ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Ekphrasis: Images, Cinema, Theory, Media (Volume 21, issue 1/2019)

Deadline: February 28, 2019

Is melancholia sweet? Is it an affect that lives especially in the openings enacted by cinema?

There is such a large archive to explore. In a way, cinema has always had its melancholic sweet tooth. Burials, flowers, planets (Saturn, of course, but not only), candles, dolls, empty churches, but also fireworks and bears and red pigs and quotations from poetry. The world has ended in films several times (and more), but no feeling of the end has acted as closure. There is always a question of the sublime and of the strange incident of melancholic persons behaving as rationally as possible in the midst of catastrophes. Melancholia has also often acted as a way of creating the identity of the solitary person: inside the story, but also in relation to an aesthetic object, as the spectator is in the cinema hall.

What are the visual forms of melancholia? We are interested not only in melancholia as a theme in cinema and visual arts but also - and perhaps mostly - in the creative ways in which melancholia is produced through images, montage and the plural strategies of art.

Papers will thus refer to, but will not be limited to, the following areas of research:

• Melancholia as a gift that comes with depression. As depression is caused by an identifiable particular event, melancholia has no strict origin. It can as such emerge as a supplement of depression
• The nihilism of melancholia: it desires the destruction of all that exists. This temptation to destroy everything could be investigated as well as one of the key features of melancholia: its desire for shipwreck
• Melancholia felt through the body: how does a melancholic body function. An entire phenomenology of melancholic perception can be opened for analysis;
• The sweet part of melancholia, the sweetness of suffering. The catharsis of self-destruction;
•  The rationality of melancholia: during a catastrophe, the most rational behavior will often be that of the melancholic ones. For them, catastrophe never arrives as a surprise, but as a confirmation;
• Melancholia and total loss/ absence. The search for / faith into and absolute that cannot be represented: behind the objects, beyon them, traversing them, often as a spark. The taste for the aesthetic feeling comes from this: melancholia becomes a form of aesthetic perception: its truth belongs to aesthetics;
• Melancholia as a knowledge. Its cutting lucidity: there is no meaning or truth. Any form of self-knowledge can only be attained through melancholy;
• Melancholia and the question of time. Something always arrives too late. The melancholic person is never contemporary with her world;
• Melancholia and desire. A desire caught between the aesthetic cult for appearance and the search for an ungraspable authenticity;
• Melancholia as an old and continuous companion. Melancholy of the commons, the search for a solidarity that the world always rejects.

Please submit an original proposal of up to 300 words that focus on the ways in which melancholia is created, communicated and produced through aesthetic means, with a special attention to cinematic strategies and the techniques of visual arts.

Deadline for abstracts (150-300 words, 5-7 keywords), and a 150-word bio: 28 February 2019

Acceptance notice: 15 March 2019

Deadline for accepted full papers (5,000-8,000 words for articles, 2,000-3,000 words for book reviews): 15 April 2019

Both proposals and final texts should be in English or French and should follow the style sheet available on our website.

The final submission should include: a 5,000-7,000-word article, including a 150-word abstract, 5-7 keywords, a list of references (only the cited works), a 150-word author’s bio and the author’s photo-portrait (jpg, separate file). Proposals and final submissions should be formatted as Word documents and sent to hflpoe@gmail.com.

Vista - visual culture journal

Deadline: March 15, 2019

Social context determined by the culture of media convergence, together with the proliferation of digital devices connected to the Internet and their penetration among citizens, has given relevance, more than ever, to the media and visual culture. Digital media and images have conducted visual field towards the study of consumer´s practices and producer´s image, in accordance with the social aspects and the cultural contexts that characterize them.

To the multidisciplinary approach of media and digital literacy, intergenerational issue is added as the starting point of this issue, which seeks to delve into the fact that the media experience occurs in differentiated conditions, characterized by different cultural (media and digital) competences between generations: analogical and digital citizens, emigrants and digital natives. From the family portraits to the selfies of our smartphones, from soap opera and TV series to social networks. Images produced and consumed get increased from a diversity of experiences and memories, from a multiplicity of lifestyles and media uses, which is worth to be rethought from the idea of "generations".

