ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Editors:

Simon Borchmann | Roskilde University

Anne Fabricius | Roskilde University

Ida Klitgård | Roskilde University

Purchase HERE

This volume invites its readers to rethink the linguistic basis for framing analysis by problematizing the existing foundation and presenting eight new pragmatically based framing analyses.

The book challenges the assumption that there is a unilateral, one-to-one relationship between words and frames, such that framing occurs when a language user is exposed to a word that activates a frame.

Conversely, it is assumed that framing emerges in social interaction through a complex interplay between the participants, the semiotic resources employed, the circumstances, and the multiple frames of interaction. This assumption calls for the relationship between words and frames to be analyzed in pragmatics, including in cross-fertilization with other disciplines such as discourse analysis, interaction analysis, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and social psychology.

The assumption is operationalized in eight different exemplary framing analyses. Each analysis has its own focus, drawing on its own disciplines, and utilizing its own concepts, tools, and methods.

The results of the analyses are noteworthy and demonstrate how a pragmatic approach to framing analysis can enhance the validity and reliability of the analysis.

ONLINE OPEN LECTURE

December 5, 8.30-9.30 CET 

Michael Skey, Loughborough University 

“The Kids Like It, So What Do We Care About the 55-Year-Olds?” Baller League and the Mediatization of Contemporary Sport

MS Teams: tiny.pl/q2r7dy65

April 7-10, 2026

at the ECPR Joint Sessions

University of Innsbruck, Austria

Deadline (EXTENDED): December 10, 2026

The Workshop will examine how emerging digital platforms, practices, and policies help entrench authoritarianism, or exacerbate democratic backsliding, across the Global South and East — including Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America. It aims to map the transforming terrain of digital authoritarianism, from internet shutdowns and online censorship to surveillance, disinformation, and participatory propaganda.

Read more (link to https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/WorkshopDetails/16786)

Media and Communication

We are pleased to announce that the thematic issue “Journalism in the Hybrid Media System”, edited by Silke Fürst, Florian Muhle, and Colin Porlezza, is now published in Media and Communication.

This thematic issue examines journalism’s role within complex, hybridized media environments shaped by platforms, algorithms, shifting logics of attention, and various actors. Bringing together empirical, theoretical, methodological, and historical perspectives from across three continents, the contributions reveal both enduring structures and transformative dynamics, offering nuanced insights into journalism’s evolving practices, societal functions, and current—as well as future—challenges.

Access the full special issue in Media and Communication here: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.i494

ARTICLES

Journalism in the Hybrid Media System: Editorial

Silke Fürst, Florian Muhle and Colin Porlezza

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.11227

Ensuring News Quality in Platformized News Ecosystems: Shortcomings and Recommendations for an Epistemic Governance

Pascal Schneiders and Birgit Stark

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10042 

Historical Roots of Information Flows in Hybrid Media Systems

Silke Fürst

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10375

Network Analysis for Media Ownership: A Methodological Proposal

Mariia Aleksevych and Tales Tomaz

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10141 

A See-Through Curtain of Varying Texture: Negotiating Power and Material Realities in Engaged Journalism

Bissie Anderson

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10027

Fact-Checkers as New Journalistic Mediators: News Agencies’ Verification Units and Platform Dynamics

Regina Cazzamatta

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.9867

Search in the Newsroom: How Journalists Navigate Google’s Dominance in a Hybrid Media System

Daniel Trielli

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.9975

Media Hybridization and the Strategic Value of Political Incivility: Insights From Italian Journalists

Rossella Rega

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10236

Artificial Amplification and Intermedia Dynamics in the Hybrid Media System: The Case of #LaschetLacht

Florian Muhle and Indra Bock

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10244

Climate Communication in the Hybrid Media System: Media and Stakeholder Logics on Social Media

Simon M. Luebke, Nadezhda Ozornina, Mario Haim and Jörg Haßler

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.9892

Issue Attention and Semantic Overlap in Vaccination Coverage Within Switzerland’s Hybrid Media System

