ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Call for Book Chapters

Deadline: November 30, 2020

Editors

• Tendai Chari (PhD), Senior Lecturer, University of Venda, South Africa
• Martin N. Ndlela (PhD), Associate Professor, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway & Northwestern University-Qatar

The mass media have an enormous responsibility to disseminate truthful, accurate and up-to- date information to the public during pandemics. Yet, pandemics pose serious ethical conundrums to the media in that their informational role can easily be undermined by their tilt towards sensational reporting and scare-mongering, thereby undermining public trust (Thomas & Senkpeni, 2020). Pandemics are in great measure evolving, highly unpredictable, and in most cases panic inducing. This makes the media’s capacity to disseminate balanced and credible information timely more compelling than ever. Covid 19 has reawakened the media to their ethical responsibilities by bringing to the fore unique ethical issues, challenges and dilemmas, and has also reincarnated ethical debates associated with reporting of previous pandemics such as negative stereotypes, stigmatisation, protecting the confidentiality of sources, dealing with bereavement, privacy issues, thus underscoring the fact that pandemics are not just health crises, but information crises as well. While the media have played a positive role in helping shape positive public health behavior, and by extension promoting human security, there has been fear that media reporting of pandemics is fueling “infodemic” epitomized by fake news, conspiracy theories and apocalyptic prophecies, misinformation, disinformation, thus posing a threat to human security. In the age of social media networks whereby information spreads very fast, the deluge of information may make it difficult for citizens to separate reliable information from false information.

Centralization of information about the pandemic by governments and international bodies and the concomitant over-dependence on ‘expert analysis’ have opened the floodgates for patriotic discourses and appeals for ‘collective action’ mantras which impinge on media independence. In addition, health protocols constrain the media from accessing critical information, thus predisposing journalists to politically correct ‘accredited’ sources while jettisoning unpalatable voices from the news agenda. As the media become more embedded in official narratives, journalism may be reduced to a public relations exercise, resulting in the proverbial echo chamber. Pandemics predispose the media to overt and covert influence and control, yet the ability to obtain and disseminate information without external interference are two fundamental tenets of media ethics (Hooker, Leask & King, 2012). As Covid 19 has demonstrated, nature of ethical dilemmas confronting the media during global pandemics, relating to both media content and the professional conduct of media practitioners are becoming more complex and have elicited diverse responses using different philosophical lenses in different contexts. As the contours of ethics shift during pandemics, it is necessary to critically reflect on existing ethical norms, issues, practices, challenges and dilemmas confronted by the media during global pandemics. This proposed edited volume explores ethical issues confronted by the media during global pandemics. The aim is to enhance the media’s capacity to report pandemics and similar emergence situations ethically by drawing lessons from the current and previous pandemics. What ethical challenges have confronted the media during health pandemics? What dilemmas have the media faced? To what extent have these impacted on the media’s role? What philosophical approaches can be used to address these challenges and dilemmas? What lessons can be drawn for reporting future pandemics? How can the media be better equipped to deal with ethical issues during pandemics?

We are looking for innovative original works which critically engage with different aspects of ethical issues in the context of global pandemics using different theoretical and methodological approaches.

Contributions can focus on, but are not limited to the following topics:

• Ethical Issues in the representation of pandemics
• News Sourcing and Ethics
• Fabrications, Falsehoods
• Confidentiality and protection of sources
• Privacy and the Public Interest
• Ethical Dilemmas
• Trauma reporting during pandemics
• Health protocols, government restrictions and journalism ethics
• Language and Reporting Pandemics
• Pandemics, Racism and Hate speech
• Sensationalism and propaganda
• Journalism ethics and “infodemics”
• Conspiracy theories, misinformation and fake news
• Ethnocentrism and Stereotyping
• Patriotic Journalism
• Social Media
• Medical remedies, Advertising
• Ethical philosophies, media and pandemics
• Media law and ethics during pandemics

Articles should not be more than 7000 words, including references

Important Dates

• Deadline for Accepted Abstracts: 30 November 2020
• Deadline for Full Papers: 31 March 2021
• Deadline for Submitting Revised Chapters: 30 May 2021
• Expected Date of Publication: 31 September 2021

Targeted Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Interested contributors are invited to submit a 500-word proposal and a short biography by 30 November 2020, to Tendai Chari, tendai.chari@univen.ac.za and Martin Ndlela, martin.ndlela@inn.no.

Final chapters of approximately 5000-7000 words will be due by 31 March 2021.

Please note that all submissions will be peer-reviewed. Abstracts must clearly state the aim and objectives of the study, the theoretical and methodological approaches contemplated in the study.

