July 19-21, 2026

Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany

Deadline: October 31, 2026

The 2027 DiscourseNet congress will take place between July 19th and July 21st at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, in Germany. The topic of the congress is Discursive imaginaries of change: Heterotopias, PowerKnowledge and the “Great Transformation”. 

Thematic Focus

The 2027 DiscourseNet congress focuses on the imaginaries that different actors, movements, disciplines, and epistemological traditions bring to the question of change. Transformation is a not a settled concept. It always points in progressive directions. Right-wing populisms and authoritarian movements offer their own powerful imaginaries of transformation. So do the counter-discourses of feminist care ethics, indigenous knowledge systems, commoning movements, de-growth advocates, and de-colonial scholars. 

We welcome contributions that address : 

Imaginaries and discourse: How is the meaning of "transformation", "crisis", or “the future" discursively constructed, stabilised, and contested across political, media, and everyday registers? What social imaginaries shape collective understandings of economy, democracy, social life and ecology?

Power, knowledge, and epistemic struggles: Whose knowledge counts, and whose is marginalised? We especially welcome contributions from Southern, de-colonial, feminist, and indigenous perspectives that challenge Western-modernist frameworks. We encourage analysis of how educational systems, organisations and communicative practices normalise particular epistemic orders.

Heterotopias and counter-movements: Where do alternative spaces, practices, and discourses emerge? How are commons, care, solidarity, and more-than-human entanglements articulated as alternatives to market logic? How do such spaces relate to — and potentially transform — hegemonic formations?

Methodological reflexivity: How can discourse research itself reflect on its own positioning, avoid reproducing hegemonic closures or epistemic romanticism, and develop what some call "caring research"? What are the implications of engaged, trans-disciplinary, or co-creative methodologies for our scholarly practices?

A more detailed version of this CfP can be found on the conference website : https://discourseanalysis.net/DNC2027. 

Submission Guidelines

All Submissions are to be submitted via Conftool at https://www.conftool.com/dnc2027/

Important Dates

• Abstract submissions open: 15th of June 2026
  
• Submission deadline: 31st of October 2026
  
• Notification of acceptance: 15th of December 2026
  
• Registration deadline: 31st March 2027 (early bird fee) & 15 June 2027 (regular fee)
  

Contact

Suzanne Weber (local organisation) and Thomas Jacobs (DiscourseNet Event coordinator)

For further information regarding the congress, registration, accommodation, or programme updates, please contact: DNC 2027 Organizing Committee dncongress2027@gmail.com