Dario Siegen and Daniel Vogler

https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10040

If you have any questions about this thematic issue, please contact guest editor Silke Fürst: s.fuerst@ikmz.uzh.ch

Deadline: January 31, 2026

 We seek expressions of interest, in the form of short abstracts for an edited volume engaging with the aftermath of the MeToo movement across the globe, with a focus on the media/social media/journalism domain. Investigations about a major Hollywood sexual predator published in October 2017 reignited a movement exposing and challenging workplace sexual violence and sexual harassment. Within a few weeks, this movement was genuinely global: versions of the #meetoo hashtag appeared in at least 80 countries and seemingly across every work domain. What has happened in subsequent years?

We intend this volume to be international in scope and already have proposals from scholars in Africa and Europe, and in China, India, Brazil, and Egypt. We are particularly interested in proposals for internationally comparative studies and/or that deal with Russia and former SSRs, Mexico, Israel, and MENA nations.

A highly incomplete list of potential topics would include coverage at different points of time (including “anniversary” coverage); analyses of changes in language such as with victim blaming/shaming; assessments of the short-, mid-, long-term impacts/consequences--including for people who were accused of harassment and/or who made accusations; and what happened with the initiatives proposed to address the problem in journalism and comm industries and classrooms? Ethical issues include how to assess and investigate accusations, and what journalists do or should do when they overplay a story. Of course, we seek consideration of the implications for race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, and class and especially intersections of these. Internationally comparative topics include analyses of how/when sources, politicians, and/or journalists mocked #MeToo as representing US prudery and/or feminist hysteria. We are welcome to other topics and themes: the above list is merely suggestive.

A scholarly press has already expressed interest in the volume. We hope the manuscript will be completed by late 2027, in time to appear in print in early 2028.

Please send your 80 – 120 words idea, with your name, email address, and affiliation, to Dinfin Mulupi (University of Colorado Boulder) Dinfin.Mulupi@colorado.edu and to Linda Steiner (University of Maryland College Park) at lsteiner@umd.edu by January 31, 2026. We will get back to you in early February. Feel free to contact us with your questions.

August 16-22, 2026

Jönköping University Sweden

Deadline: March 1, 2026

Democracy depends on engaged citizens. And yet, the most powerful discourses surrounding engagement are strategically designed to drive commercial markets. As a counterpoint to this horizon, the main purpose of this PhD residential course is to understand theories and methods of media engagement not as a metric but as a marker of power relations.

This 7.5 credit course offers an international platform for PhD researchers to write, present and receive feedback on work in progress from global experts on theories and methods for media engagement. The course will cover key concepts for engagement, including political and public spheres, digital media and AI related technologies, social movements and mobilisation, transmedia engagement, and cultural citizenship and popular culture.

Key Highlights:

Mentoring and networking with world leading scholars and international doctoral researchers; slow thinking, with time to write thesis chapters and peer reviewed journal articles; residential setting of Gränna Campus, overlooking the great lake of Vättern, with easy access to local food and crafts, clear water swimming, nature walks and mountain views; social events, including trips to the historical island of Visingsö.

Teaching Team:

course leader Annette Hill (co author with Dahlgren of Media Engagement Routledge 2023), Peter Dahlgren (author of Media and Political Engagement 2009), Renira Gambarato (author of Streaming Media and Cultural Memory in a Postdigital Society 2024) and Hario Priambodho (author The Cult Film Atmosphere 2025).

Website and application: for information on the course, application process, fees, and key dates see https://ju.se/samarbeta/event-och-konferenser/event/phd-summer-course-media-engagement.html

Contact: Annette Hill (Annette.hill@ju.se)

Nordic Journal of Media Studies

Deadline: January 15, 2026

Nordic Journal of Media Studies invites contributions to the 2027 issue exploring how scandals unfold and are communicated across media.

