ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

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

January 9-11, 2020

American University of Beirut

Deadline: July 31, 2019

Over the last decade, and in the wake of popular protest movements and uprisings that swept the region, scholarship on the Middle East has come a long way in recognizing the contested and pivotal role of media in shaping the political imaginaries and repertoires of action across the region. >From the 2009 Green movement in Iran, to the 2011 Arab uprisings, to the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Turkey, Middle East scholars across disciplines increasingly turned their attention to the role of media – and social media in particular – in political organization, mobilization, and dissent under authoritarian regimes. Across these varied contexts, where political activity is largely restricted and freedom of expression violently repressed, new media such as social networking platforms and mobile technology were credited with heralding a new era of political participation and dissent. The revolution, some argued, will be tweeted, and the socially-mediated network, many noted, managed to leverage individual discontent for collective action.

With the aim of interrogating this techno-utopian outlook, amidst the entrenched inequalities and repressive politics that continue to plague the region, this conference seeks to move the conversation from the front-end to the back-end of media: from networks, as it were, to infrastructures. How does a focus on the material conditions and labor that channel and process communication flows unsettle what we understand media to be and what they can accomplish in the Middle East? How can an inquiry into media infrastructures inform our understanding of the economic, political, and cultural boundaries and flows that constitute the Middle East as region? And, what are the political stakes of this infrastructural turn?

If infrastructure is the “basic physical and organizational structures and facilities…needed for the operation of a society or enterprise,” then we can think of media infrastructures along these same lines – as the building blocks of our entire mediascape. Platforms, data centers, software, algorithms, and human labor shape and transform media industries and everyday media practices. This conference explores how these technological and organizational infrastructures are embedded within and reproduce power relations and inequalities, but also how they condition human agency and struggles for social justice.

We are particularly interested in papers that examine the social, material, cultural and political dimensions of media infrastructures (digital or otherwise), and related issues, such as the built and natural environments, surveillance, privacy, interconnectivity, labor conditions, access, and the reproduction or disruption of social inequalities.

Other topics that papers might explore in relation to the conference theme are:

• Technological development
• Conflict and Displacement
• Accessibility
• Surveillance
• Counter surveillance
• Online violence
• Information infrastructures
• The politics of platforms
• Labor conditions
• Economies of repair and breakdown
• Digital platforms as infrastructure
• Social, political and epistemological consequences
• Impact on communication and circulation of data
• Online participation and mobility
• Knowledge production
• And other related themes

We invite submissions (maximum 400 words) on the variety of topics listed above, or others that engage with the conference theme. Submissions should include: author name(s), affiliation, email address, paper title, and a brief bio, and be emailed to mediastudies@aub.edu.lb no later than July 31st.

Decisions on acceptances of abstracts will be communicated by mid to late August.

A limited number of modest travel subsidies may be available. Applicants should identify in their email if they would like to be considered.

For further information, please contact the organizers: The Media Studies Program at the American University of Beirut at the email address listed above.

Bergen University

Deadline: August 27, 2019

At the Department of Information and Media Science’s branch in the media cluster Media City Bergen, there are two vacant PhD positions available within the fields of media technology and innovation. Both positions are for 4 years and 25 percent of the total appointment time is dedicated to duty work at the Department.

The positions are part of the Department's branch in Media City Bergen (MCB). MCB is an internationally leading, innovative knowledge cluster within the fields of media technology and media production. Here, the Department is co-located with companies such as TV2, NRK, BT, Vizrt, Vimond, IBM, and ITV Studios. Those who are appointed will develop their own research projects leading to a doctorate. As part of their work, the candidates are also expected to contribute to teaching in the field of media technology and innovation and to cultivate a dialogue between the research environment and the industry in Media City Bergen.

The fields of media technology and innovation are important in research and social contexts. In the media cluster, Media City Bergen puts emphasis on furthering innovation both in education, research and industry. All organizations and companies experience pressure to be innovative and inventive, while at the same time being able to understand and master both volatile and permanent technological change. All disciplines, occupations and sectors in society are experiencing this.

About the project/work tasks:

The University of Bergen contributes to innovation in Media City Bergen through research-based knowledge and teaching, often in collaboration with companies in the media cluster.