Which are the visual environments of socialization for the different generations? What influences do they exercise in their daily lives, in their experience, and in their memory? What is the role of visual and media literacy in the process of understanding the relationship between different generations and the different media? How visual culture contributes to the pedagogical processes? Does the generational perspective contribute for the understanding of the image transformation and impact in contemporaneity? Is the visual culture an approaching element among generations? Which are the more suited proposals and theoretical reflections in the current context? Is the visual culture an inspiring element to favor participative methodologies in this field? Can digital age and its visual culture favor generational barriers? Does the digital visual culture assume an intergenerational perspective?

Vista - visual culture journal is a peer-reviewed journal and operates under a double-blind review process. Each submitted work will be sent to two reviewers previously invited to evaluate it, in accordance with the academic quality, originality and relevance for the objectives and scope of the issue of this edition of the journal. Articles can be submitted in English, Portuguese, Spanish and French to the e-mails of the invited editors: apepanda@gmail.com; britesmariajose@gmail.com;inesamaral@gmail.com. Guidelines for authors can be found here.

Invited editors: Ana Pérez-Escoda (UNIR/Universidad Nebrija), Maria José Brites (Lusófona University of Porto/CICANT) and Inês Amaral (University of Coimbra)

Deadlines

• Submission: 15 March 2019
• Notification: 29 April 2019
• Date of publication: 31 July 2019

Westminster School of Media and Communication, Harrow

Deadline: March 3, 2019

Ref. 50052063

Salary: Competitive

In 1975 the first British undergraduate degree in Media Studies was created at the University of Westminster. Studies in Media and Communication at the University has a long and notable history and tradition. The post of Head of School, Westminster School of Media and Communication, is one of four new Head positions in the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries, and is focused on high-level management of all aspects of learning and teaching in media and communication studies.

We seek to appoint an individual who is an experienced academic leader in the field, is skilled in taking on the task of managing, advancing and redeveloping our portfolio of courses, and an experienced researcher who will make a significant contribution to the Communication and Media Research Institute’s (CAMRI) REF 2021 submission (CAMRI’s research achieved a GPA of 3.37 / GPA Rank 5, in REF 2014).

The new Head of School will have an ambitious vision for studies in media and communication in a contemporary 21st-century information society, to advance the next generation of media practitioners, leaders and academics in the field. Reporting to the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of College, in addition to the delivery of exceptional student experience, strong employability outcomes, and enhancing performance in the upcoming REF, the post holder will work as a member of the College Executive contributing to the delivery of the College and University Strategy.

The successful candidate will evidence an outstanding and consistent track record of leadership in Higher Education and be appropriately qualified to meet the requirements of an appointment at professorial level. A track record of achievement in leading, managing and inspiring large academic teams, designing innovative courses, delivering high student satisfaction and forging enduring links with employers and other stakeholders is essential. The successful candidate will demonstrate positive and strong leadership qualities and have the ability to plan strategically, execute tough decisions and manage complex operations through a process of continual improvement.

We expect to make an appointment at the professorial level, and the successful candidate will be required to meet the University of Westminster’s criteria for the award of title on appointment.

Appointment to the role will be for five years (with a possible extension of two years), after which the candidate will return to a substantive position within the School.

To apply for this vacancy please click above. Further information can be found in the job description and person specification, which can be accessed through the link below.

For an informal discussion, please contact Professor Jonathan Stockdale, PVC and Head of College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries (Tel: 020 7911 5000 or Email: j.stockdale@westminster.ac.uk).

Closing date: midnight on 3 March 2019

Interviews are likely to be held on: 15 March 2019

Administrative contact (for queries only): Recruitment@westminster.ac.uk

Please note: We are unable to accept applications by email. All applications must be made online. CVs in isolation or incomplete application forms will not be accepted.

We are fortunate to receive a large number of applications for our vacancies. Regrettably, we are not able to provide feedback to those job applicants who are not shortlisted, as it simply would not be manageable to do so.

Embracing diversity and promoting equality.

The Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research (JAMMR)

Deadline: March 15, 2019

The Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research (JAMMR) is an international academic refereed journal published by Intellect in the UK and specializes in the study of Arab and Middle Eastern media and society. Principal Editor: Noureddine Miladi

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jammr

http://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-arab-muslim-media-research

This special issue of the JAMMR aims at enriching the debate on digital media and social change in the Arab World and the Middle East. In an age of unprecedented technological developments, the Internet and social media networks beg persistent research from multidisciplinary scholarship in order to understand their uses, impact and changes to the way the Middle East is being experienced and reported.

