Category: Conferences

CFP Communication, Postcoloniality and Social Justice conference

Call for papers:
Communication, Postcoloniality, and Social Justice: Decolonizing Imaginations

A four-day conference: Sponsored by the Waterhouse Family Institute for the study of Communication and Society (WFI) at Villanova University, PA, 26th-29th March, 2015, Location: Villanova University (Specifics to be announced later)

Conference Organizers: Bryan Crable; Raka Shome (Biographies of organizers presented at the end of call for papers)

Keynote Speakers: Arjun Appadurai (New York University, USA), Inderpal Grewal (Yale University, USA), and Ravi Sundaram (Center for the Study of Developing Societies, India)

Plenary Speakers: Ramesh Srinivasan (USA); Mohan J. Dutta (Singapore); Shanti Kumar (USA), Ramaswamy Harindranath (Australia); Nitin Govil (USA); John Erni (Hong Kong); Aniko Imre (USA); Radhika Parameswaran (USA); Soyini Madison (USA); Raka Shome (USA); Boulou Ebanda De B’Beri (Canada) (These are confirmed so far; we are awaiting confirmation from other speakers.)

Three Plenary Sessions: 1) Significance of postcolonial studies for communication and media research 2) Postcolonial feminist and queer approaches 3) Postcoloniality and the Global South: Logics of Modernity beyond the West/North

In the past two decades, postcolonial theory has become increasingly influential in various spaces in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Recent communication and media scholarship has also shown some interest in postcolonial frameworks. However, there has not been a focused and sustained conversation in Communication/Media Studies in the United States and we think, even outside, that has engaged the ways in which communication and media studies, and postcolonial studies can mutually inform each other in the advancement of social justice projects. The conference emerges from the recognition that diverse logics, networks, and trajectories of communication and media today (as well as in the past) play a significant role in the production of colonial power relations in contemporary globality.

The organizers of Communication, Postcoloniality and Social Justice: Decolonizing Imaginations thus invite proposals from scholars who employ postcolonial frameworks to study various communication and media phenomena—including their embedded-ness in various logics of transnationality. We are interested in exploring how communication/media scholarship, with its varied rich perspectives, may make contributions to broad field of postcolonial studies by foregrounding the importance of communication/media frameworks for understanding colonial cultures, and transnational relations. At the same time we recognize that many of the core concepts and assumptions in the fields of Communication and Media Studies are rooted in Western/Northern exclusionary intellectual frameworks. Thus, we wish to explore how postcolonial analytical frameworks may productively enrich our understandings of various communication and media phenomena and enable us to decolonize normative frameworks in the field so as to be responsive to various struggles engendered by contemporary (and past) post/colonial logics. The conference aims to provide a productive space that can facilitate dialogue and interconnections amongst scholars conducting postcolonial scholarship in communication and media studies. We also hope that this conference can provide a space for building intellectual solidarities amongst scholars in Media and Communication who are concerned with the politics of colonialisms (including their varied transnational logics) as they inform our research and influence our social, economic, cultural, and academic practices.

REGISTRATION FEES: $250 (includes some meals and coffee; specifics will be confirmed in fall, 2014)

FORMAT: We welcome proposals from scholars, activists, and researchers from various parts of the world. Papers must demonstrate an engagement with the field of postcolonial studies. (Just any descriptive study of colonialism, while suitable for other venues, will not fit the goals of this conference). Submissions must be made by August 30, 2014. Acceptance of papers will be announced sometime in October 2014. PLEASE EMAIL SUBMISSIONS SIMULTANEOUSLY TO: Bryan Crable and Raka Shome. In subject heading please write: “Submission for Communication, Postcoloniality and Social Justice conference.” Given the volume of submissions we expect to receive, we will not be able to acknowledge receipt of every submission.

Please choose any one format:
1) Panel proposals: Panels on a theme relevant to the conference are welcome. A panel should have between 3-4 panelists (including discussant. Chair may be one of the presenters, or you may select your own Chair/moderator who is not a presenter). Please submit title, panel abstract (which should include names/affiliation of participants, description and justification of panel). REQUIRED: 350 word panel description/justification, and approximately 200 words abstract of each paper to be presented.