The two PhD scholarships will strengthen research and contribute to increasing academic activity in the fields of media technology and innovation within journalism and related media content, and within the study of media users and media design. Candidates will in particular be attached to the academic community in Media City Bergen within the areas of media innovation, technology, and production, but also to the disciplines of information science and media studies at the Department of Information and Media Studies.

The two PhD scholarships within media technology and innovation have the following academic thematic focus:

Theme 1: Technology and journalism

As a PhD candidate, you will strengthen research in the area of ​​technology in relation to journalism. This may for example involve the development of new information technology tools for investigative journalism and storytelling, or an exploration of how information technology affects journalistic practice and content. This may be technological solutions for the presentation of journalistic content in new ways, for example immersive journalism for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), or intelligent user interfaces for media using artificial intelligence or the like. The candidate will be associated with the Department's academic environment for journalism, media production and media technology in Media City Bergen, including the University’s Center for Investigative Journalism (SUJO) also in Media City Bergen. Collaboration with industry partners in the media cluster is desirable.

Theme 2: Media use, design and technology

As a PhD candidate, you will strengthen research in the areas of media use, design and technology. This may involve methodically satisfactory evaluations using advanced biometric technology such as eye tracking, physiological response measurements, as well as video, field notes and interviewing, as well as statistics, surveys, and A-B testing. Relevant demographic groups to study are children and parents, schoolchildren, young adults, retirees and the elderly. The candidate will be associated with the Department's academic environment within interaction research and human-machine interaction (HCI), and collaboration with industry partners in the media cluster is desirable.

Qualifications and personal qualities:

• Masters degree in Media and Interaction Design, Information Science, Informatics, Cognitive Science or similar competence
• • Applicants who have submitted their master thesis at the time of application can apply. It is a precondition that the applicant has obtained the master's degree before the actual hiring can take place.
  • The minimum requirements are generally grade B or better on Master thesis and for the Master degree in total
• Experience with relevant technology from education, teaching and / or research is an advantage.
• Work independently and structured and have good collaborative skills
• Great working capacity and enthusiasm for research
• Utilize written and oral English

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview.

About the PhD position (applies to university PhD positions):

About the PhD position:

The duration of the PhD position is 4 years, of which 25 per cent of the time comprises obligatory duties associated with research, teaching and dissemination of results. The employment period for the successful candidate may be reduced if he or she previously has been employed in a PhD position.

About the research training:

As a PhD research fellow, you will take part in the doctoral educational program at the Faculty of Social Sciences, UiB. The program corresponds to a period of three years and leads to the submission of the PhD dissertation. To be eligible for admission you must have completed a Master degree. The educational background must be equivalent to a five-year Master education, including a two-year Master degree and a Master thesis at least 30 ECTS. It is expected that the topic of the Master degree is connected to the academic field to which you are seeking admission.

We can offer:

• Salary at pay grade 54 upon appointment (Code 1017) on the government salary scale (equivalent to NOK 479 600,- per year). Further promotions are made according to length of service in the position
• A job situated in vibrant media cluster with innovative research and industry environments and very good facilities
• A good and professionally challenging working environment
• Enrolment in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• A position in an inclusive workplace (IA enterprise)
• Good welfare benefits

Your application must include:

• A 2000-3000 word long statement about the applicants motivation for applying for the PhD position – including how you will fit the position. This text must clarify whether you apply for the position that focuses on “Technology and Journalism” or the position that focuses on “Media use, design and technology”. The text must also include a discussion about how your academic background and research interests are relevant to the position, and the theoretical and methodological perspectives that are particularly relevant for your research as a PhD candidate
• The names and contact information for two reference persons. One of them must be the main advisor for the master's thesis or equivalent thesis
• CV
• Transcripts and diplomas showing completion of the bachelor's and master's degrees.
• Relevant certificates/references
• A list of academic publications
• Academic publications that you want to submit for assessment (including your master’s thesis or equivalent)

If you have a master's degree from an institution outside of the Nordic countries, or a 2-year discipline- based master's degree (or the equivalent) in a subject area other than the one associated with the application, you may later in the application process be asked to submit an overview of the syllabus for the degree you have completed

The application and appendices with certified translations into English or a Scandinavian language must be uploaded at Jobbnorge following the link on this page marked “Apply for this job”.