Banking on the above, this special issue of JAMMR seeks to critically address this ever growing area of enquiry and revisit the field from various theoretical and empirical multi-disciplinary dimensions. It welcomes original contributions based on empirical studies regarding (and not necessarily limited to) the following themes:

• Digital media and national identity in the Middle East.
• Social Media uses and reception of Middle Eastern youth.
• Digital media as alternative platforms for news and entertainment.
• Reporting the current Gulf Crisis on Social media networks.
• Social media and transcultural/subcultural spaces in the Middle East.
• Minority media, counter-publics and political activism.
• New media and hegemonic/counterhegemonic discourses.
• Social media activism as undercurrents of power struggle in the Arab World and Middle East.

Submissions:

Manuscripts to be considered for publication should be submitted via e-mail to Noureddine Miladi (Editor) on: noureddine.miladi@qu.edu.qa. Each manuscript should be between 7500 and 8500 words including bibliography. All submissions will be blind-refereed.

Please refer to the Contributor Guidelines for the Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research (http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals.php?issn=17519411 ) before you formally submit your paper.

Deadlines for submissions:

• Abstracts of no more than 300 words along with the author’s bio (100 words) and author’s full contact details: by 15th March 2019
• Full papers: by 15th July 2019
• Referees’ feedback: by 1st September 2019
• Expected publication of the special issue: November 2019 (Volume 12, Issue 2)

Special issue of Journal of Communication Management

Deadline for full papers: June 1, 2019

Edited by Mike S. Schäfer (University of Zurich) and Birte Fähnrich (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of the Science and Humanities). 

More information here.

We announce the Call for Papers for Issue No 15 of The International Journal of Public Relations (Revista Internacional de Relaciones Públicas). The forthcoming issue is about Public Relations in its wider scope. The deadline for full papers is open until March 31, 2019. We remind that the proposals (articles and book reviews) shall be presented via the Journal’s application placed under the following link: http://revistarelacionespublicas.uma.es/index.php/revrrpp/index.

We provide a model that authors can use to prepare articles and reviews. With this work we aim to facilitate the preparation and editing. The model is available here.

About

Science is central for contemporary knowledge societies. Scientific results and science-based technological innovations are crucial to address societal challenges. Accordingly, science communication – the public communication about science, its findings, methods and processes (cf. Davies & Horst 2016) – has become more important in recent years (e.g. Hall Jamieson et al. 2017; Schäfer 2012).

Science communication has also gained importance in organizational contexts. Scientific and higher education organizations have expanded and professionalized their strategic communication efforts with regard to media relations (e.g. Bauer & Gregory 2008), to brand building and reputation management (e.g. Chapleo et al. 2011) etc. The growing public and political attention towards universities poses new challenges for organizational legitimacy, not only but also in the context of organizational crises (Fähnrich, Janssen Danyi & Nothhaft, 2015). These developments have resulted in an active and growing community of science communication practitioners, the emergence of professional associations and the appearance of specialized study programs etc. (Gascoigne et al. 2010; Trench 2017).

Organizations such as companies, political parties, think tanks or NGOs increasingly communicate about science as well (e.g. Fähnrich 2018a). They may use science-related information in advertising to promote new products, refer to experts to justify political decisions, use scientific expertise to appear trustworthy in the eyes of stakeholders or emphasize their use of the latest scientific and technological developments to create a favorable public image. They may also publicly question science, point towards conflicting evidence, highlight potential risks or even promote misinformation, pseudo- or anti-science.

In spite of these pervasive trends, however, the communication of science in organizational contexts has not received much scholarly attention yet. Neither have many scholars from the field of communication management and strategic communication taken up the issue of science (cf. Fähnrich 2018b) nor has the growing field of science communication paid much attention to the role of organizations yet (cf. Horst 2013).

This special issue on "Communicating Science in Organizational Contexts" will contribute to closing this gap. It invites contributions from scholars of communication management, strategic communication, organizational communication and organizational sociology, as well as from science communication, science and technology studies, the sociology of science and other related fields and disciplines. In doing so, it brings together researchers that have not had many interchanges in the past in order to develop a comprehensive perspective on the organizational (meso) level of science communication.

