ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

University Bergen

Apply here: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/189010/phd-position-in-media-studies?fbclid=IwAR12s2Yu7eCqv3cN9VLwjebOnZwWiTL_kKOy-nMfsPCSW3JdIpIlG_Wzd40

There is a vacancy for a PhD position at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies in the field of media studies. The position is a fixed-term period of 4 years and 25% of the time will be dedicated to teaching, supervision and administrative duties at the Department.

This is an open call, and we invite you to relate to one or more of our four relevant research groups:

• Research Group for Media Use and Audience Studies: Research on how people use media - as audiences, users and citizens, and how they relate to each other and to society through media.
• Research Group for Rhetoric, Democracy and Public Culture: Research on communication as a tool for argumentation, assurance, and for the expressions of identity and identification – as individuals, in organizations and in society.
• Journalism Studies Group: A broad approach to the role of journalism, news and the social media in the public sphere.
• Media Aesthetics: Focus on media aesthetic expressions, broadly oriented towards contemporary and historical genres, media technology and forms of interaction.

For more information about the research groups and the Department, see the website of the department: https://www.uib.no/infomedia . Do feel free to contact the leader of relevant research group(s).

Project proposal:

A research proposal of 5-8 pages must accompany the application. The proposal should present the topic, the research problem(s) and choice of theory and methods. The proposal should also include a progress plan for the different parts of the project. Admittance to the PhD programme will be based on the research proposal.

Qualifications and personal qualities:

• The applicant must hold a master's degree or the equivalent in media studies, journalism or equivalent
• The degree has to be completed by the application deadline
• The requirements are generally a grade B or better on the Master thesis and for the Master degree in total
• As an applicant you should be able to work independently, have a considerable work capacity as well as an enthusiasm for research
• Profiency in both written and oral English
• Shortlisted candidates will be invited to the department for an interview.

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 PhD training: As a PhD research fellow, you will take part in the PhD programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences, UiB. The programme corresponds to a period of three years and leads to the PhD degree. To be eligible for admission you must normally have an educational background corresponding to a master’s degree with a scope of 120 ECTS credits, which builds on a bachelor’s degree with a scope of 180 ECTS credits (normally 2 + 3 years), or an integrated master’s degree with a scope of 300 ECTS credits (5 years). Master’s degrees must normally include an independent work of a minimum of 30 ECTS credits. It is expected that the topic of the master’s 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 good and professionally challenging working environment
• Enrolment in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Good welfare benefits

Your application must include:

• A cover letter including a brief account of your research interests and motivation for applying for the position
• Preferred research group affiliation
• 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
• Project proposal
• 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

General information:

Closing date: August 20, 2020. The application has to be marked: 20/6145.

Detailed information about the position can be obtained by contacting: Head of Department, professor Leif Ove Larsen, phone 55 58 41 16, e-mail: leif.larsen@uib.no.

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

Appointed research fellows will be admitted to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Questions about the programme may be directed to Adviser-PhD: Hanne.Gravermoen@uib.no.

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.

The state labour force shall reflect the diversity of Norwegian society to the greatest extent possible. 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.

European Journal of Women´s Studies

Deadline: March 1, 2021

Editors: Ayse Gül Altinay and Andrea Petö

The world is going through a historic moment of transformation. How do feminist and queer activists respond to, imagine, enable and complicate the ongoing process of personal and collective transformation? This special issue brings together analyses of how the famous feminist dictum “the personal is political” is finding new expression in this era of pandemic, climatic, economic and political crises, particularly in the European context. Some questions we would like to address are the following:

• How do activists conceptualise and put into action the connections between personal and collective transformation, personal and collective care, personal and collective well-being?

• What are some of the new forms in which “healing” and “justice” are coming together in contemporary activism?

• What new theories and conceptualisations of violence are emerging from new forms of transformative activism?

• How are embodied and contemplative practices being woven into activist communities and their politics?

• What new political methods for reconciliation, healing, justice and transformation are emerging from the embodied integration of personal and collective trauma work?

• How do these new connections and methods help groups and individual activists imagine a different future for their communities and beyond?

• What are some of the ways in which feminist and queer activists are incorporating different forms of storytelling into their organising? How are old myths, tales and stories reworked to provide a new lens for contemporary challenges and future imaginaries?

• What are some of the new connections being established between secular forms of activism and religious, spiritual or conservative uses old myths and tales?