The Journal of Hate Studies

Deadline: December 30, 2020

General Issue, Vol. 17 with a Forum on “Pandemania”

Guest Editor: Lisa Silvestri, Ph.D. (Gonzaga University)

The Journal of Hate Studies is an international scholarly journal promoting intellectual engagement with processes that embolden the expression of hate. The goal is to establish a deep repository of theory and research on which to ground practical anti- hate interventions. For example, past articles in the journal have:

1. Examined hate in any one or more of its manifestations (e.g. racism, misogyny, antisemitism, homophobia, religious intolerance, ethnoviolence, anti-immigrant animus, etc.).
2. Considered how hate is institutionalized, maintained, or perpetrated through culture, organizations, policies, politics, media, discourses, epistemologies, etc.
3. Developed, adapted, or refined disciplinary specific or trans-disciplinary research methods for understanding and/or effectively addressing hate.

The Journal reflects the optimism that understanding hate can lead to its containment, allowing humans to flourish without fear of reprisal.

For this issue, we will accept both general submissions on any topic within the field as well as contributions destined for a subsection featuring conversations on hate taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic. General submissions range between 6,000-8,000 words. Forum submissions are shorter, ranging between 3,000-5,000 words. Potential topics covered by the “pandemania” forum can include, but should not be limited to, the following COVID-19 focused topics:

• Racism and anti-racism
• Xenophobia
• Protests
• Policing
• Masks and social distancing
• Institutional violence
• Digital manifestations of hate

We invite both textual and visual submissions employing interdisciplinary and innovative approaches in the humanities and social sciences. To float ideas and proposals for the general submission or for this forum, specifically, please contact silvestri@gonzaga.edu.

Brief Guidelines for Submissions

The Journal seeks compelling articles written with precision and depth that find resonance with an interdisciplinary audience. A primary criterion for acceptance is the level to which the article enriches, extends, and advances the study and understanding of hate in its multiplicity of forms.

Research-based submissions should follow 7th APA format and include a discussion of approach, method, and analysis. Submissions focusing on pedagogy should balance theoretical frameworks with practical considerations of how particular approaches play out in both formal and informal educational settings. Discipline-specific submissions should be written for non-specialists.

For further information on style and formatting, accessibility requirements, please consult: https://jhs.press.gonzaga.edu/

Submission and Review Process

All work appearing in The Journal undergoes extensive double-blind peer-review. As a courtesy to our reviewers, we will not consider simultaneous submissions, but we will do our best to reply to you within 4 months of the submission deadline. All work should be original and previously unpublished. Essays or presentations posted on a personal blog may be accepted, provided they are substantially revised.

Important Dates

Submission deadline for full manuscripts is December 30, 2020. Notification of acceptance expected April 30 for publication in early fall 2021. For full journal details, including themes and goals, general topic areas, submission instructions or to apply to become a reviewer, please visit: https://jhs.press.gonzaga.edu/

Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies (OJCMT)

Deadline (EXTENDED): October 31, 2020

Editors:

• Fábio Ribeiro, University of Trás-os Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) – Portugal, Communication & Society Research Centre – University of Minho (Portugal) , fabior@utad.pt
• Luís Bonixe, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre – Portugal, ICNOVA – Nova University of Lisbon (Portugal), luisbonixe@ipportalegre.pt

As Bob Franklin (1998) put forward in his book Local Media, academic appraisals of the local and regional media typically emphasise the declining number of local papers, their diminishing readerships and circulations, constant monopolies that tend to centralise media productions in large regional centres. Globalization, funding models (commercial, public or independent/grassroots), the insufficiency of human resources are often regarded by academics in this area. In his iconic Local Radio, Going Global, Guy Starkey (2011) enthusiastically defined local radio as “the sleeping giant”, baffled with concentration models and repressions, but still resisting: “a world-wide phenomenon”, Starkey asserted.

This special issue of The Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies (OJCMT) intends to contribute for a systematic review of worldwide experiences regarding the social, cultural, political impacts of local and community media within societies. In addition, it does not intend to romanticize these media, but rather a positive and empirical approach of experiences, examples of how local media engage with societies: what kind of experiences are being followed to involve local audiences? Is it possible to identify several key aspects to be define a valuable engagement with those communities?.

Taking this context as an inspiration, editors welcome all articles focusing the following range set of topics, not excluding other suitable ones:

• Citizens’ participation in the local/community media
• Economic models and audiences
• Journalism and audiences
• Community representations in local/community media
• Heritage/historical preservation
• Memory and local media
• Politics in a local/community media framework
• Rural ramifications of local media
• Hyperlocal media
• Local/community audiences and social networks.

Important dates:

• Start submission: May 1, 2020
• Manuscript Due: October 31, 2020
• Double blind reviewing process: from November 1, 2020 to December 30, 2020
• Authors’ notification towards decision: January 1, 2021
• Authors’ final versions: until February 28, 2020
• Editor’s final checks: from March 2021 to April 2021
• Publication: May 2021

Submissions: To submit your manuscripts, go to https://www.editorialpark.com/ojcmt and select special issue "Discussing local and community media: positive experiences and impacts on societies".

