discourse on “diversity“
• Diversity in media professions (public visibility of those working in media professions such as journalism, PR, advertising, film, theatre etc.)
• Diversity as a Norm of communication ethics (e.g. in international/ intercultural communication)
• Diversity management in media corporations
• Case studies on diversity as an element and normative control parameter of diverse communication processes (political communication, journalism, PR, company and organizational communication…)
• Diversity and justice under circumstances of mediatization and globalisation
• Diversity as a factor in media and communication politics and policies
Submission and selection of papers
Please send your anonymized proposal for a 20-minute presentation in English (preferred) or German to Prof. Dr. Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz no later than JUNE 10, 2014 (using a single pdf file). The abstract should not be longer than 8000 characters (including blank spaces) and should be assigned to the conference topics. Please add a title page to the abstract containing the name(s) and address(es) of the presenter(s) and the title of the presentation. All submissions will be anonymously peer-reviewed according to the criteria of originality, relevance, theoretical foundation, appropriateness of the methods used, clarity of language, and reference to the conference theme. Submitters will be informed about the outcome of the selection process by July 2014.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 