International Communication Association 2019 Pre-conference

May 24, 2019

Washington D.C. (USA)

Deadline: February 7, 2019

As part of an ongoing movement to decenter white masculinity as the normative core of scholarly inquiry, the recent article, “#CommunicationSoWhite” by Chakravartty et al. (2018) in the Journal of Communication examined racial disparities within citational practices to make a broader intervention on ways current Communication scholarship reproduces institutional racism and sexism. The underrepresentation of scholars of color within the field in regards to citations, editorial positions, and publications and ongoing exclusion of nonwhite, feminist, queer, post-colonial, and Indigenous voices is a persistent and systemic problem in the production of disciplinary knowledge. ICA President Paula Gardner echoed similar sentiments in her 2018 presidential address, calling for steps for inclusion and diversity within the International Communication Association as well as the larger field.

This pre-conference aims to highlight, consider, and intervene in these issues. We seek submissions that address areas such as:

• The marginalization of communication scholarship in which race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and other axes of exclusion are central
  
• Communication scholarship in the context of the global rise of white supremacy and right-wing ethno-nationalism movements;
  
• Communication scholarship from postcolonial and decolonial perspectives;
  
• Who tends to be hired and who serves as leaders/gatekeepers in the field;
  
• The politics of citation and publication;
  
• How #CommunicationSoWhite can function as an intervention within communication studies organizations, departments, and scholarship.
  

We anticipate many submissions will center on the U.S. and other Western contexts; we also hope the pre-conference will provide a discussion that spans both global North and South, and we encourage participation by submitters from outside North America and the U.K.

Please submit either an EXTENDED ABSTRACT or a PANEL PROPOSAL.

Extended abstracts should be 1,500-3,000 words, including notes and references. We encourage different types of submissions including position papers, case studies, and more conventional research papers that tackle any issue relating to the preconference themes.

Panel proposals should include a minimum of four participants. We will accept panels following a traditional format where presenters each speak for 10-15 minutes before a Q-and-A period. We also encourage panel proposals that do not follow such a format; e.g. consider high-density panels, which have six or more participants who each speak for 6 minutes or less, or panels where panelists circulate their papers to each other ahead of time to generate a more engaged discussion during the presentation session. Provide a 400-word rationale describing the panel overall, a 200-word abstract for each participant’s contribution, and a list of participants’ names, affiliations, and contact information.

Travel grants

Depending on funding availability, we may have the ability to offer one or two modest travel grants (maximum $400). If you are a graduate student and/or a scholar resident in a non-Tier A country (see https://www.icahdq.org/page/tiers for a list), please note this status in your submission and indicate that you would like to be considered for a travel grant.

Exclusions

Submissions should not consist primarily of previously published or in-press scholarship.

Deadline

Please submit by Thursday, February 7, 2019, 16:00 UTC, by emailing BOTH Eve Ng at nge@ohio.edu and Khadijah Costley White at klw147@comminfo.rutgers.edu

Attendance by non-presenters: Those who are not presenting are also welcome to register for attendance. (Registration information to come shortly.)

If you have questions, please contact both of the following pre-conference organizers:

Eve Ng: nge@ohio.edu

Khadijah Costley White: klw147@comminfo.rutgers.edu

Date and location

The pre-conference will take place on Friday, May 24, 2019, in Washington D.C., USA, at a venue close to the ICA conference hotel. Exact location will be announced when it is finalized. The pre-conference will end in time for participants to attend the opening plenary in the evening at the Washington Hilton.