About the journal:

The Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies (OJCMT) is an international open access journal, rigorously peer-reviewed journal in the field of Communication and its related fields. OJCMT is interested in research not only on Theory and Practice of Communication and Media Studies but also new trends and developments, Communication in Education, Visual Communication and Design, Integrated Marketing Communication and Advertising.

Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies is listed by the following indexes/databases/directories/libraries.

• Web of Science - Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate)
• Database for statistikk om høgre utdanning (DBH)
• Google Scholar
• International Association for Media and Communication Research - IAMCR
• ROAD

Full call for papers: https://www.ojcmt.net/home/special-issues

Author Guidelines: https://www.ojcmt.net/home/author-guidelines

July 17, 2021

Leeds, United Kingdom, Venue: Queens Hotel, City Square, Leeds, LS1 1PJ

Deadline: April 15, 2021

Please note that the conference date is provisional and subject to change due to the epidemiological situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. We will not open a fee payment system until we are sure we can host the event. Please do not book flights and accommodation before the conference date is confirmed by the organizer.

 KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Professor Ángeles Moreno, University Rey Juan Carlos Madrid, Spain: Factors affecting women leadership in the Strategic Communication industry: An overview of diverse international contexts

RATIONALE

In the age of post-feminism when many are trying to argue that feminism is no longer needed because women have reached equality through the introduction of legislation and entry of women to all professions, the reality shows a different story. Women politicians, for example, are still scrutinised based on their looks and objectified. For example, in March 2017 British Daily Mail splashed a cover page screaming, ‘Never mind Brexit, who won the Legs-it’. The cover page was commenting on the meeting of British Prime Minister Theresa May and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Besides, many professions are still running according to masculine work patterns and thus many workplaces are still places for blokes. For example, in newsrooms women cannot succeed in obtaining editorial positions as the profession is still largely masculine with men reporting on politics, the main news of the day and business while women are still confined to lifestyle, food and health. However, when traditional women topics enter the agenda then we see male journalists writing about it. Also, female journalists hardly have any role models given the fact women who succeed in journalism become so bloke-if it becomes difficult for younger women to look up and see a role model or a type of women they may want to become in the future (Miller, 2014; Gallagher, 2017; Topic, 2018; Franks, 2013). The situation is similar in other professions, both those that feminised (e.g. nursing, teaching, public relations, advertising) as well as in traditionally masculine professions (e.g. construction, banking, finance) (Crewe & Wang, 2018; Siu & Kai-ming Au, 1997; Sandikci, 1998; Patterson et al, 2009; Kemp, 2017; Gee, 2017; Suggett, 2018; Topić, 2020). In public relations, scholars speak of the feminisation of the industry that saw women entering PR industry in higher numbers but because of it, the salaries diminished and even though women form the majority of the workforce they still face issues such as glass ceiling and the wage gap. In some countries, the number of women started to decline after a decade of the profession being feminized (CIPR, 2018). These are just a few examples from a few industries, but the situation is the same (or worse) elsewhere.

The societies are still based on patriarchal values. For example, even though it is legally possible for men to take paternal leaves and stay at home to take care of children and household, it is still women who have these requests approved more often than men, which testifies that patriarchal views of expected roles are still present. Besides, in some countries, women are still banned from exercising basic rights such as the right to vote, work in all positions and even the right to drive. While many men experience family violence, it is still women who mostly suffer from this type of abuse, while those men who do suffer from it fear to report it due to the expectation that the men are the boss in the house. Nevertheless, with the rise of Far-Right political candidates and public speakers started to question Feminism and argue that it fulfilled its purpose, while at the same time re-introducing old prejudices and practices against women where an emphasis is based on their appearance, birth-giving, etc.

COVID-19 that resulted in global lockdowns in 2020, with no end to the pandemic anticipated at the time of opening this call for papers, also has a potential to severely impact women. For example, it is well-known that women mostly work part-time and it is a question to what extent women lost jobs due to pandemic job losses. Some analyses already showed that the lockdown is hurting women with many women academics decreasing their academic production whilst men increased it, women reporting exhaustion because of having to look for children during the lockdown, domestic abuse skyrocketed, etc.

The questions the conference addresses are what is the position of women in a challenging world marked with the rise of the Far Right and the global pandemic and what can be done to reverse the trend that worsens the position of women and undermines decades of feminist activism?