Editors: 

• Nete Nørgaard Kristensen (University of Copenhagen): netenk@hum.ku.dk
  
• Anne Jerslev (University of Copenhagen): jerslev@hum.ku.dk 
  

Important dates:

• Deadline for abstracts: 15 January
  
• Deadline for full submissions: 15 August 
  

Nordic Journal of Media Studies invites contributions to the 2027 issue exploring how scandals unfold and are communicated across media. The issue welcomes international as well as Nordic perspectives and asks the following questions: How have the emergence and development of scandals evolved with the advent of social media, algorithmic amplification, and platform-driven visibility? In what ways do audiences, users, and digital publics engage in the exposure, circulation, and escalation of scandal online? What counts as “scandalous” – and to whom? What are the (social, political, cultural, and personal) consequences of the disclosure of morally dubious and transgressive actions in a networked media landscape? How can scandals be understood as cross-platform and cross-mediated public events today? Can value be attributed to scandal communication and scandals as networked public events? What role do automation and emerging technologies of generative AI play in accelerating or fabricating scandal? How do new technologies complicate questions of responsibility and accountability in scandals and their aftermath? By addressing these questions, this issue offers new insights about the multiple trajectories and shifting temporalities of contemporary scandals, particularly in view of audiences taking on active roles in exposing, co-constructing, and driving scandal.  

Media studies have long conceptualised scandals as the mediated disclosure of what a society considers morally dubious and objectionable (e.g., Lull & Hinerman, 1997). John B. Thompson’s (2000) classical definition stated that “‘scandal’ refers to actions or events involving certain kinds of transgressions which become known to others and are sufficiently serious to elicit a public response”. Occupied with the processes through which moral transgressions were scandalised and with the public reaction to scandal, Ari Adut (2008) similarly regarded scandals as “symbolic centers” that confirm, contest, or reinforce societal values. Scandals used to be extraordinary media events; however, mediatisation, personalisation, and celebritisation have, over the past decades, made, for instance, political, financial, and celebrity scandals the “new normal” (Pollack et al., 2018; Entman, 2012). Tabloid and investigative journalism continue to give prominence to the coverage of transgressive behaviour among celebrities, politicians, CEOs, and so on, but the rise of social media has also challenged the key role played by news media in uncovering, defining, and framing scandal and the scandalous.  

Demarcating and tracing the unfolding of scandals has thus become more complex. Scandals today emerge and progress across media, involve multiple actors, are fuelled and amplified by emotionalised, personalised, and polarised communication online, and unfold intensely for short periods of time with more or less severe consequences for those involved. One might say that mediated scandals – or scandals as (news) media events (Thompson, 2000) – have transitioned into socio-mediated scandals – or scandals as communicative events (Zulli, 2021). Understanding scandals today necessitates analysing their rise and development as more unpredictable processes, as well as recognising the role of (social) media users in co-constructing and circulating the scandalous. At times, these users take on the role of investigating and exposing possible transgressions which may then travel to traditional news media. This challenges clear distinctions between participants and non-participants in scandals and the temporal unfolding of a scandal in relatively linear phases across media, as originally conceptualised by Thomspon (2000). Finally, the altered circuits of communication suggest that scandals may serve as sites for public value negotiation and creation with unifying, empowering, yet also polarising potential, as audiences articulate their worries, interests, and emotions online. As such, scandal communication may be seen as expressions or gestures of concern (Ingraham, 2021).