The application has to be marked: 19/7019

Closing date: August 27, 2019

Applications submitted without a project description or applications sent as e-mails will not be considered. Only submitted documents will be subjected to an expert assessment.

General information:

Additional information about the position is obtainable by contacting Head of Department, Professor Leif Ove Larsen, e-mail Leif.Larsen@uib.no, phone (+47) 55 58 41 16.

Practical questions regarding the application procedures should be directed to senior officer Bodil Hægland, phone +47 55 58 90 53, e-mail: bodil.hagland@uib.no.

Appointed research fellows will be admitted to the doctoral education program at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Further information about the program is available on the webpage http://www.uib.no/en/svf/37940/doctoral-education. Questions about the program may be directed to senior officer Hanne Gravermoen, e-mail: hanne.gravermoen@uib.no, phone: +47 55 58 90 68.

The state labour force shall reflect the diversity of Norwegian society to the greatest extent possible. Age and gender balance among employees is therefore a goal. It is also a goal to recruit people with immigrant backgrounds. People with immigrant backgrounds and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply for the position.

The University of Bergen applies the principle of public access to information when recruiting staff for academic positions.

Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met.

The successful applicant must comply with the guidelines that apply to the position at all times.

For further information about the recruitment process, click here .

Deadline: October 15, 2019

Archival practices in the 20th and early-21st century have been understood in a variety of ways. For some, “artists started to rely on the topos of the archive to express their unease about canonic systems for the production of knowledge” (Giannachi, 2016: 131). For others, a reviewing of the archive as a power structure and the blind spots, or silences, it produced was in order (Michel-Rolph Trouillot, 1995: 53). For others still, this ‘archival turn’ grew out of a fascination with historiography and with memory (Spieker, 2008: 26), characteristic of postmodern societies. Two main theoretical frameworks have been consistently called forth in contemporary studies of the archive. First, that of Michel Foucault’s association of the archive not with a building or with the documents there contained, but with the system that governs its ordering, and structures the knowledge there encased [2002 (1969): 145]. Second, Jacques Derrida’s proposition in Archive Fever that the archive is reliant on an archivist as both a guardian and an interpreter, and that of the paradox enclosed in the notion that saving, or remembering, everything will only lead to the destruction of the archive, for if something cannot be found, it will forgotten (1995: 12).

Filmic engagement with the archive has taken a variety of shapes. From the particularities moving images pose to processes of classification and conservation; to the archival associations of ethnographic film; or to montage, avant-garde and artistic practices that might be read under the umbrella of ‘archiveology’: where archival films “can have a real effect on the archive itself”(Russell, 2018: 90).

The book we propose — Archives in ‘Lusophone’ Film — aims to expand this area of knowledge into a region that has yet to see an expansive international study: the ‘Lusophone’ world. Having lived through an imperialistic and colonial past, the vast majority of Portuguese-speaking countries have faced political disturbances and censorship, economic hindrances and quick developments that raise questions about history and memory, in the public and private sphere, in political, social and cultural terms, and the way in which these have been (or are still to be) archived. Although there are a number of places in the diaspora that still speak Portuguese, ten territories have Portuguese as their official language: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe. Here we do not seek to imply that the notion of the ‘Lusophone’ is bounded by geographical and linguist regions, instead we look to question these assumptions as remnants of a colonial system that influenced the construction of archives in these territories, identifying both internal and external links and tensions.

Fostered by the ‘Cinema and the World - Studies on Space and Cinema’ cluster at THELEME – Interarts and Intermedia research group, Centre for Comparative Studies, University of Lisbon, the book will be grounded on case studies – particularly that of film, be it documental, fictional or experimental – to illuminate broader archival processes and thinking.

We invite proposals for individual papers on topics related to Archives in 'Lusophone' Film, which may include but are not limited to:

• comparative study of archival processes and methodologies during dictatorships and authoritarian regimes in 'Lusophone' countries;
• colonial, anti-colonial and post-colonial perspectives on film archives;
• the role of the archive on the construction of history;
• cultural heritage and collective memory practices: the reconfiguration of memory in archival film works;
• filmic archival self-reflexivity;
• the status of the 'original' within found footage;
• independent and institutional archival spaces and exhibition venues;
• curatorship of archival films;
• copyright, legal issues and policy;
• collection, preservation and availability within institutional archives.