2) Individual paper proposals: Please send an abstract of around 350 words. Name, paper title, and institutional affiliation must be included.

A statement of commitment to attend is required of all participants. Please include that in your proposal submissions.

Potential topics of interest are (and these are not exhaustive). Postcoloniality and the Global South; Feminist and Queer Approaches; Transgendered subjects and/in colonial cultures; Gay imperialism; Homonationalism; Heterosovereignities; Modernity beyond the West/North (Papers dealing with Islamic modernities from a postcolonial/transnational perspective especially welcome); Memor(ies) and Postcoloniality ; Diaspora (especially new logics of diaspora) and Hybridity; Media and Migrations; Post/colonial Visual cultures; Cultural Studies and the Postcolonial; Nation, nationalisms, national identity; Asylum and Exile; Colonial Necropolitics; Colonial Biopolitics; Subalternity and Communication (e.g., the ‘impossibility’ of communication in the politics of subalternity); Cosmopolitanism(s); Politics of Cultural Translation; Engagements with works of key postcolonial scholars in terms of their relevance for media/communication studies; Communication of “human rights;” Consumption, Cultural Industries, and Postcolonial/Transnational Power relations; Environment and the Postcolonial (papers on mediations of “climate change” are particularly welcome); Intellectual and Cultural Property Issues; Affective regimes and post/colonial relations; Celebrities and Colonialism; Materialities of colonialism; Fashion, Identity and Colonialisms; New Media; Postcolonial Urbanisms; Traveling technologies and colonial circuits; Techno-cities; Transnational Temporalities; Postcoloniality and computer cultures; Postcolonial Piracy; The “global” city; Technological Colonialisms; Science and the Postcolonial; Electronic Others; Postcolonial Securitizations; Politics of Representation; Global health and colonial relations; “Humanitarianism,” “Natural Disaster” and Contemporary colonial logics; Decolonizing Pedagogy and the field of Media/Communication Studies; The contemporary university and (the possibility of) postcolonial interventions.

CFP Asian Cultural and Media Studies (Australia)

Asian Cultural & Media Studies Research Cluster
6-7 November 2014
Monash Asia Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

The Asian Cultural & Media Studies Research Cluster of the Monash Asia Institute, Monash University will host an international conference, ‘Asian Cultural and Media Studies Now’ at Monash University, Caulfield campus in Melbourne on 6 – 7 November 2014.

The conference aims to critically revisit some of the key issues in the study of Asian culture, media and communications, which have been developed rapidly over the last twenty years, to discuss what kinds of new approaches and scholarly frameworks are required in the current socio-historical context. The conference will focus on four key areas of investigation, whose historical significance and transgressive potential requires reassessment in light of the advancement of market-driven processes of globalization and intensifying socio-economic disparity:
1) Alternative modernities and de-Westernization
2) Trans-Asian connections, dialogue and unevenness
3) Cultural convergence, citizenship and socio-cultural diversity
4) Mobility, imagined communities and cosmopolitanism

We are inviting proposals for paper presentations on these issues, although proposals that are in other ways relevant to the topic of Asian Cultural and Media Studies Now will also be considered.

The conference format will be discussion-oriented and all speakers will give a concise talk of the main points for 10-15 minutes. Speakers are not expected to present complete papers but to raise key theoretical questions with related empirical examination where relevant.

Please send your paper proposals (less than 300 words) with your affiliation details and e-mail address no later than 12 May. Please clearly put “Paper proposal for Asian Cultural and Media Studies Now” in the subject line. Acceptance of proposals will be notified in mid-June.

Please kindly be advised that we will not be able to offer financial support for participants’ travel costs. There will be no registration fees for the conference.