Potential Topics

We invite scholars to submit research papers – welcoming both theoretical/conceptual work as well as empirical analyses – on a variety of aspects:

1. analyses of the (strategic) communication of organizations from science and higher education, such as universities, research institutes etc. These analyses may focus on public/media/stakeholder relations, public affairs management, crisis communication, reputation management, marketing or branding. They may concentrate on organizational communication strategies, on the institutional embedding of strategic communication within these organizations, the involved actors, communication formats, media and content, as well as on the use of this communication among different target groups and its effects.

2. analyses of the communication of non-scientific organizations (e.g. political parties, corporations, NGOs, think tanks etc.) on science-related issues, e.g. regarding health and nutrition, sustainability and environmental issues etc. They may also include organizations promoting science denial or anti- and pseudo-science. Again, such analyses could focus on these organizations' communication strategies, the organizational embedding of science-related communication, the chosen formats and media, the involved actors, or on the use of such communication among different target groups and its effects.

3. public communication about science with an organizational focus. This includes, e.g., analyses focusing on the role of organizations in public/media/online discourses on science-related issues, analyses of public communication efforts by members of such organizations (such as individual scientists), or analyses of the public perception of/trust in organizations in the field of science communication.

4. the importance and role of the organizational mediators of science communication. Such analyses may focus on 'traditional' mediators like news/legacy media organizations, but also on 'new' intermediaries like scientific publishing houses and libraries, social media platforms, or search engines.

5. contributions developing theoretical and/or normative frameworks for the analysis and evaluation of science communication in organizational contexts, e.g. focusing on professional and/or regulatory frameworks, or on ethical reflections and concerns.

The CfP welcomes papers focusing on one or more of these topics, but also on other aspects if they are related to the overall rationale of the special issue. Authors are requested to ensure the originality of their contributions, and to outline implications for research and practice.

Timeline

• Deadline for full papers Jun 1, 2019
• Reviews of full papers provided Aug 1, 2019
• Deadline for revised submissions Oct 15, 2019
• Second round of reviews provided Dec 15, 2019
• Final versions due Feb 30, 2020
• Papers transferred to production Mar 30, 2020

Submission Guidelines for Quick Reference

• Text length should be 6,000-8,000 words including references
• A structured abstract with 4-7 sub-headings is required
• Please use Harvard citation style (for in-text citations, references, figures, tables)
• More detailed Emerald publishing guidelines for authors: www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=jcom
• Manuscripts should be submitted under https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcomm

Full papers will receive one double-blind external expert review as well as one review by the guest editors. A maximum of 8 articles will be published in JCM Volume 24, Issue 3 in July 2020.

Questions should be directed to the Guest Editors

• Prof. Dr. Mike S. Schäfer, University of Zurich, Dept. of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ), m.schaefer@ikmz.uzh.ch
• Dr. Birte Fähnrich, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Interdisciplinary Research Group “Science Communication” & Zeppelin University, Center for Political Communication, birte.faehnrich@bbaw.de

Pollcom

September 12-13, 2019

Poznan, Poland

Deadline: February 15, 2019

The Political Communication Section of ECREA welcomes the submission of abstracts for presentation at the next Interim Conference to be held in Poznań on 12 to 13 September 2019. Local host will be Agnieszka Stępińska from the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland.

The organizers call for proposals in all sub-fields of political communication research but particularly invite conceptual, empirical, and methodological proposals on changes, shifts, and developments in political communication and their consequences. Experience of transformation in the Central and Eastern European countries as well as the current situation in other parts of Europe clearly stress the important role of communication in the fall of old borders as well as in creating new ones. Undoubtedly, communication was and still is used to overcome borders within and between countries in Europe (e.g., in the context of the peaceful revolution in East Germany and Roundtable negotiations in Poland in the past, or with regards to establishing and strengthening European integration and a European Public Sphere). The most recent digital transformation of the media has resulted in an environment where political actors, journalists, and citizens may easily and quickly disseminate messages across borders in order to achieve their goals. Undoubtedly, these new communication channels are often used to intensify communication accross borders, to solve problems and to fight for demoractic values. At the same time, however, communication is used to build new borders between (e.g., in the European debate on refugees) or within countries (e.g., when populist parties and politicians aim at mobilizing support for their goals at the expense of polarizing and dividing society). Communication clearly can cause problems when it is used to spread misinformation and hate speech or when it is used to discriminate against certain groups in society, thereby contributing to new borders.