• How is creativity (through art, body movement and other forms) mobilised for imaginative social change and political activism?

• How do activists reflect on the past as a resource and inspiration for ‘future imaginings’?
• What are the new ways feminist and queer pedagogies can contribute to and initiate political transformation and empowerment?

All articles will be subject to the usual review process.

Articles should be prepared according to the guidelines for submission on the inside back cover of the print journal or at https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ejw

Articles should be submitted online to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ejw by 1st March 2021

Informal queries to Hazel Johnstone, managing editor of EJWS [Email: ejws@lse.ac.uk].

Special collection in The Economic and Labour Relations Review

Abstract submission deadline: 15 August 2020

Full paper submission deadline: 15 January 2021

Guest Editor: Bingqing Xia (East China Normal University)

A number of important topics, themes and concepts frequently recur in studies of digital labour, such as exploitation, precariousness (Standing 2011), ‘the gig economy’ (Graham 2019), and unpaid labour, including those of digital ‘users’ (Terranova 2004) and audiences. Concepts of immaterial, affective and emotional labour have been widely prevalent (Hardt and Negri 2000, 2005). This first generation of critical research has drawn, often valuably so, on a variety of Marxist, post-structuralist and Weberian sources to question prevailing neo-liberal and centrist models centred on values of efficiency and the supposed empowerment of workers and users. Some debates in East Asia follow this tendency to explore labour issues in the digital economy, such as platform workers (Chen and Kimura 2019, Chen 2018, Steinberg 2019, Shibata 2019) and workers in the technology assembly factories (Pun 2005, Qiu 2016, Sacchetto and Andrijasevic, 2015).

While these topics, themes and concepts have been beneficial in establishing a basis for critique, there is a danger that, at least in the form they have been applied, they may become rather familiar and in some cases potentially even a little stale. If so, this suggests a need to renew critique of digital labour, as the digital realm stabilizes around a set of key global players and platforms and as labour activists continue to face serious obstacles to success in an era of authoritarian populism. With its broad scale in the valorization of digital work, here, we concentrate our arguments on the professional workers in the information and communication technologies (ICT) related industries. Some digital labour debates in East Asia suggest certain issues that may contribute to renewal. For example, some authors have examined how creative labour in digital domains, such as creative labour in the ‘platform capitalism’ (Stevens 2019, Luthje 2019) and digital entrepreneurs (Leung and Cossu 2019), offers the bottom-up potential of innovation. It is important to address a renewed critique that moves beyond the rigid theoretical binaries that have long characterized digital labour debates on exploitation and labour agency.

We don’t yet know the socio-economic consequences of COVID-19, but it may well make worse the quality of working life of some platform worker, such as ride-hailing and food delivery workers, who often lack adequate access to employment-insurance benefits or sick leave. COVID-19 may change current digital labour debates in East Asia, including how to reform labour markets, welfare systems and government policies to ensure greater dignity of digital working lives. It is necessary to identify agency supporting digital labourers’ own rights that may lead to an alternative of capitalism.

We call for papers that seek to move beyond the theoretical and conceptual vocabulary that has dominated the first two decades of critical research on digital labour. We have particular interests in research exploring the agency beyond the paradigm on exploitation in East Asia, such as the socio-cultural dynamics of digital labour, reproduction of global inequality through digital work and possible responses, agency originating from inequalities of gender, race and ethnicity. We also welcome papers addressing how COVID-19 may change the current digital labour debates in East Asia.

The print version of the resulting journal issue will be published in Volume 32(3) of The Economic and Labour Relations Review, September 2021, although individual articles may be published earlier as accepted.

In line with ELRR policy of recognising the particular difficulties faced by women and First Nations/minority scholars during COVID-19 isolation, the journal will be looking for balanced representation in the published collection, and will continue to consider relevant high-quality submissions for publication in subsequent issues in cases where authors were prevented by COVID-19 related circumstances from meeting the relevant deadlines

Among the issues that might be explored are the following, many of which have certainly been present in earlier research, but often in an unconsolidated or under-developed way. This list is only indicative, and we would welcome fresh ideas from any area of critical research, and from any critical perspective.

