Call for a special issue of the Nordic Journal of Media Studies on Media and the Past, Mediating the Past. Deadline for abstracts: 1 February 2025; deadline for full papers: 15 August 2025.
Issue editors: Kirsten Frandsen (Aarhus University) and Manuel Menke (University of Copenhagen).
Nordic Journal of Media Studies invites contributions to the 2026 issue exploring the relationship between media, communication, and the past, focusing on international as well as Nordic perspectives. The issue aims to delve into the intersection of the uses of the past with media content, discourses, events, practices, and technologies, including but not limited to the mediated communication of the past and collective memory in areas such as politics, journalism, popular culture, film and television, and sports…
The past in media extends beyond mere representation. It is used to compose cultural narratives, it contributes to identity formation, and it influences social cohesion. Media serve as powerful mediators between the past, the present, and the future, thereby taking a significant position in whose pasts get (no) recognition at present and (no) consideration for the future. Investigating these dynamics allows for a nuanced exploration of how media contribute to the construction of shared pasts and the negotiation of diverse cultural identities. The past is not only being renegotiated and contested in the Nordic context but also everywhere else, where progressive cultural and societal ambitions are intertwined with both rich historical traditions and conflicts rooted in colonial pasts. Consequently, examining how media contribute to the construction, preservation, reinterpretation, or even revision of narratives about the past becomes imperative to understanding where regions, nations, and communities might be heading.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 