With this issue of Nordic Journal of Media Studies, we thus invite scholars to explore how to understand processes of scandalisation and scandal communication in an era when social media users play a significant role in co-constructing the scandalous.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Scandals as cross-media events  Visual dimensions of scandal communication
  
• Memetic scandal communication
  
• Gossip, rumours, and audiences’ scandal communication
  
• Humor, irony, and scandal communication
  
• Hate speech and scandal communication
  
• Scandal and audience engagement in digital niche communities
  
• Audience polarisation and scandal communication
  
• Audience motivations for engaging in scandal communication
  
• Audience engagement and public value  
  
• Self-scandalisation as a strategy for audience engagement
  
• Methods for studying audiences’ participation in scandal
  
• Theoretical perspectives on changing scandal dynamics
  
• Historical perspectives on changing scandal dynamics
  
• Comparative perspectives on audiences and scandal
  
• Nordic perspectives on audiences and scandal
  
• Emotion/affect in audiences’ scandal communication  
  
• Scandal as a site for changing morals and values
  
• Scandal and the culture war 
  
• GenAI and scandalisation

References 

Adut, A. (2008). On scandal: Moral disturbances in society, politics and art. Cambridge University Press. 

Entman, R. M. (2012). Scandal and silence: Media responses to presidential misconduct. Polity. 

Ingraham, C. (2021). Gestures of concern. Duke University Press. 

Lull, J., & Hinerman, S. (Eds.). (1997). Media scandals: Morality and desire in the popular culture marketplace. Columbia University Press. 

Pollack, E., Allern, S., Kantola, A., & Ørsten, M. (2018). The new normal: Scandals as a standard feature of political life in Nordic countries. International Journal of Communication, 12, 3087–3108. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/7099 

Thompson, J. B. (2000). Political scandal: Power and visibility in the media age. Polity. 

Zulli, D. (2021). Socio-mediated scandals: Theorizing political scandals in a digital media environment. Communication Theory, 31(4), 862–883. https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtaa014 

Procedure 

Those with an interest in contributing should write an abstract (max. 750 words) where the main theme (or argument) of the intended article is described. The abstract should contain the preliminary title and five keywords. How the article fits with the overall description of the issue should be mentioned.  

Send your abstract to both editors by 15 January 2026 at the latest

Scholars invited to submit a full manuscript (6,000–8,000 words) will be notified by e-mail after the abstracts have been assessed by the editors. All submissions should be original works and must not be under consideration by other publishers. All submissions are submitted to Similarity Check – a Crossref service utilising iThenticate text comparison software to detect text-recycling or self-plagiarism.

Visit Crossref to learn more about Similarity Check 

 After the initial submission and review process, manuscripts that are accepted for publication must adhere to our guidelines upon final manuscript delivery. You may choose to use our templates to assist you in correctly formatting your manuscript.

Read the instructions for authors and download a manuscript template here 

About Nordic Journal of Media Studies 

Nordic Journal of Media Studies is a peer-reviewed international publication dedicated to media research. The journal is a meeting place for Nordic, European, and global perspectives on media studies. It is a thematic digital-only journal published once a year. The editors stress the importance of innovative and interdisciplinary research, and welcome contributions on both contemporary developments and historical topics.

Read the aims & scope of NJMS 

About the publisher

Nordicom is a centre for Nordic media research at the University of Gothenburg, supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Nordicom publishes all works under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence, which allows for non-commercial, non-derivative types of reuse and sharing with proper attribution. All works are published Open Access and are available to read free of charge and without requirement for registration. There are no article processing charges for authors, and authors retain copyright.  

Read Nordicom's editorial policies 

Visit Creative Commons to learn more about the CC licence 

Problemi dell’informazione (Special Issue)

Deadline: January 31, 2026

Guest editors: Gaia Peruzzi & Raffaele Lombardi

Description

Disability Media Studies is an emerging disciplinary field situated at the intersection of Disability Studies and Media Studies. Its common ground lies in the critique of essentialist conceptions of the concept of disability: the constructivist approach of Disability Studies merges with the critical spirit of Cultural Studies and with theories that emphasise the role of media narratives in the social construction of reality, in order to deconstruct the perception of disability as a purely material issue.

The intersectional orientation of the field, together with its focus on everyday and popular experience - whether physically lived (as emphasised by Disability Studies) or mediated (as examined within Media Studies) - are other elements that strengthen the convergence between the two strands. 