• Changes in digital labour regulation and policy
• Immigrant digital labour markets and justice for migrant digital workers
• Agency initiated from inequalities of gender, race and ethnicity that may lead to an alternative to or form of capitalism
• Questions of working dignity in digital domains
• Maker culture and digital entrepreneurship
• Socio-cultural dynamics of digital labour
• Crises of digital work
• Alternative approaches to contesting digital work
• Theories of subjectivity and agency in relation to digital labour that build on or go beyond the Marxist paradigm
• Reproduction of social/global inequality through digital work and possible responses

Papers that draw on empirical research and theoretical overviews are equally welcome. We particularly welcome articles that engage with the topic of digital labour in East Asia. Submitting authors should review the scope statement of The Economic and Labour Relations Review, which can be found at https://journals.sagepub.com/home/elr.

Process

Before submitting papers, authors should send an abstract of up to 500 words setting out their topic, and an outline of their argument and theoretical/methodological basis to the Guest Editor and Journal Editors-in-Chief listed below. We would encourage anyone thinking of submitting an abstract to contact the special issue Guest Editor via the following email address: bqxia@comm.ecnu.edu.cn

In consultation with the Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editors, the Guest Editor will select the articles that potentially best fit the special issue, based on peer review. Invitations will then be sent out to submit a full paper. An online workshop will be arranged in order to guide the development of the papers selected. Articles will be double-blind peer reviewed upon completion and subject to regular Editorial Board oversight .

Timeline:

• 15 August 2020: abstract submissions
• 15 September 2020: invitations to submit a full paper sent
• Online workshop: a date to be determined in October 2020
• 15 January 2021: first full paper submissions deadline
• 15 March 2021: reviews and decisions returned to authors
• 31 May 2021: deadline for final versions
• From 30 June 2021 onwards: articles published Online First
• 1 September 2021: Publication of collection in Volume 32(3)

(Note: ELRR articles are published online ahead of print at any time of the year, following completion of the processes of review, revision, further review, acceptance, copy-editing and page proof finalisation).

Papers should be submitted through Sagetrack https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/elrr. The journal’s formatting requirements can be found at https://us.sagepub.com/…/the-economic-and-la…/journal202205….

Editors

Bingqing Xia (East China Normal University, Shanghai) bqxia@comm.ecnu.edu.cn

Anne Junor (University of New South Wales, Australia) a.junor@unsw.edu.au

Al Rainnie (University of South Australia) al.f.rainnie@gmail.com

L'Atalante

Deadline: September 1, 2020

We are pleased to announce the call for papers of the next issue of L’Atalante, under the title of “Ludonarratives: Narrative complexity in video games”, which is open to contributions. Executive Issue Editors: Víctor Navarro Remesal and Marta Martín Núñez.

The deadline for article proposals for the “Notebook” section is September the 1st 2020. The issue will be published in January 2021. Contributions in English and Spanish are welcome. You can find the detailed information here.

We sincerely hope that this information may be of your interest. Please feel free to share this call among your contacts. Thank you in advance.

L’Atalante. Revista de estudios cinematográficos

http://www.revistaatalante.com | info@revistaatalante.com

Arts and Humanities Citation Index® and Current Arts and Humanities®, Clarivate Analytics / SCOPUS, Elsevier

Ludonarratives: Narrative complexity in video games

In recent years, narratives in video games have grown increasingly complex, evolving from serving merely as a context designed to present the rules and mechanics of the game towards the development of much deeper and more complicated structures, plots and characters, and the exploration of new thematic perspectives. Narrative complexity is already a central part of the gaming experience in games like Telling Lies (Sam Barlow, 2019), Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment, 2015), What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow, 2017), and VR experiences like The Invisible Hours (Tequila Works, 2017). Having moved past the debate between narratology and ludology (Frasca, 2003; Aarseth, 2019), there is a consensus among researchers that video games should be analysed as cultural artefacts that can harbour a complex narrative development as part of their design. In this sense, academics like Brenda Laurel (1986, 1991), Janet Murray (1997), Mary Laure Ryan (2001, 2004, 2006), Henry Jenkins (2004), Susana Tosca (2004), Clara Fernández-Vara (2009), or more recently Hartmut Koenitz et al. (2015), have developed a theoretical pathway that examines the specific features of narratives in interactive digital media, including ludofictional worlds (Planells, 2015), specific forms of seriality (Cuadrado, 2016), and complex entertainment structures (Pérez-Latorre, 2015).