Please send your 500-750 word proposal and 100 word bionote, as well as 3-5 keywords to archivelusophonefilm@gmail.com by October 15, 2019. We welcome initial email enquiries to discuss possible proposals.

Final submissions will be 5000-6000 words, in English, and submitted by April 30, 2020.

A one-day workshop with the selected authors will be held at the School of Arts & Humanities, University of Lisbon, in June 2020.

Any questions should be sent to Sandra Camacho, Ana Bela Morais and Filipa Rosário (School of Arts & Humanities, University of Lisbon).

ECREA Communication History Section book proposal

Deadline: July 9, 2019

ECREA Communication History Section is launching a call for chapters for a new book project tentatively entitled Historicizing media and communication concepts of the digital age. The book aims to historicize some of the most relevant ideas and concepts in contemporary digital media studies, and will appear in the series “Studies in digital history and hermeneutics” directed by Andreas Fickers (DeGruyter Editor). The volume will be both online with free access and printed thanks to the support of C2DH at the University of Luxembourg, and will be edited by Gabriele Balbi, Nelson Ribeiro, Valérie Schafer and Christian Schwarzenegger – the former and current management team.

The main goal of the book is to show how several concepts did not originate with digital technologies, but existed before the digital age and have been used for long time, also in the “analogue times”. This should help to understand how concepts have changed over time and to see both continuities and profound mutations in their meanings between past and present, between the analog and digital eras. We have selected more than 20 concepts and part of them will be assigned thanks to this Call for Chapters.

We are looking for authors for the following words/concepts:

• Fake News
• Virtual/Reality
• Convergence
• Mobility
• Divide/Inequalities
• Multimedia
• Privacy/Private Life
• Data
• Network
• Sharing
• Piracy

If you or your team of authors are willing to write a chapter of 5’000-6’000 words, please express your interest to christian.schwarzenegger@phil.uni-augsburg.de by July 9, 2019 and enclose an interest statement (no more than 500 words) mentioning the concept you selected and giving us a few a details on:

– How would you historicize this concept?

– How is the concept you selected linked to your previous work and why did you pick it? (small biography)

– Which are the media historical examples you plan to consider in your chapter?

For more info: https://ecreahistorysection.com/last-news-2/

We are very excited to launch this new book project and we are looking forward to reading your proposals.

Gabriele Balbi, Nelson Ribeiro, Valérie Schafer and Christian Schwarzenegger

November 1, 2019

Coventry University

Deadline: July 31, 2019

MeCCSA Local and Community Media Network

Abstracts are invited for a one-day symposium examining the current landscape for local and community media. The event is the first organised by the MeCCSA Local and Community Media Network and aims to bring together scholars and practitioners together to reappraise the sector as it undergoes rapid change and disruption. Keynote sessions will be delivered by Professor Bridgette Wessels from Glasgow University, researcher in the REGPRESS project, which is based in Sweden and which is examining the role of regional and local press, and Matthew Barraclough, head of BBC Local News Partnerships.

Papers which examine any area of the above are welcome and may include both theoretical reflections and practice-based interventions to consider the range of responses to this disruption and how those relate to the perceived role and purpose of local and community media.

Areas which might be addressed include, but are not limited to:

• Local democratic processes
• Social justice
• Information provision
• Local media ecosystems
• Communities
• Policy makers
• Media entrepreneurs and emerging business models
• Alternative local and community media
• Interventions, for instance the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Facebook-funded Community News Project.

Papers will be peer-reviewed. Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words and a cover sheet with a brief biographical note, your institutional affiliation (where relevant) and your contact details (including your email address). Abstracts should be sent to network chair r.matthews@coventry.ac.uk. Please address any queries to the same address in the first instance.

Closing date for proposals: July 31 2019. You will be notified of the acceptance of your paper by early September.