Over the past two decades, Disability Media Studies has thus consolidated a critical and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the relationship between media representations and conditions of disability, helping to challenge traditional deficit-oriented frameworks, i.e. those perspectives that describe disability solely as a lack, deficiency or deviation from a presumed norm of full functionality (Ellcessor, 2016). Such traditional approaches reduce the person with disabilities to their clinical or biological condition, obscuring the social, cultural and political dimensions of the disabling experience. In contrast, this strand of scholarship promotes perspectives grounded in diversity rights and social participation (Ellis et al., 2025; Ellis et al., 2021; Shakespeare, 2018).

In the meantime, the evolution of sensitivities and mentalities, the erosion of the sharp boundaries between presumed normality and disability by new vulnerabilities (neurodivergences, attention disorders, etc.), the spread of inclusion policies, and above all the demographic transformations, which with the ageing of the population have made it clear that frailty and disability are universal and not exceptional conditions, have made the issue a social priority.

Today, Disability Media Studies, far from considering the media as mere channels of representation, investigates how journalistic practices, audiovisual productions, social media and digital platforms contribute to the construction of collective representations and imaginaries and, at the same time, influence inclusion and exclusion policies (Barden, 2018; Peruzzi, Battisti and Lombardi, 2024; Umar et al., 2024;). In particular, with the rise of digital media and participatory platforms, reflection has expanded to the active role of people with disabilities in the production of alternative content and narratives, capable of challenging dominant stereotypes and giving visibility to marginalised experiences (Jones et al., 2021; Baumgartner et al., 2021). Recent research highlights, for instance, how TikTok, YouTube or Instagram become spaces of self-representation and online communities where practices of cultural resistance and forms of digital activism emerge (Ellcessor & Kirkpatrick, 2017; Bitman, 2022). At the same time, it is pointed out that the platforms themselves are crossed by technological and algorithmic accessibility barriers that risk reproducing pre-existing inequalities (Alper, 2021; Holland et al., 2023). Furthermore, the presence of disabled activists and influencers on the Web, while obviously read as an opportunity for popularity of the topic, raises specific questions about the subjectivity-objectivity tension in professional journalism (Battisti, Bruno and Peruzzi, 2025).

In this perspective, Disability Media Studies is today a constantly evolving line of research, attentive to both the criticalities and the opportunities offered by the contemporary media ecosystem, and capable of interweaving cultural, sociological and political analysis of disability in the digital era (Pacheco & Burgess, 2024).

This monographic issue aims to bring together contributions that explore the state of Disabilities Media Studies, also from an international perspective.  We welcome contributions that offer perspectives and methods to analyse how disability shapes media narratives and technologies, as well as how media represent and construct disabled bodies and subjects - and the world that surrounding them (caregivers, institutions and disability policies). Both a theoretical and empirical contributions are invited, provided they offer original insights for advancing reflection within the field.

This issue aims to contribute to a critical debate that refuses to separate the study of media from the cultural and political transformations shaping our societies. Within this framework, disability should be understood not as a marginal category but as a lens through which to reflect on the relationships between media, vulnerability, and social justice.

Below we outline a non-exhaustive set of possible thematic directions, which may also intersect with one another:

1. disability and Critical Media Studies: theoretical and methodological perspectives, approaches, methods of study, intersectionality;

2. frames and representations of the world of disability in information, mainstream journalism and social journalism;

3. frames and representations of the world of disability in mass-media narratives: literature, cinema, radio, theatre, etc.;

4. representations and narrative practices on disability in the platforms and "conversations" of online networks;

5. mainstream and specialist journalism on disability, disability influencers, editorial practices, disability-led media practices;

6. disability and social, institutional and political communication: disability campaigns, representation of people with disabilities and disability in diversity and inclusion policies, advocacy strategies, etc.;

7. disability and visual representations: problems and strategies of visual representation of disabilities, physical and cognitive;

8. disability and accessibility: inclusive communication practices; accessibility technologies and policies; social justice and medial citizenship processes.