How can the mechanisms of using political communication for building or tearing down borders be described theoretically and empirically, referring to examples from the present and the past? Which kinds of communicative tools and strategies do different political actors use to build or tear down borders? Which transnational, cross-border patterns of such forms of political communication do we find around the world? Which contextual conditions favor or hinder the use of political communication for building or tearing down borders? Which methods do we need to investigate questions like these?

The conference will feature both individual research papers and thematic panels. Paper submissions will be grouped in sessions of 4-5 papers by the conference program chair. A limited number of slots will be available for coherent panels where one topic is addressed in four to five presentations, followed by a respondent. Preference will be given to panels with presenters from diverse backgrounds and affiliations.

Submissions

Submissions should be sent by registration form no later than 15 February 2019.

Paper submissions: Please include in the email (a) the title of your paper, (b) an abstract of no more than 400 words, and (c) names and affiliations of the authors.

Panel submissions: To submit a panel proposal, a 300 words rationale should be sent alongside a 150 words explanation per presentation (up to 5 presentations), as well as the names and affiliations of presenters.

Submission will undergo scholarly peer-review.

Only one proposal per first author can be accepted.

Notifications of acceptance will be issued at the earliest appropriate time.

Important dates

• Submission deadline for individual presentations and panels: 15 February 2019
• Notification of acceptance for all submissions: 15 March 2019
• Registration for conference and payment deadline: 30 June 2019

Local Host

Agnieszka Stępińska (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland)

E-mail: agnieszka.stepinska@amu.edu.pl

Section Management Team

• Andreas Schuck (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Chair)
• Melanie Magin (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway; Vice Chair)
• Vaclav Stetka (Loughborough University, United Kingdom; Vice Chair)

Visit the website

October 23-25, 2019

School of Media, Faculty of Media, Communication and Design, National Research University HSE, Moscow

Deadline: March 31, 2019

Keynote Speakers:

• Vincent Mosco, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Queen's University (Canada)
• Joe Karaganis, vice-president American Assembly, Columbia University, editor of the report “Media Piracy in Emerging Economies” (US)
• Patrick Burkart, professor, Texas A&M University (US)
• Tristan Mattelart, professor, French Institute of Press, University of Paris II Pantheon-Assas (France)
• Göran Bolin, professor Södertorn University (Sweden)
• Aleksandra Elbakyan, creator of Sci-Hub (platform of free scholar publications)

Call for Papers

This conference explores piracy as a figure navigating the conventions, norms and boundaries of legality in digital cultures and beyond. Offline and online piracies thrive on technological affordances yet they do so in opposition to corporate efforts -in music, film, publishing and academia- to label them as threatening for the economy and society. In turn, pirate activities frequently become themselves subject to economic exploitation, co-optation and spectacurilzation by market forces. During the last decades, while the copyrights industry lobbies for tighter IP laws on a global scale, social media corporations find productive ways to capture counter-hegemonic networks through the exploitation of free or leisure time and users’ data. Caught in the highly flexible and contingent context of digital networks, piracy allows for the probing of norms and boundaries, questioning the logics that define intellectual property laws, broadening the uses and perceptions of authored production and enabling new forms of technology usage surpassing corporate control. Moving beyond approaches that represent piracy in terms of illegality or supply and demand, we propose to explore pirate networked sociabilities working within and outside the fringes of market economy through the lens of institutional and discursive power and attempts to escape corporate control.

The discourse on piracy can be seen as part of a broader set of discourses and practices shaping the figure of the threat in media and culture, that is to say the construction of borderline and contested practices, identities and phenomena that rest on the threshold of the legitimate and illegitimate, the legal and the illegal. We understand these boundaries to be highly contingent, historical and politically defined and subject to discursive contestation. To bring few examples beyond digital piracy, the figures of the ‘parasite’ in biology, the ‘virus’ in digital worlds or the ‘benefit scrounger’ in public discourse become likewise threats that have to be managed and confronted for the presumed progress of the community. We look for abstracts that explore the threat as a broader phenomenon related to issues of political economy, otherness, marginality, resistance, community, assimilation, camouflaging, gender, class, recognition and representation. We seek to address the power relations in designations of the threat (who, why, when and by whom is someone categorized as a threat) as well as explore the conditions under which authorities and legal entities decide who has the right to exist and how.

