MeCCSA 2020 Conference

January 8-10, 2020

University of Brighton

Deadline: July 15, 2019

The Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association are pleased to invite the submission of abstracts, panel proposals and practice-based contributions for the MeCCSA 2020 Conference, to be held from 8-10 January 2020 at the University of Brighton. The theme of the conference is Media Interactions and Environments.

Key Note Speakers:

• Professor Trine Syvertsen, University of Oslow
• Professor Sarah Kember, Goldsmiths University of London

Interactions with media are increasingly woven into the textures and cultural politics of our everyday lives. When the spaces of our homes, shops, schools, offices and cities are so intensively mediatised, media become our environment, brought to life through our mundane, personal, professional, creative, commercial and political interactions. What might be the wider implications of these media and cultural experiences and encounters? Whose voices and perspectives are included or excluded, and how are power and agency reconfigured, realigned and reproduced in this complex media landscape? The theme Media Interactions and Environments is designed to address this critical moment in contemporary media culture, and appeal to a broad range of media, communication and cultural studies topics, interests and approaches.

This conference theme is deliberately expansive, so as to include, amongst others, analysis of media texts, technologies, practices, audiences, institutions and experiences. Media interactions might be digital, cultural, political, emotional and imaginative. Environments could be spatial, political, representational, urban, local, physical, virtual and ecological. Our aim is to enable the MeCCSA community to question how we should live responsibly and ethically in a politically and ecologically changing world, through an exploration of the central role of media cultures and creative practices in addressing social, political and climate-based challenges.

​We invite proposals for scholarly papers, themed panels, posters, film screenings and other practice-based contributions. Proposals might engage with the various social, political, economic, artistic, individual, collective, institutional, representational and technological dimensions of media interactions and environments. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• ​Media, communication and inequality: exploring race, gender, sexuality, class, generation and (dis)ability
• Datafication, agency and power
• Ecologies of media industries
• Social movements, activism and civic engagement
• Transformative learning environments and pedagogy
• Participatory media and collective engagement
• Popular culture, media and representations of the environment
• Media archaeology, sustainability and archives
• Digital cultures and immersive technologies, practices, audiences and experiences
• Communicating and envisioning futures
• Critical and creative responses to the anthropocene
• Visual cultures, representations and experiences

We welcome contributions across the full range of interests represented by MeCCSA and its networks, including, but not limited to:

• Race, ethnicity and postcolonial studies
• Representation, identity, ideology
• Film and television studies and practice
• Radio studies and practice
• Cultural and media policy
• Social movements and activism
• ​Climate change, sustainability and environment
• Digital culture and games studies
• Gender and sexuality studies
• Disability studies within media studies
• Media pedagogy
• BAME experiences of media and culture industries
• ​Children, young people and media
• Diasporic and ethnic minority media
• Political communication
• Methodological approaches
• Media practice research and teaching
• Community media

Submitting a proposal

Individual abstracts should be up to 250 words, accompanied by an author bio of no more than 200 words. Panel proposals should include a short description and rationale (200 words) together with abstracts for each of the 3-4 papers, and the name and contact details of the panel proposer. The panel proposer should coordinate the submissions for that panel as a single proposal.

Practice-based work

We actively support the presentation of practice-as-research and have a flexible approach to practice papers and presentations. This may include opportunities to present papers and screenings in the same sessions or as part of a separate screening strand. We also welcome shorter papers in association with short screenings. We also have dedicated presentation spaces to display practice artefacts including screenings, posters and computer-based work. For displaying practice work, please include specific technical data (e.g. duration, format) and a URL pointing to any support material when submitting your abstract. We expect delegates who are showing screenings to be present at the conference.

Please note that all proposals (abstracts and practice-based work) will be peer reviewed. PGRs are welcome to submit.

Timeline of submissions and reviews

Please submit proposals to: meccsa2020@brighton.ac.uk

Submission deadline: 15 July 2019

Review decision: September 2019

Early bird rates: available to November 2019