Key dates:

• Deadline for abstract submissions: January 31, 2026
  
• Decision by issue editors sent by: February 15, 2026
  
• Full paper submissions: May 30, 2026
  
• First round of reviews completed by: July 20, 2026
  
• Resubmissions of papers: September 20, 2026
  
• Second round of reviews completed by: October 30, 2026
  
• Submission of final manuscripts: December 15, 2026
  

Abstracts (300-500 words plus references) in English or Italian should be submitted at: https://submission.rivisteweb.it/index.php/pdi

Abstracts should be proposed for the section “Saggi”. Please indicate that the proposal is for the special issue edited by Peruzzi and Lombardi in the box “Comments for the editor”.

For further information about the submission process, please contact: gaia.peruzzi@uniroma1.it, r.lombardi5@lumsa.it   

There are no APC (article processing charge) for authors.

About the venue

Established in 1976, Problemi dell’Informazione (PdI) has been the first Italian scientific journal focusing specifically on journalism and communication studies. Since then, PdI has represented a dedicated venue for the development of a vivid debate on these topics, fueled both by academic research and by contributions from professionals. More recently PdI has expanded its aims and scope by broadly considering all forms of communication, also to keep pace with the latest transformations in the field of journalism and of journalism studies. PdI publishes contributions in Italian and English after a rigorous double-blind peer review process.

Principal Editor: Carlo Sorrentino.

Here: https://www.mulino.it/riviste/issn/0390-5195 its national and international board.

Problemi dell'Informazione is A-class rated journal by ANVUR (Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research Systems) in Sociology of culture and communication

Deadline: May 15, 2026

I am pleased to announce a call for papers for the first edited volume devoted to the Netflix limited series Ripley (Zaillian, 2024). Perspectives on Netflix’s Ripley seeks to explore the myriad ways in which this striking adaptation reimagines Patricia Highsmith’s iconic character for a new era of streaming television. I invite proposals from scholars, practitioners, and critics whose work engages with adaptation, media studies, sexuality, and screen cultures.

About the Volume

Ripley, based on Highsmith’s celebrated novel, offers a noir-inflected meditation on duplicity, queerness, and identity within the seductive landscapes of mid-century Italy. Written and directed by Steven Zaillian and starring Andrew Scott in the titular role, the series stands at the crossroads of literary adaptation and the shifting aesthetics of contemporary streaming television. Its monochrome palette, deliberate pacing, and psychological intensity invite viewers to re-examine not only the figure of Tom Ripley, but also the very structures that define contemporary television.

This edited volume aims to situate Ripley within broader conversations about adaptation in the age of streaming, the affordances and limitations of new media, and the cultural, political, and psychological dimensions of the titular character. The volume seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue, and I welcome contributions from established and emerging voices. Join us in interrogating the darkness and allure of Ripley.

The aim is for a proposal for this collection to be submitted to Intellect, which has expressed an interest. It is designed for their Television Studies series. 

Possible Themes and Topics

I encourage authors to engage with Ripley broadly and creatively. Submissions might address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Adaptation and remediation in the Streaming Age: How does Ripley rework Highsmith’s novel and remediate earlier screen versions (notably Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, René Clément’s Plein Soleil, and Claude Chabrol’s Les Biches)? What does adaptation mean within the context of Netflix’s transnational audience and algorithmic reach?
  
• Streaming Television’s Affordances: In what ways does the streaming format—bingeability, episodic structure, global accessibility—shape the series’ narrative, formal, and thematic choices?
  
• Sexuality and Queerness: How is desire, intimacy, and queer identity articulated in Ripley? How do the series’ visual, narrative and representational strategies encode or obfuscate sexual tension, power, and repression?
  