The Notebook section of this issue of L'Atalante proposes to explore ways of understanding audiovisual narratives from the perspective of the narrative design of video games. This narrative design, partly due to the breaks in linearity in digital environments, ties in with contemporary trends in narrative complexity like the mindgame film, which favour ambiguity and obstructed communication (Loriguillo-López, 2019). However, the requirements of the gameplay experience and the agency of players mean that narrative systems cannot operate in the same way as they do in media like cinema, and that specific research is needed to analyse it. In particular, we are interested in approaches that address the narrative complexity that arises both in the layers of structured (scripted) narratives and in emergent narratives (resulting from the gameplay experience), which may be the product of the classical mode of storytelling (Propp, 1928; Campbell, 1949; Greimas, 1987), or of the ruptures introduced by the post-classical mode of narration (Elsaesser & Buckland, 2002; Thanouli, 2009; Mittel, 2015).

Issues that submissions could address include:

• The elements of classical storytelling in the video game medium
• Non-linear narrative structures and choice design
• Ethical video game design and its narrative implications
• Construction of characters in dialogue with their role as avatars and player identification or interpretation
• Relationships between game design and narrative design
• Emergent narratives arising out of the gameplay experience
• Environmental storytelling and the capacity of art-based narrative evocation
• Ludonarrative analysis from the perspective of the textual materiality of popular games
• The spatial-temporal construction of the game world and its narrative effects
• The influence of the changes and tensions in post-classical cinematic narration—like spatial or temporal fragmentation, time loops, split personalities, the presence of tormented amnesiac characters or unreliable narrators—on the narrative layer of video games
• Fictional structures of the video game as part of transmedia and media mix projects.

Health communication researchers and other scholars are invited to submit their work to the Journal of Nursing Regulation (JNR), the official journal of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). JNR is an interdisciplinary, quarterly, peer-reviewed, scholarly and professional journal. It publishes original research articles that advance the science of nursing regulation along with various types of analyses, book reviews, case studies, criticisms, and literature reviews that enhance international communication and collaboration among nurse regulators, academics, clinicians, and policy makers.

Nursing regulation is the governmental oversight of the nursing profession. The goals of the rules and laws are to protect the public’s health and welfare by assuring that nurses practice safely and competently within their scopes. Because regulation influences everything from nursing curricula to the uses of technologies in clinical settings, the journal welcomes submissions that address a variety of topics, provided the relationships to nursing regulation are made explicit. Examples include, but are not limited to, content analyses of health care regulation changes announced in newspapers during the COVID-19 pandemic, ethnographic studies of nurses who have been disciplined for substance abuse violations, and rhetorical analyses of patient safety chapters in nursing textbooks.

JNR welcomes contributions from global scholars who examine nursing and health care regulation from all theoretical perspectives and who use all forms of inquiry. Original research papers, analyses, criticisms, and literature reviews should fall between 5,000 and 8,000 words. Case studies should be 1,500 to 3,000 words, and book reviews should be 600 to 800 words. All submissions must adhere to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition (APA Style). Manuscripts must be submitted without author identifying information for blind peer review and must be accompanied by separate “Author Details” documents. In addition, manuscripts must not have not been published previously and must not be under consideration elsewhere. Please review JNR’s full “Guide for Authors” before submitting your manuscripts: https://www.journalofnursingregulation.com/content/authorinfo.

Please send submissions to:

Sherri L. Ter Molen, PhD

Acquisitions Editor, Journal of Nursing Regulation

Associate, Nursing Regulation, National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN)

jnr@ncsbn.org

Journal of Nursing Regulation

www.journalofnursingregulation.com

East European Film Bulletin

Deadline: August 1, 2020

Papers due: October 15, 2020

In the early 1980s, two moments of underground film — the so-called Parallel Cinema — emerge in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) and Moscow. For the first time radical young filmmakers, painters and artists produce amateur films, mainly in 16mm, outside of Goskino’s state monopoly. While the Moscow school’s approach to film is shaped by the influence of conceptualist art, the Leningrad school, associated with “Necrorealism,” explores an expressionist and absurd cinema, circling around death, decay and horror.

As part of its Russia focus 2020, the East European Film Bulletin is preparing a special issue on Soviet Parallel Cinema (parallelnoe kino), an experimental film movement in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. We are looking for contributions on underground films and video art by, among others, Igor and Gleb Aleinikov, Evgeny Iufit, Evgeny Kondratiev (Debil), Boris Yukhananov, Andrej Myortvy, Konstantin Mitenev, Igor Bezrukov, Alexander Doulerain, Vladimir Zakharov, Oleg Kotelnikov etc.

We are particularly interested in essays that examine films and video art in relation to politics, art, early avant-garde film, literature, philosophy, punk culture and transnational relations.