Papers are invited (but not limited to) for the following panels:

• Women and the global pandemic
• Women in lookdown: narratives, experiences and effects of the lockdown on career, mental wellbeing and personal relationships
• Working-class women: issues and perspectives
• Middle-class women: issues and perspectives
• Women and Career progress
• Socialism, Marxism and Women
• Patriarchy
• Women and the rise of the Far-Right
• Women and labour
• Women and discrimination
• Women and sexual violence
• Women and religion
• Women in the media
• Women and politics
• Women and sexuality
• Theory and methodology in women’s studies
• Women and reproductive rights

Prospective participants are also welcome to submit proposals for their own panels. Both researchers and practitioners are welcome to submit paper proposals.

Submissions of abstracts (up to 500 words) with an email contact should be sent to women_conference@socialsciencesandhumanities.com by 15 April 2021. Decisions will be sent by 15 May 2021 and registrations are due by 30 June 2021.

The Conference fee is £180, and it includes,

• The registration fee
• Conference bag and folder with materials
• Access to the newsletter, and electronic editions of the Centre
• Opportunity for participating in future activities of the Centre (research & co-editing volumes)
• Meals and drinks
• WLAN during the conference
• Certificate of attendance

PUBLICATIONS

A special issue of journals will be edited and published in an Intellect journal. The topic of the special journal and the journal selection depends on conference submissions and the review process. From last year’s conferences, two special issues are currently being edited,

The Journal of Popular Television (Intellect), special issue topic ‘Women and Girls in Popular Television in the Age of Post-Feminism’ (eds. M. Topić & M. J. Cunha)

Facta Universitatis: Series Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and History (University of Niš), special issue topic ‘#metoo movement: past, present and what next? (ed. M. Topić)

Participants are responsible for finding funding to cover transportation and accommodation costs during the whole period of the conference. This applies to both presenting and non-presenting participants. We will not discriminate based on the origin and/or methodological/paradigmatic approach of prospective conference participants.

The conference is a grassroots initiative led by Dr Martina Topić (https://www.martinatopic.com). Martina can be contacted on martinahr@gmail.com

The conference usually has five to six panels, and we can organise parallel sessions for panels (up to two parallel sessions per day).

Visa Information

The Centre will issue a Visa letter to participants with UK entry clearance requirement.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Ángeles Moreno is a professor at University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain, and currently executive director of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA). She leads the Latin American Communication Monitor. Her awards include Best Paper Award EUPRERA 2013, Faculty Top Research Award PRSA 2012 and Top Paper Award ICA2006. She is the president of EUPRERA, the largest public relations professional association in Europe and a chair of Latin American European Communications Monitor, as well as a full member of European Communications Monitor consortium. She currently leads EUPRERA project on Communicating COVID-19 and she is the lead of the Spanish team in the EUPRERA Women in Public Relations project exploring the position of women in public relations in Europe.

April 7- 9, 2021

Online conference / Erasmus University Rotterdam

Deadline: December 1, 2020

Keynote speakers:

• Dal Yong Jin
• Sangkyun Kim
• Mimi Sheller
• Peter U. C. Dieke
• Lúcia Nagib
• Matt Hills

In today’s globalized, transnational and digitalized media environment, popular culture plays a significant role in the establishment and (re)negotiation of place identities and the ways in which people relate to physical locations. Traveling to film locations, participating in fan re-enactments or visiting theme parks are some of the varied and multifaceted ways in which the ties between people’s worlds of imagination and the real worlds they inhabit are made tangible through place.

This conference highlights the interconnections between media, tourism and place and aims to bring together the diverse perspectives, approaches and actors involved in this process while focusing on critical issues accompanying this multifaceted phenomenon. We venture off the beaten track by adopting a decidedly global perspective and putting emphasis on the exploration, analysis and comparison of cases from around the world. Consider Bollywood, which produces more films, for a larger audience, than Hollywood does every year, and how Chinese, Indian and Russian travellers increasingly determine the face of international tourist flows. This conference aims to broaden the horizons by including and comparing research into, for example, Bollywood films, Brazilian telenovelas and South Korean K-pop culture.

We proudly present the following keynote speakers: Prof. Dal Yong Jin (Simon Fraser University), editor of "Transmedia Storytelling in East Asia: The Age of Digital Media" (2020) and author of "Transnational Korean Cinema: Cultural Politics, Film Genres, and Digital Technologies" (2019); Prof. Sangkyun Kim (Edith Cowan University), editor of "Food Tourism in Asia" (2019, with Ian Yeoman and Eerang Park) and "Film tourism in Asia: Evolution, transformation and trajectory" (2018, with prof. dr. Stijn Reijnders); Prof. Mimi Sheller (Drexel University), author of "Island Futures: Caribbean Survival in the Anthropocene" (expected 2020) and "Mobility Justice: The Politics of Movement in an Age of Extremes" (2018); Prof. Peter U. C. Dieke (University of Nigeria), editor of "Research Themes for Tourism" (2011, with Peter Robinson and Sine Heitmann) and "The Political Economy of Tourism Development in Africa" (2000); Prof. Lúcia Nagib (University of Reading), author of "Realist Cinema as World Cinema: Non-cinema, Intermedial Passages, Total Cinema" (expected 2020) and "Brazil on Screen: Cinema Novo, new cinema and utopia" (2007), and Prof. Matt Hills (University of Huddersfield), author of "Fan Cultures" (2002) and "Doctor Who: The Unfolding Event" (2015).