9th Congress IAIR Bergen (Norway) 2015

The 9th Biennial Congress of the International Academy for Intercultural Research

Realizing the potential of Cultural Diversity in the society and at the workplace

There is hardly any large society that is presently ethnically homogenous as a result of domestic and international migration. The foreign-populations of many societies are increasing at unprecedented rates. For instance, it has been estimated that by 2050, 85% of Australia‘s population growth will be either from overseas migration or from native born Australians who have at least one foreign-born parent. Europe will need 80 million immigrants by 2030, while the US, Japan and Canada will need 35 million, 17 million, and 11 million immigrants by 2030, respectively (Saunders, 2010).

The aging population of the world, particularly in Western industrialized countries, and unemployment and economic stagnation in many countries, will put pressure on the economies of Western industrialized countries in the form of increased migration, bringing people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds together in ways that have never been seen before.

These demographic changes have wide range of implications for the governance of nation-building including employment, health, education, housing, economics, politics, culture, intergroup relationships and so forth.  Depending on which angle one takes, the results can be either positive or negative.  Unfortunately, events such as the terror attacks in major European cities including Madrid (2004), in London (2005) and in Oslo/Utøya (Norway, 2011) together with the Danish cartoon drawings of Mohammed are some negative instances of intercultural relations.  European leaders have not fared any better when they incite skepticism by suggesting that multiculturalism has been a failure. These pessimistic statements undermine and diminish the positive aspects of cultural diversity.

It is within this context that this conference is organized, with the theme – Realizing the potential of cultural diversity.

Realizing the potential of cultural diversity in the workplace and society will challenge societies politically, economically, socially, legally and culturally. This challenge will require a parallel effort to achieve equity and full participation of all cultural communities in the larger society. Any discussion around the topics will require a multi-disciplinary approach.  Hence the planned conference will attract scholars from psychology, and many related fields and disciplines. Indeed the ultimate goal of this conference will be to bring to Bergen the leading scholars of the world to share research findings, engage in dialogue on how to tap into the positive sides of cultural diversity, and how employers, institutions, and governments can realize its potential. The conference will include Keynote presentations by leading scholars, symposia, individual papers, posters and round table discussions, including debates. During the past three conferences, the Academy has also devoted a whole day to a workshop – Fellows’ Day – just before the opening of the conference where the Fellows of the Academy engage in a series of discussions regarding the conference theme.

The Conference is hosted by:
Society and Workplace Diversity Research Group, Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen

Administratively, the Department of Psychosocial Science is responsible for the running of the conference, but the practical activities regarding the conference will be coordinated by the Society and Workplace Diversity Research group in close collaboration with the Congress Bureau (Kongress og Kultur – KK-Bergen). While the Research Group will be responsible for the scientific side of the conference, the all practical organization will be taken care of by the Congress Bureau.

Venue:  Most of the congress program will be held at the Bjørn Christiansen Building, Christiesgate 12

SOME IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Submission of proposals opens: March 1, 2014
1st proposal  Deadline: November 1, 2014
Accepted Decision: December 15, 2014
2nd proposal deadline: December 31, 2014
Accepted decision: February 15, 2015

Sample of thematic topics
*Cultural diversity in the society
*Cultural diversity at the work place
*Migration, Acculturation, and Adjustment
*Intercultural competence and training
*Intercultural communication

CFP History, the Press and Diaspora (Ireland)

Conference 2014 – Call for Papers
The theme for the seventh annual Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) Conference, to be held at University College Cork on Friday and Saturday, 21-22 November 2014, is: Home thoughts from abroad: History, the Press and Diaspora

Proposals are welcome for papers that address the relationship between the press and diaspora in Irish and other historical contexts. The focus of the papers should be print journalism, and topics that might be addressed include:
· Biographical sketches of individual journalists who lived / worked abroad
· Press and empire(s)
· Journalism, migration and migrant identity
· Transnational journalism in a historical context
· Technological and transnational influence on print journalism
· Case studies of key diaspora publications / diaspora press owners

Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words. Abstracts must contain a clear title and present clearly the main thesis / argument proposed. Each abstract must also include name(s), affiliation, institutional address and email address(es) of the author(s).

To submit a proposal, please email a 500-word summary of your paper and a brief biographical note to the NPHFI secretary, Oliver O’Hanlon.