Proposals of 250 words should be sent to editors@eefb.org by Saturday, August 1, 2020.

Stylistic guidelines for essays published in our journal can be found here: https://eefb.org/contribute/

October 29- 31, 2020

Prague, Czech republic

Deadline: June 30, 2020

5th conference of Centre for the Study of Popular Culture

with the support of National museum of Czech Republic, Faculty of Arts of Charles University and the German Historical Institute Warsaw

Mainstream media representations of celebrities remain problematic, as excited discussions regarding the recent funeral of singer Karel Gott have demonstrated. The appraisal of his long-term career has been divided into two extreme positions: uncritical admiration for the idol who spread joy under different political regimes on one hand and condemnation of his kitschy art associated with his selling out under these regimes on the other. What the overall debate has confirmed, is that stars and celebrities of popular culture can become symbols of any given period.

The focus of the conference is on mainstream culture, which can be defined as the most popular, widespread, most accessible and understandable cultural expressions across society. Following Gramsci’s and Hall’s approaches, it is the mainstream that is considered the essential sphere where ideological hegemony is negotiated.

The aims of the conference are twofold : firstly, in its role of capturing the ‘spirit of the time’ (Zeitgeist), the conference plans to examine mainstream culture as a vital source of knowledge for unveiling social values and (attempted) changes and secondly to critically explore Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as a specific phenomenon thereof. Recently, CEE has featured in public debates due to its common hostile responses to EU migration and asylum policies, the ridiculing of climate change movements, the promoting of “traditional” family values and attempts to introduce illiberal democracy. While some social sciences and humanities have paid extensive attention to these issues, culturally oriented research has dealt with the distinctive features of Central and Eastern Europe to a much smaller degree.

To address this shortfall the conference would like to ask the question whether popular culture in CEE manifests any specific values and beliefs inherent in these respective societies. What exactly are they? Do these values and beliefs come from any particular long-term regional legacies? How do local and regional CEE mainstream media productions interact with cultural imports from wider world (or globalizing) cultures? What kind of impacts can be identified?

This conference is explicitly opening up the discussion and inclusion of all research perspectives on mainstream cultural production. Since the CEE is a regional label rather than a geographical notion, the delimitation of the examined area is not strictly given. Comparative studies and papers from other regions focusing on the mainstream in the (semi)peripheral global variations or in relation particularly to the CEE region are positively encouraged. Equally, there are no limits on the historical period of research interest as long as it is clearly related to the establishment and/or functioning and forms of mainstream culture in the region. An ideal contribution should include a comparative element running across the researched area.

Nevertheless we would also like to invite case study analyses of particular local popular works, genres, media (their content, production and reception), key authors and producers (both contemporary and past) that contributed to the dissemination of values, beliefs and practices through negotiation of ideological hegemony. Inter- and transdisciplinary as well as varied conceptual frameworks and methodological approaches from different academic fields and traditions are also very welcome.

The conference will be divided into four streams. Possible questions for each include but are not limited to the following:

I. Spaces of the Mainstream/ Mainstream Spaces

• Are there any common values and beliefs that dominate CEE mainstream cultural production?
• Are there any cultural productions that appear across the CEE region?
• What role have regional developments played in the convergence/divergence of mainstream cultural production in CEE?
• What celebrities and cult products does CEE share? What makes them specifically international?
• In what ways is the formation of the CEE cultural mainstream different from global production and is it similar to the productions in other culturally peripheral regions?
• Does popular culture play a particular role in CEE?

II. Mainstream Values and Beliefs

• What values are constant in the mainstream production of individual CEE societies?
• How are they re/negotiated under different political conditions?
• What values change and emerge in response to social and political changes?
• What mythologies disseminated through popular culture are indispensable to particular communities and political regimes?
• What changes have occurred since the EU accession, the collapse of state socialism, its accession, or the accession and collapse of other forms of dictatorship?
• How do CEE societies negotiate meaning-systems offered by the dominant media?
• How do different national communities define themselves in relation to the West and East (North and South), neighbouring nations and minorities in mainstream culture?

III. Mainstream Production

• Which media genres are favoured and which are overlooked in the mainstream culture of any given time and society? How do different media and genres encourage the spreading of specific ideologies?
• Which folk culture exists outside mainstream media? What practices are essential (or specific) for CEE societies (leisure activities, hobbies, sports) and what meanings are they associated with?
• What is the role of parody and irony? How do they undermine/confirm shared values and beliefs?
• How do international co-productions affect encoded values and meanings?