This year the current Corona crisis has hit the world hard, also with regard to its media and tourism industries. The lockdown has seriously hampered filming and all other media production practices both on location and in the studio. At the same time, the tourism industry as a whole is suffering a disastrous year after a virtually constant annual growth since the late 1950s. At the time of writing there are modest signs the media and tourism industries are finding answers to the current crisis. It is clear, though, that the need to find more sustainable ways to deal with the interrelation between popular culture and tourism is even more relevant now that the Corona crisis has become part of the global agenda. This conference also aims to address this issue.

We seek to bring together scholars across disciplines, including, but not limited to, media studies, cultural studies, cultural geography, fan studies, tourism studies, and development studies. We invite papers that address all themes around media, place and tourism, such as:

• Media tourism
• Popular culture and heritage
• Film location production
• Film (and) tourism policies
• Impacts of filmmaking and tourism on locations and communities
• Imaginative geographies in media and tourism
• Fan re-enactments
• Place identity and belonging
• Media tourist experiences
• Theme-parks and tourism
• Critical issues in media tourism
• Comparative studies on media tourism
• (Interdisciplinary) theories on media tourism

Creative presentation formats are welcomed. Moreover, we warmly encourage participation by scholars from the Global South, early career researchers and filmmakers working at the intersection of media, place and tourism. The conference aims to include a special (online) movie screening session, where filmmakers are invited to showcase and discuss their work on this topic.

Due to governmental measures regarding COVID-19, the conference will take place predominantly online. We plan on organizing some live events in the city of Rotterdam (such as public lectures), but these will also be livestreamed for those preferring to participate fully online. The conference is organized by the ‘Worlds of Imagination’ research group consisting of Prof. dr. Stijn Reijnders, dr. Emiel Martens, Débora Póvoa, Apoorva Nanjangud, Henry Chow and Rosa Schiavone, and sponsored by the European Research Council (ERC).

Please submit your abstracts of max. 300 words and a short biographical statement (max. 50 words) to info@worldsofimagination.eu before December 1st, 2020. For more information, please access our website: www.worldsofimagination.eu.

July 10-11, 2021

Virtual/ on-campus at Maynooth University, Kildare, Ireland

Deadline: January 15, 2021

Sarah Arnold is happy to announce a call for papers for the conference 'Histories of Women in Film and Television: Then and Now' taking place as a hybrid virtual/on-site event on July 10th and 11th 2021. This conference has two strands: the first is a strand that is a refreshed call for papers that fall under the theme of 'Doing Women's Film & Television Histories'; and the second strand concentrates on the theme of Women and the BBC in anticipation of the BBC centenary 2022. Please see below for details:

DWFTH 5 revised for 2021: New call for papers--'Histories of Women in Film and Television: Then and Now.' A Hybrid Conference: July 10 - 11, 2021 (virtual and on-campus at Maynooth University, Kildare, Ireland) Supported by Women’s Film & Television History Network, this call for papers is made in collaboration with ‘Women and the BBC’, a special themed issue of Critical Studies in Television.

The year 2020 has caused a great deal of sorrow, anxiety and difficulty across the world. With health and safety of paramount concern, conferences and research events – including the planned Doing Women’s Film and Television History conference - have been either impossible to hold in-person or, given the challenges presented by the need to sustain teaching and student welfare, deprioritized. As we look towards 2021, we understand that social distancing measures and travel limitations will possibly continue. With this in mind, we plan to host a hybrid conference as an outlet for our research that will enable us to share our scholarship with others, form connections and offer potential for collaboration. If national and institutional public health measures allow, the conference will combine on-campus and virtual events. While virtual conferences present new technical and communicative challenges, we also see the opportunities that this type of conference affords. Not requiring travel, it both reduces expense and can broaden networks of scholars. The conference will be formed of pre-recorded talks, virtual live panels, live workshops, keynote talks with Q&As, and where possible, on-campus events. The conference is formed of two areas: 1) following the cancellation of this year’s ‘Doing Women’s Film & Television History 5’, we seek papers for the revised 2021 format that reflect the themes of diversity and transnationalism listed below; 2) in anticipation of the BBC centenary, we seek research on histories of women and the BBC, both past and in the making. Each strand is detailed below. If your proposals offered for the 2020 conference fall into either of these strands, please feel free to resubmit.