The closing date for submission of proposals is 27 June 2014.

CFP Networking East and West

CONFERENCE INVITATION AND CALL FOR PAPERS
Networking East and West: Communications, Commerce, Culture

For many centuries, the East and the West have been entangled in dense networks of communications and commerce. Yet only in our current age of globalization, influenced by a generation of media theorists shaped by the emergence since the 1970s of digital media, has it become customary to interpret these networks as a distinctive social relationship with a pervasive and enduring influence on culture, economics, politics, and international relations. For these theorists, media is more than a representation: in addition, and more fundamentally, it is an institutional practice laden with cultural meaning.

Media scholars in Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America from disciplines that include but are not confined to history, sociology, political science, literature, anthropology, geography, and media studies share a commitment to increasing our understanding of these networks so as to enhance mutual understanding, foster a common research agenda, and nurture an academic community that lowers cultural barriers. To promote this goal, a conference on the theme of “Networking East and West: Communications, Commerce, Culture” will be convened in Renmin University, China, on July 11 -12, 2014. The papers in this conference explore the conflicts, commonalities, and contrasts that have shaped communications networks linking East and West, with a focus on China, the Pacific Rim, and the United States in the period between the mid-nineteenth century and the Second World War.  The call for papers is intended to encourage submissions on a broad range of topics from various disciplinary perspectives. Possible topics include: journalistic ethics, technology transfer, telegraphy, print culture, and media theory.  Papers need not be explicitly comparative, though all should address the conference theme.

Specific details about the conference are as follows:
I.      Conference Title: “Networking East and West: Communications, Commerce, Culture”
II.     Hosts: Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban); Confucius Institute at Columbia University
III.    Organizer: School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University, China
IV.     Co-organizers: Columbia Journalism School, Fudan Journalism School
V.      Theme: the conflicts, commonalities, and contrasts that have shaped communications networks linking East and West
VI.     Venue: Beijing, China
VII.    Date: July 11-12, 2014 (Registration deadline: July 10, 2014)

Participants should send the texts of their proposed papers by June 1 to the organizing committee at mediaculture2014@163.com. Successful proposals will be announced on June 15.  Participants are responsible for their own transportation and accommodation expenses.

Contact (U.S.):
Prof. Richard R. JOHN
Tel: (+1) 212-854-7837

Contact (China):
Dr. CHANG Jiang
Tel: (+86) 139-1151-1157

Further Details:
1.      The proposed paper can be written either in English or Chinese.
2.      The paper’s content shall be relevant to the conference theme.
3.      English-language papers shall be 6,000-10,000 words long; Chinese-language papers shall include 8,000-12,000 characters.
4.      Papers will include: title, name and introduction of the author, abstract, key words, main body, annotations, etc. For the Chinese-language papers, authors are required to supply an English-language title, abstract and keywords. There is no such requirement for English-language papers.
5.      All citations shall be formatted as endnotes in accordance with the conventions described in The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS).
6.      Proposals shall be sent to the organizing committee before June 1, 2014 in Microsoft Word format (.doc/ .docx).

Int’l Conference on Communication and Media Malaysia 2014

The International Conference on Communication and Media (i-COME’14)
October 18-20, 2014, Langkawi, MALAYSIA
Email: icome@uum.edu.my

CALL FOR PAPERS
In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of Universiti Utara Malaysia, we proudly invite you to the International Conference on Communication and Media (i-COME’14) organized by Communication Department, School of Multimedia Technology and Communication, UUM. This conference is scheduled to take place from 18 – 20 October, 2014 at the Holiday Villa Beach Hotel and Resort, Langkawi, Malaysia.

i-COME’14 aims to provide a multinational platform where the latest issues in communication and media can be presented and discussed in a friendly environment with the aim to learn from each other. The theme of the conference is Communication, Empowerment and Governance: The 21st Century Enigma.

PUBLICATION AND INDEXING
This conference is featured by blind review of papers. The conference proceedings will be published by Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences (Elsevier) with ISBN/ISSN number and will be indexed in SCOPUS and published by Elsevier (upon approval by Elsevier).

