Call for papers: Communication and Inequalities in Context, International Communication Association, Cape Town, South Africa, 4-8 June 2026. Deadline: 1 November 2025.
The ICA 2026 conference theme invites critical reflection on the dynamics between communication and inequality and its tensions across different social, cultural and geographical backgrounds. As such, it is a call to engage with research exploring the deep divisions and existing interpersonal, institutional, and structural inequalities in our societies.
In a world shaped by the unequal distribution of political, economic, societal, cultural, and communication resources, considering the complex architecture of global inequalities remains a critical issue. Communication scholars have long recognized how structural divides shape all communication processes, from persistent barriers rooted in historical inequities to emerging forms of digital exclusion and fragmentation. Today, as disinformation, extremism, polarization, hate, oppression, and algorithmic discrimination pose global challenges, the specific contexts in which people encounter these phenomena–including political institutions, media systems, regulatory capacity, and social norms—may fundamentally shape their lived experiences. Thus, it becomes crucial to examine how and under what conditions these forces unevenly affect different communities and individuals across multiple domains of life and in various geographical and cultural settings. For example, communication barriers may impact disaster preparedness and response in vulnerable individuals; the increasing complexity of digital literacy requirements constitutes a significant threat to inclusion, and global internet governance and infrastructure decisions create and amplify disparities between and within different nations and communities.
Such inequalities and power dynamics are also expressed within/across communication research. From gender gaps in publications and language barriers for scholars from non-English-speaking countries to the invisibility of knowledge produced in the Global South and calls to de-Westernize communication research, several divides in communication in terms of the subject of study, the body of evidence, analytical frameworks, and academic cultures limits our ability to gain insights relevant to the current global social and political condition.
In this spirit, organizers invite submissions for papers and panel proposals that address the conference theme along the lines outlined here. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following issues and topics:
*The evolving landscape of the relationship between communication and inequality.
*Conceptualizations and theorizations of communication inequality and inclusion/exclusion.
*The dynamics and implications of enduring inequalities and new divides for communication scholarship in different settings.
*Broader social and communicational outcomes of communication divides.
*Tensions and intersectionality of power hierarchies in communication.
*Algorithmic biases and marginalization (e.g., algorithmic decisions reinforcing disparities faced by marginalized groups; societal implications of algorithmic; data inequality, algorithmic fairness).
*Cross-border communication inequalities.
*Inequalities across and within communication research, including power imbalances in knowledge production within the field, and differences in opportunities, resources, and capacities among researchers, institutions, and regions.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 