The event will be held at Coventry University in the Midlands of the UK on Friday, November 1, 2019. A nominal fee of £10 will be charged for attendance. A limited number of travel grants will also be available to enable attendance by PG/ECR researchers. Please state on your abstract if you would like to be considered for a grant and the amount requested.

January 8-11, 2020

The Center for Media, Religion, and Culture University of Colorado Boulder

Deadline (extended): July 1, 2019

CMRC Conference in Collaboration with SIMAGINE

Confirmed Featured Speakers: Ann Laura Stoler, Catherine Walsh, & Glenn Coulthard

The question of borders and the practice of bordering persist in a world destined for encounters and confrontations. This persistence today bears resemblance to long-standing legacies of coloniality, modernity, and globalization, but it also foregrounds new narratives, aesthetics, and politics of exclusion and dehumanization. Talk of walls, fortresses, boundaries, and deportation has never been a political or philosophical anomaly, but rather a reflection of a particularistic social imaginary, a linear compulsion of epistemic assumptions that sees the world through the logic of hierarchy, classification, difference, and ontological supremacy. This foreclosure is a widely shared and accepted social imaginary, as demonstrated in current scholarship in the critical humanities and social and political sciences: a foreclosure that has also defined institutions and disciplines of knowledge production which continue to marginalize other knowledge systems and intellectual traditions and refuse to acknowledge their viability and legitimacy in the academy. Disciplinary walls and intellectually demarcated canons within the Western and Westernized university in the Global North and South have generally produced narrow curricula and models of learning that reproduce selective systems of thought, discourses and practices.

The tenacity of this normalized worldview requires urgent new imaginaries: a decolonial perspective not only to call out the ontological instability of Western theory, but also to establish a sense of epistemic hospitality capable of liberating and re-centering other ways of knowing and dwelling in the world. This contestation of physical and cognitive borders has found its most ardent proponents in recent movements such as #RhodesMustFall, Standing Rock, Idle No More, Undocumented and Unafraid, #Whyismycurriculumsowhite, Arab Uprisings, Black Lives Matter, and #MeToo, among others. At the heart of this decolonial injunction is a desire by absented voices to reclaim the right to self-narrate, to signify, and to render visible local histories, other temporalities, subjectivities, cosmologies, and struggles silenced by Western and Westernized accounts of the world.

The fields of art, religion and the media have not yet come under historical scrutiny about their own epistemic and existential imaginaries and whether they reify or disrupt dominant structures and legacies of knowledge production? Drawing from a variety of intellectual traditions and established academic disciplines, these fields risk carrying the same blind spots, the same foreclosures, the same ontological foundations, and the same centered claims to universality.

What can a decolonial critique then do to avoid a zero-sum epistemology? And how can we develop new decolonial imaginaries as an invitation to undo the Eurocentrism of our paradigms, challenge the verticality of our pedagogical designs, and achieve an ethics of interpretation, an epistemic justice whereby theories from the South or from ‘the margins’ in the North are not treated merely as local or subjective? The decolonial attitude challenges us to avoid embracing singular universalities, and rethink altogether the hierarchies of global-local and of universal-particular that underlie this world’s inequality.

This will be the ninth in a series of successful international conferences held by the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture in Boulder. The previous meetings have brought together an interdisciplinary community of scholars for focused conversations on emerging issues in media and religion. Each has proven to be an important landmark in the development of theory and method in its respective area and has resulted in important collaborations, publications, and resources for further research and dialogue.

The 2020 conference is organized in conjunction with SIMAGINE, an international and interdisciplinary research consortium bringing together partners from the USA, the UK, Europe and South Africa; it is hosted by the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and dedicated to the study of social imaginaries between secularity and religion in a globalizing world. SIMAGINE has organized conferences on ‘Religion, Community, Borders’ leading to a special issue of the open access Journal for Religion and Transformation in December 2019. In 2018 the consortium published the volume Social Imaginaries in a Globalizing World.