We welcome contributions in the following topics:

• Legality, Illegality and Sharing Economies
• Political Economy of Othering
• Disruption and the New Economy
• Academic Publishing and Piracy
• Art, Music and Piracy
• Discourses on Disruption
• Ecosystem and Disruption
• Gender, Class, Sexual Others
• Viruses and Parasites in Media
• Human and Non-Human Worlds

Submissions should include the name(s) and institutional affiliations of the applicant(s), email address and abstracts no longer than 500 words (including references) in English or in Russian.

Abstracts must be submitted before March, 31, 2019 at: piracyandbeyond@gmail.com

Participants will be notified about acceptance by April 31, 2019

For any further information, please contact us at: piracyandbeyond@gmail.com

Organizers

• Ilya Kirya, Higher School of Economics, Moscow
• Yiannis Mylonas, Higher School of Economics, Moscow
• Panos Kompatsiaris, Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Lugano, Switzerland

Deadline: March 13, 2019

The Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG) in the Faculty of Communication Sciences at USI (Università della Svizzera italiana) invites applications for fully funded doctoral studies in Lugano, Switzerland, in the areas of

• climate change communications
• digital cultural memory.

Job Description

We offer an opportunity for doctoral research in an international team working in the areas of climate change communications or digital cultural memory. In the field of climate change communication, candidates should have an interest in promotional industries, communication theory and practice and environmental geopolitics. In the field of digital cultural memory, candidates should have interest in digital culture, political and economic dimension of archiving, digital media history, memory in the digital age. Selected candidate/s will pursue their PhD under the supervision of Professor Matthew Hibberd with additional co-supervision from Professor Gabriele Balbi or Professor Theo Mäusli. In addition to involvement in research, any appointee/s will support the Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG) with its teaching, research and summer school activities and will have the possibility of working with an international network of scholars in the field of media and communications studies.

Candidate’s Profile. Candidates will possess a master degree in communication related to the media studies, social studies of technology, sociology, history, geography and environment. Ideally, candidates will have an international outlook, experience in qualitative and/or quantitative research methods, an academic curiosity for developing our understanding of climate change and digital cultural memory and publishing in high-ranking journals. The ideal candidates will be fluent in English and either Italian and/or German and will become a teaching assistant for Bachelor and Master courses. Candidates will be comfortable organising themselves independently while working at an Institute with multiple theoretical and methodological approaches.

Funding of Doctoral Studies / Residence. Positions are for three years and subject to final university approval. In addition to a fee-waiver for the duration of the three‐year scholarship, a fully-funded PhD award at USI includes an annual student maintenance grant (currently CHF 40.000). PhD scholarships are subject to annual review and successful completion of a progress report. Research activities will be carried out predominantly in Lugano, Switzerland, where the appointees should take residence, but some international travel can be expected.

How to Apply

Please send your application consisting of 1) a detailed CV (including one reference), 2) university grade transcripts and certificates, and 3) a letter of motivation, all to be sent electronically to dr. Eleonora Benecchi, eleonora.benecchi@usi.ch.

Deadline: March 13, 2019 although we welcome applications before that date.

For more information see: https://www.usi.ch/en/job-opportunities-usi

PGR Conference 2019

June 13, 2019

Loughborough London Campus

Deadline: April 1, 2019

In an age of global communication, the making of histories and memories is closely connected to diverse and moving media landscapes. The kaleidoscope of different media, memories and histories influences the remembering, forgetting and archiving of events and processes, and is therefore constantly shaping and reshaping individual and collective identities. This PGR conference will address the underlying power structures of the relationship between the three ever-evolving fields by foregrounding interdisciplinary research that crosses the boundaries separating them. New and more nuanced ways of understanding the past as well as the present can be discovered by including media technologies that are developing through time as well as different understandings of both memory and history, so that multiple realities can be explored. In this sense, this conference is interested in the moving character of media, memories and histories, which do not only travel with the subjects that inhabit them, but are further constantly transmitted through diverse forms of communication between humans, objects and technologies.

This PGR conference aims to explore diverse methodological and theoretical approaches that discuss the constantly changing relationship between the three fields. We are interested in ideas and conceptualisations of migrating, traveling and transmitted memories, histories and media. There are no limitations in terms of methodological practices within the fields and we are particularly enthusiastic to receive applications from those who use critical and creative methods in their research.

This one-day conference, held at the Loughborough University’s London campus, welcomes postgraduate and early career researchers. Loughborough University attempts at facilitating an environment where a fast-growing area of expertise is accessible to researchers at an early stage across the social sciences and humanities. This PGR conference will be a platform to connect scholars from different fields.