TOPIC OF INTEREST
The key communication and media issues to be addressed by the conference are in relation (but not limited) to:
(a) Organizational Communication: Corporate communication, Power and politics in organizations, Communication for organizational change, Communication management, Public relations;
(b) Communication for Social Change: Health communication, Communication and media, Gender and communication, Governance and empowerment of women, Campaign;
(c) Intercultural Communication: Issues in international and intercultural communication, Barriers in intercultural communication, Negotiating across cultures, Empowerment and governance across cultures;
(d) Political Communication: Communication policies and regulations, Communication law, Empowerment and governance in the information society, Leadership, Ethics in campaign, Ethics in speech;
(e) New Media: New media and culture, Media industry trends and dynamics, Ethics and cyber society, Media challenges and opportunities, Creativity, innovation and users, Government, regulations and new media;
(f) Language and Communication: Media and Language, Role of language, Visual and Linguistics, Critical literacy, Language and advertising, Language and rhetoric, Language and social interaction.
(For full list of issues, please visit our website here)

SUBMISSION
Authors are invited to submit papers for the conference through the i-COME’14 online management system. Submissions must be original and should not have been published previously or be under consideration for publication while being evaluated for this conference. Any questions can, be forwarded to the secretariat via icome@uum.edu.my

IMPORTANT DATES
Paper Submission Deadline   31 March 2014
Acceptance Notification to Authors   30 April 2014
Deadline for Revised/Final Version   30 May 2014
Early Bird Registration Deadline   15 August 2014
Registration Deadline   1 October 2014

Registration is now open via our website:  http://www.i-comeuum.com .
Please forward all inquiries to: icome@uum.edu.my

Communication Conference of the Americas 2014

Call for Papers: Communication Conference of the Americas

The 10th Communication Conference of the Americas (sponsored by FELAFACS and NCA) is to be held in Chicago on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014.  We are organizing it as a preconference within the 100th National Communication Association Annual Convention.

This one-day conference will allow communication scholars from Latin America, the United States, and Canada to cultivate the international connections and create new international connections to share their projects, perspectives and experiences teaching communication in school and business settings in the Americas.

Proposal Requirements:
Those interested in presenting in this conference may submit a 2-3-page abstract (summary) proposal of the topic to be presented. The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2014 (11:59 pm Pacific Time).  The authors of accepted proposals will send a copy of their 10-page articles by November 14, 2014.  Papers will be presented in a panel format and each panelist will have 10 minutes to present.  Proposals for the conference can be submitted in English, Portuguese, or Spanish.

Panels 1 and 2:  Best Teaching Practices of Communication in UNIVERSITIES in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula

Proposals for these panels can address issues related to innovative teaching strategies used in the way we teach communication courses at universities in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula. The innovative teaching strategies may be related to any of the different areas of communication: interpersonal, organizational, media (journalism, radio, tv, etc.) or digital media communication: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Blogs, Podcasts, etc.  Preference will be given to the pedagogical strategies that have a global focus.

Panels 3 and 4: Best Training Practices of Communication in ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula

Proposals for these panels can address issues related to innovative training strategies used in the way we teach seminars /workshops of communication in organizations and businesses in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula. The innovative training strategy may be related to any of the different areas of communication workshops we give in organizations/businesses: managerial communication, employee – supervisor communication, communication in teamwork, customer communication , public relations, media communication (journalism , radio, tv, etc.) or communication in social networks: Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Blogs, Podcasts, etc. Preference will be given to the andragogical (adult learning) strategies that have a global focus.

Please send proposals in English to: Dr. Luis Felipe Gómez, San José State University, San José, California. USA. Please send proposals in Spanish to: Dr. Agrivalca Canelón.  Universidad de la Sabana, Bogotá, Colombia.

Please send proposals in Portuguese to: Dr. Ricardo Carniel Bugs, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, España.

Please email Dr. Felipe Gómez or Dr. Federico Varona any additional inquiries about this conference.