The conference will feature keynote lectures and keynote conversations, as well as thematic panels and artistic performances. We invite papers and panels from across disciplines, intellectual traditions, and geographic locations that engage with these questions and beyond. Possible topics could include but are not limited to:

• Borders, Bordering, Border Zones between the Imaginary and the Real
• Modernity, Secularity, Religious Legacies and Universality
• Social Imaginaries and (the Critique of) Anthropocentrism
• Coloniality and Decolonial Epistemologies
• What Counts as Critical Theory and Decolonial Critique?
• What Counts as Religion in the Decolonial Imaginary?
• Big Data, Algorithmic Culture, and (De)Coloniality
• Decolonial Intersectionalities
• Decolonial Feminisms
• Decolonizing Race, Ethnicity, and Identity
• Decolonial Pedagogy, Methodology, and Praxis.
• Media, Religion, and Theoretical Provincialism
• Media, Arts, and Decolonial Theory
• Media, Religion, the Other, and the Subaltern
• Religion, Theology, and Social Imaginaries
• Social Imaginaries and (the Critique) of Neoliberalist Globalization
• Geopolitics of Knowledge Production
• Language, Publishing, and Boundaries of Learning
• Imagination and Worldview Education: Interreligious Dialogue
• Queering the Archives

Abstracts of 300-350 words should be submitted to cmrc@colorado.edu by July 1, 2019.

Please include your email address and university affiliation in your submission.

For questions, email Nabil Echchaibi, Associate Director: nabil.echchaibi@colorado.edu. or Stewart M. Hoover, Director: hoover@colorado.edu.

For more information, visit http://cmrc.colorado.edu

University of Toulouse 

Deadline: June 24, 2019

The Political Economy of Digital Platform Regulation  Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches Appliquées en Sciences Sociales  (LERASS),  University Paul Sabatier Toulouse 3 

Job Title: Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN Early Stage Researcher 

Full Time and Fixed Term: up to 34 Months 

Research Fellow:€41,425 gross p.a. (before national taxation and deductions) 

Start Date: October 2019 

The Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches Appliquées en Sciences  Sociales (LERASS) at University Paul Sabatier Toulouse 3 (UPS) is  offering a PhD position to develop research on the Political Economy of  Digital Platform Regulation. The researcher will advance the theoretical  understanding of, and best-practice approaches to, the regulation of  digital platforms such as social networking sites and search engines  (Google, Facebook, Apple, Snapchat, Twitter etc.) by public authorities. 

Applicants are asked to consider the nature, scope and strategies of the different actors (governments, platforms, EU, NGOs, pressure groups,  media) that are involved in discussing, imposing and implementing the  regulatory framework on digital platforms and infomediation services  when it comes to issues such as disinformation, hate speech, online  propaganda, media pluralism and political polarization. Applications are  welcome from journalism studies, media studies, sociology, economics,  political science, internet studies, law and all related fields. 

The successful candidate will undertake full-time PhD research. In  addition to fulfilling the requirements of the training programme of the  University of Toulouse doctoral school in social sciences and  humanities, the successful candidate will receive a personalized  training plan to develop skills for future employment in academia or  industry. This will include participation in JOLT training events (to  develop domain specific skills, general research skills, and  transferable skills) and secondments/work- placements in different  research environments. All costs are fully funded (100% employment) by  the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, which also offers highly  attractive salary and allowance conditions. 

Requirements (in addition to those outlined above): 

• A Master’s degree or equivalent (300 ECTS credits) 
• English language proficiency (IELTS 6.5) 

Requirements and Application Details 

Eligibility Requirements:All applicants should ensure and demonstrate  compliance with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie rules: (1) Applicants may be  of any nationality, but must not have resided in or carried out their  main activity (work or study) in the host country (FRANCE) for more than  12 of the 36 months prior to recruitment. This condition excludes short  stays such as holidays. (2) Applicants must have less than four years  research experience (full-time equivalent) and must not have obtained a  PhD. Registration on taught programmes such as undergraduate degrees or  taught Masters degrees do not count as research experience. (3)  Applicants must be willing to travel for two secondments or  work-placements (where each is approximately 4 weeks in duration).  Salary and Benefits:The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) offers highly competitive and attractive salary and working conditions. These  include a living allowance/salary (€41,425 gross per annum), a mobility  allowance (€7,200 gross per annum), and a family allowance if applicable (€6,000 gross per annum). Expenses such as registration fees and  training are covered by the JOLT network. PLEASE NOTE: In line with MSCA  regulations, the values above relate to total employer gross values and  are subject to both employer and employee tax and charges. Please see  http://www.euraxess.fr/france/information-assistancefor further details. 