• Visual Style: What is the significance of the show’s black-and-white cinematography, its painterly compositions, and its interplay with previous cinematic intertexts or the visual arts?
  
• Soundscape and Score: How does the series’ musical score and sound design contribute to the construction of suspense, affect, and atmosphere?
  
• Transnationalism and Locale: How does the series portray Italy and Italians? How does it portray émigrés living in Italy? What are the implications of setting and place for character and genre? How is Ripley situated in terms of Netflix’s transnational co-production output? What are the implications for its transnational microaudiences?
  
• Class, Mobility, and Social Performance: In what ways does Ripley interrogate questions of class, aspiration, and the performance of identity?
  
• Reception, Fandom, and Critique: How has Ripley been received by critics and audiences? What discourses have emerged on social media, in reviews, and among fans?
  

Aim and Scope

This book aims to assemble a diverse array of perspectives that illuminate the aesthetic, political, and cultural resonances of Netflix’s Ripley. By gathering essays that traverse disciplinary boundaries, I hope to offer a comprehensive account of how this adaptation both reflects and reframes the enduring fascination with Highsmith’s enigmatic antihero.

The collection will be of interest to:

• Scholars of film, television, adaptation, and media studies
  
• Researchers in gender, sexuality, and queer studies
  
• Students and educators seeking new approaches to intermedial adaptation and remediation, and Highsmith’s work
  
• Cultural critics and practitioners interested in streaming media’s impact on narrative
  
• Fans of Highsmith, noir, and prestige television drama
  

Submission Guidelines

Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words, outlining the proposed chapter’s title, contents, argument, approach, and significance.

Please include

• Up to 5 key words outlining the proposed chapter’s focus.
  
• A brief author biography (up to 150 words), including institutional affiliation and relevant publications.
  
• An acknowledgement of use of AI in preparation of the abstract, if applicable, including the AI tool/s used, the extent of their use, and the prompts used. (up to 150 words).
  

Deadline: 15 May 2026

Please use the following webform for submissions: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2ON1aS110iv43gcEsqO2paSkt3ccQcWiAWcm9FStsBjvdyQ/viewform?usp=heade

About the Editor

The volume will be edited by Joy McEntee, author of the first monograph on the Ripley: Netflix’s Ripley: Television Antiheroes, Difficult Empathy, and the Aesthetics of Forgery (forthcoming). She is also co-editor of Kubrick and Race (2025) and author of Kubrick and Women (forthcoming).

Contact and Further Information

For all queries, please direct correspondence to joy.mcentee@adelaide.edu.au 

Updates regarding the project will be posted to those who submit in due course.

Acknowledgement of AI

I acknowledge the use of CoPilot to generate this Call for Papers.

Deadline: January 15, 2026

Editors: Ufuoma Akpojivi, Job Mwaura, Teke Ngomba & Jimmy Ochieng 

Focus of Study:

A growing body of scholarship has interrogated the dynamics of electoral politics in Africa with a particular emphasis on the implications of democratic backsliding, the resurgence of coups, and the shifting landscape of citizen engagement (see Ndlela and Mano 2020, Lilleker and Mutsvairo 2026). The electoral cycles of 2022 to 2025 have seen a significant number of African states, such as South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania and Kenya, amongst others, conduct elections, revealing a salient and often underestimated actor:  Generation Z (Gen Z). According to Afrobarometer, 60% of Africa’s population consists of individuals aged 25 and below, most of whom fall within the Gen Z category (born between 1997-2012), and are considered to be digitally native (BBC n/d).  This means that these Gen Zs are not only the future generation that will (re)shape politics and democratic processes in the continent, but their voices cannot be silenced or ignored in the democratic process, as their actions have a broader implication on democracy and democratic sustenance. 

