Editor: Heloisa Pait
Deadline: December 15, 2019
Connections between the emergence of national democracies, economic development, and the introduction of mass media have been studied for many decades, but there are still missing links in this complex web. In 1949, Daniel Lerner suggested the existence of a relationship between new media and the modern mentality in developing nations. Although much criticized, his insights influenced optimistic views of the impact of television and the internet around the globe. Here we ask a different question: what is the impact of State censorship and material restrictions on the press, in countries that have been witnessing continuous economic development?
Do restrictions on the functioning of the media in the formative period of a nation have long-term impacts on economic development? Looking from a different angle, can a limited labor market, with few formal vacancies in competitive firms, make literacy less rewarding, discouraging private investment in education? How do low literacy rates influence political culture and the nature of the public sphere in a modern society? In this volume, we would like to examine the multiple relationships between economic development, adoption of new media, literacy and education, and democratic culture.
We are interested in studies of so-called developing countries, and in particular those where there have been restrictions on the printing press, such as colonial Brazil and the Ottoman Empire, or which somehow differ from the Northern European and North American model of media development. We welcome papers using a variety of methods, particularly those bridging interdisciplinary gaps. Our goal is to point to new paths in the understanding of the challenges to achieving a free and just society. We welcome papers that discuss public policy regarding educational or economic reforms within that larger investigative framework, as well as research on the experience of particular groups. Research is particularly welcome on women, the African diaspora, and/or Marranos.
The article “Liberalism Without a Press: 18th Century Minas Geraes and the Roots of Brazilian Development”, by the editor, which appeared on volume 18 of Studies in Media and Communications, further elaborates on the possible relations between media, development and the public sphere. Please send your inquiries to Dr. Heloisa Pait, heloisa.pait@fulbrightmail.org with the subject “Emerald Book Series”. Submissions should be sent before January 15, 2020.
Editor: Heloisa Pait is a tenured professor of sociology at the São Paulo State University Julio de Mesquita Filho. She has written on Brazilian telenovelas, on the role of new media in political action and on higher education in Brazil and in the United States. Heloisa Pait is an active participant of public debates; she has recently launched Revista Pasmas, an online women’s magazine. Her published articles are listed in the Lattes platform at www.bit.ly/helopaitLattes.
Contributing editor: Renata Nagamine is a postdoctoral fellow in the Graduate Program in International Relations at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. She received her PhD in international law from the University of São Paulo Law School. Nagamine has worked as a researcher at the Brazilian Centre of Analysis and Planning (Cebrap) and was a Kathleen Fitzpatrick Visiting Fellow with the Laureate Program in International Law at the University of Melbourne in 2018. Her areas of interest are international humanitarian law, human rights, and political theory. Her published articles are listed in the Lattes platform at http://lattes.cnpq.br.