Responsibilities of the Early Stage Researcher 

• To manage and carry out the research project within the project  timescale.
 
• To write a PhD dissertation.  
• To participate in research and training activities within the JOLT  network. 
• To publish articles and deliver presentations to the research community 
• To participate in public outreach and engagement.  
• To participate in JOLT meetings and the organisation of JOLT events.  
• To liaise with relevant research staff and students  
• To write progress reports and prepare results for publication.  
• To attend progress and management meetings as required. 

How to Apply:

Please submit the following documents by email to  lerass.jolt@iut-tlse3.frcompiled in the following order into a single  PDF file: Research Proposal outlining your understanding of the topic,  proposed theoretical approach, methodology, field for empirical  research, and potential significance/contribution to existing state of  the art (max. 2000 words); Curriculum Vitae (including two referees’  contact details); Certificates/Transcripts of Degree and/or Master degree. 

Closing Date for Applications: 24 June 2019. Selected candidates will be  invited for interview between June 26 and 28. Interviews may be  conducted in person or electronically. 

University of Technology,  Tallinn

Deadlines for applications: 15th of June

Interviews will be scheduled  soon after. Priority will be given to applications received on or before  June 15 2019.

Start of appointment: September 2019 

Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance (RND) is one of  the largest, most internationalized and leading social science research  centres in Estonia. As part of Tallinn University of Technology  (TalTech) and its School of Business and Governance, RND functions at  the intersection of technological and social science research. 

The emergence of big data era has led to serious discussions about  social datafication – i.e. the socio-cultural consequences of big data  on societies, individual lives, and governmental organizations. Positive  consequences like control of spatial mobilities through algorithms  and negative consequences like discrimination through datafied decisions  are central in these discussions. Estonian society with its  contradictions – a highly digitalized environment, moderate use of open  data, low awareness of algorithmic control and privacy concerns – offers  a highly attractive environment for studying the societal consequences  of big data, algorithms, and AI. 

Key tasks: 

• The main task of the doctoral researcher is to carry out research in  data studies in the field of spatial mobilities (e.g. refugees, highly  skilled immigrants, e-residents, ‘data rich’ and ‘data poor’ mobile groups). 

• Participation in the research activities in the domains of 

(1) data justice - how to avoid discrimination through data, automatized  inequalities, racial bias, and movement towards more just data practices; 

(2) awareness of algorithmic control (the perspectives of data subjects  from the Global South, data rich and data poor ethnic / mobile groups), 

(3) data governance (use of social scoring, AI, machine learning methods  in governmental institutions for controlling mobility). 

• Participation in the teaching activities of the research group,  including supervision of students; 

• Participation in the administrative functions of the research group; 

Qualification requirements: 

• MA or equivalent in social sciences (in the fields of sociology,  public administration, media and communication, human geography, or a  related discipline); 

• Excellent knowledge of research methods, including quantitative  (survey, mobility tracking, basic and advanced statistics, social  networks analysis) or qualitative methods (interviewing, textual  analysis, visual analysis methods). Knowledge of digital or  computational research methods are advantageous. 

Specifics & Benefits: 

We offer the chance to do high-level research in an internationally  recognized research team; opportunities for conference visits;  networking with leading universities in the field of data studies;  publishing in high-level journals in the field. 

The position is fixed-term (4 years) 

Start date: 1 September 2019 (or as soon as possible). 

The position is financed from the state scholarship and from the  projects, which in total provides monthly income up to 1200 EUR net  (including 20% national income tax, Estonian national health, social  security and pension payments). 

Application requirements: 

• Cover letter 

• Curriculum vitae 

• Research proposal (5 pages) 

When applying for the 1st time for a position in TalTech, duplicate of 

the required  diploma (MA) or other document providing evidence of the necessary  qualification. 