Rice and Moffet (2021) argue that Gen Z’s political behaviour stands apart from that of older generations. While the older generation of voters may tend towards caution and compromise,  Gen Zs, on the other hand, are less willing to accept poor governance or systemic failure quietly. These inclinations described above are at the heart of recent varied forms of demonstration in countries such as Madagascar, Cameroon, Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria, where these groups of young Africans have demanded good governance.   Their constant exposure and access to information shape the forms and manner of their political engagement and participation. Their expressions are grounded in their critique of political and economic failures of African states, as these factors have formed the catalyst of their engagement (Mbugua 2025). 

In light of the above, this proposed edited collection seeks to understand how Gen Zs are influencing political participation, electoral behaviours and democratic transformation across the African continent. We are interested in the broader questions of how Gen Z is (re)shaping political participation and elections in Africa? Are there structural or socio-economic barriers to Gen Z’s political participation? If there are, what are these and in what form do they exist? How is Gen Z’s voting behaviour different from other generations, and what is the broader impact of their voting behaviour on the electioneering process? What role, if any, do social media influencers and activists play in shaping the electioneering process and in influencing the political awareness of Gen Zs?  Ultimately, this volume seeks to place Gen Zs at the centre of the current debates about democracy in Africa, not as future citizens, but as active political agents in the present.

We welcome submissions that address but are not limited to the following themes related to Gen Zs in Africa:

• Political participation and everyday engagement with the state
  
• Psychological factors that influence political participation and engagement (i.e. political interests, efficacy and agency)
  
• Generational shifts in political behaviours, especially concerning electoral choices
  
• Online and offline activism and protest cultures
  
• Civic trust and policy influence
  
• Trust, disillusionment, and civic withdrawal
  
• Misinformation, disinformation and their impact on Gen Z’s political behaviour
  
• Influencer politics, micro-celebrities, and youth mobilisation
  
• Surveillance, voter suppression and politics of fear
  
• Youth-State relations and the reimagining of political accountability
  
• Informal political spaces and alternative forms of organising

Submission details:

Please, email a chapter proposal of up to 400 words and brief author’s biographical information and affiliations to the editors at ufuoma.akpojivi@gmail.com,  job.mwaura@lmu.de  and jochieng@iu.edu. Decisions on chapter proposals will be communicated to the authors by February 16, 2026. This proposed edited volume is earmarked for publication with a university press. 

Note: We do not require an article publishing charge (APC)

Tentative Timelines: 

January 15, 2026: Abstract submission deadline

February 16, 2026: Notification of decision

May 15, 2026: Deadline for the submission of the full draft

August 31, 2026: Feedback from peer reviewers

November 2, 2026:  Deadline for submission of revised chapter

December 7,  2026: Final decision on chapter submission

February 1, : 2027: Submission of book manuscript to the publisher 

References:

Afrobarometer (2023).  Understanding the Youth’s Perspectives: Highlights of Afrobarometer R9 Findings. Online: https://www.afrobarometer.org/articles/understanding-the-youths-perspective-highlights-of-afrobarometer-r9-findings/#:~:text=Findings%20from%20the%20joint%20webinar,engagement%20with%20the%20youth%20demographic.

BBC (n/d). What is the Gen Z Stare? Online: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zf8kfdm#zvjw3qt,

Lilleker, D. and Mutsvairo, B. (2026). Election Campaigning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Democracy, Societal Cleavages and Social Media.  London: Palgrave

Mbugua, J. (2025). Why Kenyan’s Gen Z Has Taken to the Streets. Journal of Democracy, Online: https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclusive/why-kenyas-gen-z-has-taken-to-the-streets/#:~:text=Over%20the%20past%20year%2C%20the%20nation%20has,however%2C%20the%20state%20has%20responded%20with%20force.

Ndela,  M. and Mano, W. (2020). Social Media and Elections in Africa, Volume 1: Theoretical Perspective and Election Campaigns. London: Palgrave.

Rice, L and Moffet, K. (2021). The Political Voices of Generation Z. New York: Routledge.