1. Doing Women’s Film & Television History goes virtual

We are interested in topics focusing diversity and transnational histories, including but not limited to:

• Women’s film and television histories at the margins of institutions and of research

• Global women’s film and television histories
• Researching women in film and television during the pandemic and times of crisis

• International and comparative perspectives on women in film and television
• Histories of women’s creative practice, production and technical work in various national, regional, or local contexts, including transnational film and television, migration and diasporas

• Approaches to histories of women’s indigenous production, including Third Cinema and grassroots film and television production

• Motherhood and film and televisions' working practices

• Histories of motherhood represented in film and television
• Debates and controversies in women’s film and television histories

Please submit proposals of 250 words along with the paper’s title and a 50-word biography in one Pdf document to dwfthv@gmail.com January 15th 2021.

2. The BBC at 100: Women and the BBC, then and now

Recent controversies around equal pay, misogynistic abuse towards BBC personalities and a lack of female representation at the top of the corporation suggest that the institution has far to go in matters of gender equality. How might we characterise the relationship between corporate and on-screen representation of women? And how has the BBC responded to changing socio-cultural attitudes and discourses defining women over time?

We are particularly interested in contributions that address the historical and contemporary stories of female workers at the BBC; that analyse how BBC programming gives representation to women's lives, serves female audiences or explores experiences of genders and sexualities.

Selected papers will be invited to publish in the special themed issue of Critical Studies in Television in Autumn 2022 on 'Women and the BBC'. Please submit proposals of 250 words along with the paper’s title and a 50-word biography in one Pdf document to sarah.arnold@mu.ie, Hannah.Andrews@edgehill.ac.uk and j.mccabe@bbk.ac.uk by January 15th 2021.

Hosting of this conference is supported by Maynooth University and ‘The Motherhood Project’ at Maynooth University.

Chapters proposals, Istanbul University Press

Deadline (chapter proposals): December 1, 2020

Chapter Drafts Due June 1, 2021

New Media / New Society? will focus effects of new media on social relations. This volume has a question: Can we describe our society as a new media society? It intends to open new discussions on new media and social relations. The volume interrogates the question of whether (or not), and to what extent, new media have spawned new varieties of social organization, new practices of social interaction and identity, and new structures of material or symbolic social relations. There have been so many claims regarding how postmodern/postindustrial media modalities are contributing to various iterations of utopian and anti-utopian futures, beyond those traditional views of Orwell, Huxley, Marx, and Weber, for example. In the past decades, we have heard academic claims about a variety of effects, for example, including (but not limited to) simulation, misinformation, balkanization, intersectionality, assemblages, affordances, liquification, disruption, fragmentization, saturation/distraction, propaganda, mediatization, culture wars,(de/post/neo)colonization, modes of signification, gamification, crowdsourcing, participatory media, hypertextualization, assimilation, chaos, spectacles, virtuality, augmented reality, digitization, disconnection, mass surveillance, and cyborgology. On the other hand, there have been so many descriptions of society, for example including (but not limited to) information society, post-emotional society, consumption society, network society, internet society, cyber society, new media society, post-modernism, post-humanism, the Anthropocene, and digital society.

The volume /New Media / New Society? /Interrogates these claims from the perspective of the long view, meaning it looks at such changes over the last half-century (since 1970), and for the same period moving forward (until 2070). Also, there are methodological questions within sociology regarding the examination of new media forms and their relation to the social construction of reality. How media studies/social theory can explain the nature and nuance of new social relations under new media forms, if such new social realities exist?

This volume will be an “agenda for new media and new society discussions,” in that it will clarify the effect of new media on social relations, including specific recommendations for action by researchers, policy makers, and the public. The volume will provide new topics for our projects and books.

This work is tentatively to be published in electronic format by Istanbul University Press, an academic publisher at the Istanbul University, Turkey (https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/). As a project in academic sociology, the volume will cover important national-level and international-level new media and society.

We ask you, individually or with colleagues, to consider submitting a brief proposal (500 words max.) identifying a significant idea/trend from media studies/social theory, to include the following items:

1.Clarify the emergence and development of one or more key concepts from media studies/social theory.

2.Clarify key media technologies and techniques which are interwoven in such dynamics.

3.Explore conceptual and/or empirical aspects of the concept and media practices over the last half century (since 1970).

4.Take stock of the development at the present moment (year 2020).

5.Offer insight into future directions foreseen for the next half century (until 2070).

6.Assess whether (or to what extent) these new media dynamics have resulted in new social forms. That is, clarify if new media leads to new society or vice versa.