For more information on TalTech, see www.taltech.ee  

For more information on RND, see www.taltech.ee/nurkse 

 For more details on the position, please contact: 

Dr. Anu Masso, Associate Professor in Big Data in Social Sciences, 

Ragnar NurkseDepartment of Innovation and Governance, anu.masso@taltech.ee 

November 15-16, 2019

University of Coimbra - Institute for Philosophical Studies

Deadline: July 1, 2019

http://www.uc.pt/fluc/uidief

Português / English

The task of tracing the new frontiers of the political implies a critical effort that faces a double difficulty: first of all, the confrontation between contemporary political theory and the virtual speed of the present that results in a complex delimitation and circumscription of a new hermeneutic horizon of the public space; and a second obstacle that consists of the construction of the concept of Cyberpolitics itself that, by its paradigmatic nature, involves a transformation and metamorphosis which we will also try to map. This effort will require a genealogical investigation into the concept of Cyberpolitics which derives from Cyberculture studies, but also the mapping of its different levels and fields of significance. This work-in-progress notion, in the crossroads of politics and aesthetics, will be challenged different perspectives. The analysis on the construction of the concept of Cyberpolitics, which will permit us to address the changes in the political regarding its technological implications in reshaping the public space, will also allow us to underline the notion of crisis as an operating concept. The current political and economic problems of the western world seem to indicate a possible cyberpolitical shock. The clash is probably due to the possible paradigm shift. We know from history that our fundamental confrontation is with the unimaginable, in the same way that for man of the Middle Ages the political organization of the present would be unthinkable.

Consequently, the foundation of political imagination is freedom. Are we ready to imagine the consequences of the installation of the cyberpolitical paradigm? Will Cyberpolitics, in its promise to install a second nature, constitute a substantial change? Is it a second nature towards a new political anthropology? Or are we just witnessing a change of medium that can blur the border between freedom and alienation? In fact, technology and new media are the central conceptual characters in the political beginning of the 21st century. Cyberpolitics is the concept that can help us understand this paradigmatic change in the present that will certainly imply a review of all the categories of the legal and political building. In order to establish a transdisciplinary dialogue, with contributions from the entire spectrum of the social and human sciences, the submission of proposals, on the following topics is particularly encouraged:

• Theoretical foundations: philosophy of technology, political theory, etc.
• E-Democracy an Open Government
• E-governance: theory , practice, case studies
• Technological revolutions?
• The new digital world of the Machines, A.I. and Singularity
• Megapolis: big cities, smart cities. From transportation to housing, etc.
• Election and campaign: big data and the algorithm behavioral paradigm
• Future: utopia, dystopia and other political visions
• Political imagination: landscapes of the constitutional law
• Science and technic
• Anthropocene
• Refoundation of institutions: University, Hospital, Factory, Court, etc
• New political economics. Disruptive new horizons
• Robots and humans: challenges to citizenship and the political economy
• Cyberwars, cybersecurity, Digital and media Wars
• Techno cultures and the new threshold of art
• Digital cities: overlapping and merging analogic an virtual
• Cybercities: architecture and politics
• Cybersecurity: espionage, surveillance and trust in the new era
• Sex, legal and moral affairs
• Fascination and obsession in the Cyberculture world
• Space, cosmos, new horizons and the rebirth of adventure
• Sex politics of gender and new emotions
• Entertainment industry and political regulation
• Theoretical perspectives: Bernard Stiegler, Pierre Levy, etc.
• Arts and literature: visions of the future.

Abstracts should be sent to this email address: constantinomar@gmail.com

They must not exceed 500 words with a small Biographical note, and may be submitted in Portuguese or English. Presentations will be 20 minutes in Portuguese or English.

Conference proceedings will be published in e-book format only in English. Participation and attendance is free. More information about the conference and the submission of proposals can be found at this address http://www.uc.pt/fluc/uidief.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Submission: until 1 July 2019
• Notification of the decision: 30 July 2019

University of Coimbra - Institute for Philosophical Studies

http://www.uc.pt/fluc/uidief

Organization:

Constantino Pereira Martins

FCSH-NOVA University of Lisbon / IEF - University of Coimbra / FCT –

Foundation for Science and Technology

http://www.uc.pt/fluc/uidief/members/CPM

constantinomar@gmail.com

Advisory Committee:

• José Bragança de Miranda (Nova University of Lisbon)
• Lucas E. Misseri (Alicante University)
• Diogo Pires Aurélio (Lusófona University)