ECREA is happy to announce that two new Sections were established in October 2019. The Children, Youth and Media Temporary Working Group and the Visual Cultures Temporary Working Group have received permanent status.

ECREA currently has 24 permanent thematic Sections, 3 permanent Networks and 4 Temporary Working Groups. All members are invited to update their profiles and to join the recently established Temporary Working Group (Communication and Sport) or Sections (Children, Youth and Media; Media, Cities and Space; and Visual Cultures) by ticking a box on the ECREA Intranet in order to receive all important information sent by the Management Teams.

Children, Youth and Media

The Children, Youth and Media section serves as the Europe-wide network for researchers and practitioners interested in a broad spectrum of media- and communication- related activities undertaken by, for and about children and young people in a mediated society. This section aims to foster multidisciplinary perspectives on a wide range of research topics, addressing children and youth from infancy to young adulthood, whether framed in terms of child and adolescent psychosocial development, critical constructions of ‘youth’, cultural analyses of childhood in diverse settings, media effects or media design issues. In our discussions and reflections, we consider variables such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, nationality, cultural and family experiences, media affordances and more. As children’s and youths’ experiences of media diversify in an increasingly complex media landscape, drawing together diverse research insights and projects becomes all the more important and fascinating. This explains why we created a platform for scholars working within various related fields not only limited to media and communication, but also welcoming historians, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, legal researchers, child-computer interaction designers, literature specialists, educationalists, clinicians and more. The result is a lively set of deliberations over theory and methods, and a sensitivity for the societal implications.

Visual Cultures

The aim of the section is to provide a forum for discussing and developing work on visual cultures and material practices in a context of broadly understood media and communication scholarship. The objectives are simple: deepen theoretical and empirical understanding of ways in which visual cultures and material practices intertwine, and provide a platform for scholars at various stages in their academic career for constructive dialogue.