We invite researchers to prepare draft statements for proposed contributions to this volume. Please submit a copy of your 1- to 2-page proposal via email to each of the editors by December 1, 2020. Final contributions will be limited to 5000 words maximum (or roughly twenty double-spaced manuscript pages). Chapter drafts will be due June 1, 2021, and final manuscripts will be due November 1, 2021. The e-volume is expected to launch in February 2021.

Papers could address, but are not limited to, the following subjects:

• Alienation
• Authority
• Communities
• Crime, Violence
• Drugs, Alcohol, Addictions
• Economy, Work
• Education
• Environment, Technology
• Ethics
• Family, Marriage
• Globalization
• Health Care, Mental Health
• Inequality, Poverty, Wealth
• Law, Justice
• Media, Communications
• Methods
• Modernity
• Politics
• Pop Culture, Sport, Leisure
• Population, Migration
• Privacy / Surveillance
• Race, Ethnicity
• Religion, Cultural Issues
• Secularization
• Social Conflict, Social Change
• Social Movements
• Social Welfare
• Theoretical Perspectives
• Urban Issues, Rural Issues
• Youth, Aging, Life Course

Important Dates

-5 October 2020: Call for Chapter Proposals Sent Out to Contributors for Books.

-1 December 2020: Proposed Abstracts Due for Chapers.

-1 January 2021: Invitations to Contribute & Author Guidelines Distributed.

-1 June 2021: Full Manuscripts Due / Begin Review Process.

-1 September 2021: First Round of Reviews Completed / Revisions Start.

-1 November 2021: Revised Manuscripts Due.

-1 December 2021: Submission of Book to Publisher.

-1 February 2022: Publication

Editors

Murat Şentürk, Istanbul University, Turkey, murat.senturk@istanbul.edu.tr

Massimo Ragnedda, Northumbria Universtiy, UK, massimo.ragnedda@northumbria.ac.uk

Glenn W. Muschert, Khalifa University, UAE, glenn.muschert@ku.ac.ae

Managing Editor

Hamdüsena Eşrefoğlu, Istanbul University, Turkey, hamdusenaesrefoglu@istanbul.edu.tr

July 18, 2021

Leeds, United Kingdom, Queens Hotel Leeds, City Square, Leeds, LS1 1PJ

Deadline: May 1, 2021

Please note that the conference date is provisional and subject to change due to the epidemiological situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. We will not open a fee payment system until we are sure we can host the event. Please do not book flights and accommodation in the UK before the conference date is confirmed by the organiser.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

• Dr Audra Diers-Lawson, Leeds Beckett University, UK: Are women better crisis leaders? A reflection on lessons learned about gendered, leadership, and communication from the Covid-19 pandemic
• Erene Hadjiioannou, Therapy Leeds, Leeds, UK: ‘Sexual Violence and Gender: Findings from Psychotherapy in the UK’

RATIONALE

All recent research on gender demonstrates that patriarchy is alive and well and that both men and women suffer from patriarchal perceptions of expected roles. For example, women still face difficulties and inequality of opportunities for jobs, and when equality is achieved and they enter a certain industry; they face difficulties in being promoted to managerial positions (glass ceiling). On the other hand, men face difficulties in embracing roles traditionally seen as feminine such as staying at home with children or applying for paternal leaves, which are still approved more to women than men.

When it comes to gender perceptions the situation becomes even more complicated because if one refuses to identify with the sex assigned at birth and chooses to express gender differently, patriarchy kicks in even stronger and these individuals face not just discrimination in access to employment but also public mocking and even assaults. It is stating the obvious to say that many countries in the world still ban homosexuality and that LGBT individuals and couples are not just discriminated but also targets of public campaigns to ban them from ever having the same rights as heterosexual couples such as marriage and adopting children (before they even asked for these rights), assaults, threats and intimidation, etc.

The question we can ask is how far have we got in achieving not just gender equality (for the vast amount of research testifies we have indeed not got far albeit lots of progress has been made), but how far have we got in achieving an understanding of gender? What kind of culture needs to be created to embrace diversity beyond positive laws (that exist only in some countries), but a true diversity where nobody will think they should have the right to question someone’s self-perception and self-expression, and a culture where all genders will be equal?

This conference, therefore, invites papers in the following (but not limited to) themes:

• Definitions of gender
• Positive practices of gender equality legislation
• Positive practices of cultural and social understandings of genders
• Discriminatory practices
• Feminist studies
• Women’s studies
• Masculinity studies
• LGBT rights
• Women, LGBT identities and patriarchal society
• Men, LGBT identities and patriarchal society
• Transgender identities
• Discrimination against LGBT and transgender people
• Gender and Culture
• Gender activism: case studies
• Personal stories and biographies

Submissions of abstracts (up to 500 words) with an email contact should be sent to gender_conference@socialsciencesandhumanities.com by 1 May 2021. Decisions will be sent by 1 June 2021 and registrations are due by 30 June 2021.