Possible topics include, but are not restricted to the following:

• Migrating and traveling memories and histories
• Communication and transmission of memories and histories
• Memories and histories of migration
• Media representation and production of migration
• Memories and histories in the arts
• Creative methods in media, memory and history
• Spatial traces of media, memory and history
• Transnational media, memory and history
• Technologies of moving media, memory and histories

Interested postgraduate and early career scholars are asked to submit abstracts of 300 words by the of April 1, 2019 to the following email address: Mmh-conference@lboro.ac.uk.

A limited number of travel grants is available for Loughborough students traveling from the main campus to London.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

1) Professor Andrew Hoskins' research connects multiple aspects of the emergent digital society: media, memory, war, conflict, security, and privacy, to explore holistically the interplay and impact of contemporary media and memory ecologies.

2) Professor Avtar Brah recently retired as Professor of Sociology at Birkbeck as a specialist in race, gender and ethnic identity issues. She was awarded an MBE in 2001 in recognition of her research.

Journal Schermi – Storie e culture del cinema e dei media in Italia (Anno III, N. 6, 2019)

Deadline: March 10, 2019

Edited by Giancarlo Grossi and Myriam Mereu

Over the past twenty years the question of generations has played a central role in the academic and public debates in Italy, establishing itself as a research paradigm in several disciplinary domains. Generation and the approaches to its study are used especially to analyse collective, national and transnational identities (Bontempi, 2008); social and labour policies (Boldizzoni/Sala, 2009; Capeci, 2014), migratory flows (Leonini-Rebughini, 2010); microsocial and familial changes (Varriale, 2011); consumption and taste cultures (Capuzzo, 2003) and, above all, media experiences (Aroldi/Colombo, 2003; Scifo, 2005; Bontempi, 2008, Spaziante, 2010; Teti, 2011; Mascheroni, 2012).

The success of generation studies and theories is down to its ductility and its semantic potential, which includes at least four meanings (Boucier-Béquaert/de Banier, 2010). Firstly, generation can be considered as a cohort, that is, a group of people who were born at about the same time and have made choices and traced their biographical paths (personal and professional) in the same historical moment, sharing opportunities, limits and challenges. Secondly, we can assume the term generation as a phase of life: childhood, adulthood, seniority, with their specificities, their needs, the role and the meaning they play in society. Thirdly, generation can be understood as descent or affiliation, with a focus on microsystems, such as family or companies: in this case the focus is on legacies or changes, or rather on the conflicts that arise from the relationship among individuals characterised by different personal competencies and experiences. Finally – and this is the most popular meaning today – generation can be understood as a community, a group of people who, besides living in the same historical moment, share the same values, attitudes, trends, and tastes.

This special issue assumes the term generation with all its meanings, and with its entire heritage of theories, approaches, models of interpretation. Its aim is to apply this concept to the history of cinema and audio-visual media in Italy.

Possible topics for contributions may include:

• Images, representations, narratives of generations;
• Generational languages: slangs, aesthetics, styles;
• Generational cults and intermediate dynamics;
• Generations and production strategies: teen movies, grey-hair-pics
• Generational products and technologies: culture, fandom phenomena, trends;
• Meme generations and digital narratives;
• Generation and nostalgia: remake, remaking, reboot;
• Generations of spectators: consumption, tastes, preferences;
• Cinema, audiovisual media and life cycles: childhood, seniority, adulthood;
• Histories of ‘family’ cinema companies: legacies, conflicts, generational transitions;
• Generational authors and generations of authors: plots, affiliations, common experiences;
• Actors and generations: popularity, hero worship, processes of identification;
• "My Generation": soundtracks and generational hymns;
• Generation theories and cinema: paradigms and theoretical issues;
• Methodologies and tools to study cinema through the theories of generation

Proposals of no more than 300 words, in Italian or English, and accompanied by an essential bibliography should be submitted to my.mereu@gmail.com and giancarlo.grossi@unimi.it by 10/03/2019. Authors of the abstracts that are accepted for consideration will be invited, by 25/3/2019, to submit a complete essay (between 30,000 and 35,000 characters in length, including notes), accompanied by an abstract of 100 words, and five keywords, by 15/06/2019.

LINK: https://riviste.unimi.it/public/journals/69/cfpn.6.pdf