CFP Comm Strategies in Human Development (Russia)

VII International Russian Communication Association Conference
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
(COMMUNICATION-2014)
16-18 September 2014

The prevailing tendency in modern Communication Studies is the search for break-through solutions in human development, the analysis of new possibilities in the formation of human consciousness and social behaviour. The success of one person or a social institution is impossible without the strategic development and improvement of the communication process, in which an individual or a community act as its participants. The aim of the biannual Russian Communication Association (RCA) International Conference held together with our partners is to combine the efforts of scholars from different countries, fields of study, research centres and schools of thought for the further multiparadigm development of Communication Studies.

The international partners and information sponsors of the conference are the Eurasian Communication Association of North America (ECANA), the National Communication Association (NCA), the International Communication Association (ICA), the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), the Polish Communication Association (Polskie Towarzystwo Komunikacji Spo³ecznej, PTKS), the International Federation of Communication Associations (IFCA), the World Complexity Science Academy (WCSA), the Russian Association for Film and Media Education, and the Kazakhstan Communication Association.

Major Areas of Research
– Philosophy of communication
– Methods of communication research
– Speech communication
– Interpersonal communication
– Organizational communication
– Political communication
– Mass communication
– Intercultural communication
– Computer-mediated communication
– Pedagogical communication
– Legal communication
– Health communication
– Gender communication
– Communication education
– Communicative design
– Media education

Deadline for submissions: 30 April 2014

To learn more about this conference and the call for papers, CLICK HERE.

CFP Complexity of (inter)action conference (Finland)

Complexity of (inter)action
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM  organized by the COACT research community
University of Oulu, Finland, 9–11 October 2014

In the Complexity of (inter)action symposium, we wish to explore complexity from diverse perspectives and focus on examining how social participants manage, coordinate and adapt to complexity, and display complexity socially to others, through skilled multimodal participation. We are also interested in studies that expand the notion of interactional complexity to include the participants’ histories and interactions across multiple timescales.

The symposium has four invited speakers:
*Monika Büscher, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University
*Trine Heinemann, Department of Design and Communication, University of Southern Denmark
*Eric Laurier, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh
*Maurice Nevile, Department of Design and Communication, University of Southern Denmark

We invite proposals for symposium presentations that examine diverse communities and complex social (inter)actions in different settings, including technologically mediated and copresent activities. The theoretical starting points may include conversation analysis, interactional linguistics, multimodal interaction analysis, mediated discourse analysis, and related fields of study that use a range of audio, video, textual and other ethnographic materials as their data.

CFP NCA IICD graduate seminar

NCA IICD HONORS GRADUATE STUDENT SEMINAR

The International and Intercultural Communication Division (IICD) of the National Communication Association, in partnership with Sage Publications, proudly announces the first IICD Honors Graduate Student Seminar to be held at the 2014 NCA conference in Chicago.  The theme of the seminar is Intercultural Communication and New Media and will feature competitively selected papers of currently enrolled MA and Ph.D  students in communication and allied fields.  Intercultural new media research is an emerging and important new area of intercultural communication  and  consists of multiple dimensions including ( but not limited to) how new media impact intercultural communication theory (i.e acculturation/dialogue/competence/identity), how culture influences the social uses of new media, and  in what ways new media affect culture.  Papers will be reviewed and selected by top scholars who will also serve as research respondents during the honors seminar.  The honors seminar will be conducted on Saturday, November 22. 2014 from 3:30-7:00 PM at the NCA conference in the Conrad Hilton, Chicago.  The seminar will be followed by an IICD reception honoring the  participants.  Graduate students selected for participation will receive a monetary award as well as IICD honors graduate student certificates.  To be considered, full papers (APA including 200 word abstract) are due no later than June 9, 2015.  Finalists will be contacted and announced by  August 29, 2014.  

Papers should be sent electronically to the Coordinator of the IICD Honors Graduate Student Seminar: Robert Shuter, Professor, Marquette University, Diederich College of Communication and Visiting Professor, Arizona State University, Hugh Downs School of Communication.