The Conference fee is £180, and it includes:

• The registration fee
• Conference bag and folder with materials
• Access to the newsletter, and electronic editions of the Centre
• Meals and drinks
• WLAN during the conference
• Certificate of attendance

PUBLICATIONS

A special issue of journals will be edited and published in an Intellect journal. The topic of the special journal and the journal selection depends on conference submissions and the review process. From last year’s conferences, two special issues are currently being edited,

The Journal of Popular Television (Intellect), special issue topic ‘Women and Girls in Popular Television in the Age of Post-Feminism’ (eds. M. Topić & M. J. Cunha)

Facta Universitatis: Series Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and History (University of Niš), special issue topic ‘#metoo movement: past, present and what next? (ed. M. Topić)

Participants are responsible for finding funding to cover transportation and accommodation costs during the whole period of the conference. This applies to both presenting and non-presenting participants. We will not discriminate based on the origin and/or methodological/paradigmatic approach of prospective conference participants.

The conference is a grassroots initiative led by Dr Martina Topić (https://www.martinatopic.com). Martina can be contacted on martinahr@gmail.com

The conference usually has five to six panels, and we can organise parallel sessions for panels (up to two parallel sessions per day).

Visa Information

The Centre will issue a Visa letter to participants with UK entry clearance requirement.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Audra Diers-Lawson: In her career of more than 20 years, Dr Diers-Lawson has been a practitioner, researcher and instructor in strategic communication with an emphasis on crisis response and brand management. She is also the Chair of the Crisis Communication Division of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA). As a practitioner, Dr Diers-Lawson has worked across industries like IT, health, agriculture and the public sector in multinational, national, regional and local contexts. For example, she worked with the Applied Materials Shared Services Division on a global change initiative. She has been a part of many projects like the successful campaign for emergency contraception availability in Texas. Additionally, she has worked with small businesses in the agricultural industry to develop effective integrated marketing campaigns — developing cross-platform public relations and advertising campaigns. She has also lead a team that conducted a strategic communication audit and recommendations for an NHS health trust and part of a team that created a strategic communication toolkit for the European Public Employment Service. As a researcher, Dr Diers-Lawson’s research explores the relationships between socially responsible organisations, crisis prevention or mitigation, and crisis response. As a result, her research focuses heavily on understanding public attitudes and the factors driving behaviour and decision-making.

Erene Hadjiioannou: Erene is an integrative psychotherapist​ with over ten years of experience of working with adults in a variety of settings. She is currently in her private practice, Therapy Leeds, which is an LGBT+ affirmative service. Her specialist area is the impact of sexual violence. Between 2014 and 2018, Erene created and coordinated two specialist services for women with complex needs (offenders, and survivors of sexual violence). Erene incorporates activism into her work, believing that practitioners have a responsibility to create social change in the wider world as well as an individual change in appointments.

University of Sheffield

Rank: Postdoctoral Researcher

Area: Online Political Advertising

Deadline: 4th November 2020

Link: https://bit.ly/34ySBPo

We are seeking to recruit a Research Associate to join an innovative new project funded by the Leverhulme Trust entitled ‘Understanding Online Political Advertising: Perceptions, Uses and Regulations’. Working as part of an interdisciplinary team that spans Politics, Psychology and Computer Science, you will be generating new insights on how online political advertising is perceived by the public, how it is understood and described by practitioners, and how it actually appears online. This work will generate vital new insights on legitimate and trusted practices, and perceptions of effectiveness – findings that will be used to inform current policy making debates. Based at the University of Sheffield, you will conduct interviews, undertake literature reviews, design and analyse public opinion surveys.

Find more information about the post here: https://bit.ly/34ySBPo

Post is for 3 years. If you have any questions please contact Kate Dommett: k.dommett@sheffield.ac.uk.

University of Sheffield

Rank: Postdoctoral Researcher

Area: Data-driven campaigning

Deadline: 5th November 2020

Link: https://bit.ly/3nmTtiS

This post offers the chance to join an innovative new project ‘Data-driven campaigns: intended and unintended consequences for democracy [DATADRIVEN]’. This international research project will be gathering insights on the practice, regulation, impact and perception of data-driven campaigning activity.

This job will see the successful candidate work as part of a wider collaborative team based in the UK, Amsterdam and Vienna to conduct interviews, undertake literature reviews, gather and analyse relevant documents and data, inform survey design and data analysis. Based in the UK, you will be gathering data on four countries – the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Austria - to build up unprecedented insight into data-driven campaigning activity.

Find more information about the post here: https://bit.ly/3nmTtiS

Post is for 3 years. If you have any questions please contact Kate Dommett: k.dommett@sheffield.ac.uk.