IV. Transferring the Mainstream

• What is the influence of globalized culture and what changes came along with the rise of the Internet and especially social networks?
• How did global values and beliefs spread, how do they continue spreading and what is their local reception? Does the reception of global culture have local specifics?
• What specific values and beliefs do local versions of global formats communicate?
• How global is the contemporary mainstream culture – in particular for the younger generation?
• How can digital humanities help us research popular culture?

Conference deadlines

• Submission of panel proposals: June 30, 2020.
• Submission of paper abstracts: June 30, 2020.
• Notification on acceptance: July 10, 2020.
• Conference registration opens June 30, 2020.

Guidelines for Abstracts

Abstracts should be submitted by email to the contact below and should include:

Author, name and affiliation with full contact details.

Abstracts should not exceed 300 words.

Submission of Panel Proposal

In addition to the regular submission of paper abstracts we also welcome the submission of panel proposals. A maximum of five papers in English can be submitted in a panel proposal. If three or more papers of the proposed panel pass the review process, the panel will be accepted.

Panel proposals should be sent by email and should include:

Panel title, name of the proposing organisation / individual, name and full contact details of the contact person, name and affiliation of panel chair, panel abstract (between 200 and 300 words) as well as title, author, author affiliation, and the name of each paper to be presented in the panel.

Paper/panel submissions will be subject to peer review.

Submissions and contact email

All submissions must be made exclusively via email to mainstream.cee@gmail.com

The organizers intend to put together a themed monograph, in which selected papers will be published as full-length chapters.

Conference Fee

• 20 € Early Bird (until July 30, 2020)
• 30 € Main Registration (until August 30, 2020)
• 50 € Late Registration (until September 30, 2020)

Organizing team

• Jiří Andrs
• Ondřej Daniel

• Tomáš Kavka
• Jakub Machek
• Zdeněk Nebřenský
• Blanka Nyklová
• Karel Šima
• Ondřej Štěpánek

Contacts:

http://en.cspk.eu/

Email: mainstream.cee@gmail.com

Christian Fuchs

Part of the Critical, Digital and Social Media Studies series

‘An authoritative analysis of the role of communication in contemporary capitalism and an important contribution to debates about the forms of domination and potentials for liberation in today’s capitalist society.’ — Professor Michael Hardt, Duke University, co-author of the tetralogy Empire, Commonwealth, Multitude, and Assembly

‘A comprehensive approach to understanding and transcending the deepening crisis of communicative capitalism. It is a major work of synthesis and essential reading for anyone wanting to know what critical analysis is and why we need it now more than ever.’ — Professor Graham Murdock, Emeritus Professor, University of Loughborough and co-editor of The Handbook of Political Economy of Communications

Communication and Capitalism outlines foundations of a critical theory of communication. Going beyond Jürgen Habermas’ theory of communicative action, Christian Fuchs outlines a communicative materialism that is a critical, dialectical, humanist approach to theorising communication in society and in capitalism. The book renews Marxist Humanism as a critical theory perspective on communication and society.

The author theorises communication and society by engaging with the dialectic, materialism, society, work, labour, technology, the means of communication as means of production, capitalism, class, the public sphere, alienation, ideology, nationalism, racism, authoritarianism, fascism, patriarchy, globalisation, the new imperialism, the commons, love, death, metaphysics, religion, critique, social and class struggles, praxis, and socialism.

Fuchs renews the engagement with the questions of what it means to be a human and a humanist today and what dangers humanity faces today.

Purchase here: https://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books/10.16997/book45/

Deadline: June 15, 2020

Editors: Ahmet Atay and Diana Trebing. Under contract with Peter Lang

Editors are looking for a few additional chapters in mentoring related to different cultural contexts. Mentoring occupies a major role in higher education. We mentor students and fellow faculty members, many of whom come from diverse backgrounds, such as first-generation, LGBTQ, and other countries among others. Perhaps as scholars and educators we do not spend or have enough time thinking about mentoring. It might also not be something that we formally discussed in graduate school. As we find ourselves mentoring various groups of people in higher education, we try to model our own mentors who helped us as students or faculty. Due to lack of formal training, perhaps we might use a trial-error approach or simply find spontaneous ways to mentor.

Additionally, we might also spend hours trying to solve a problem or deal with issues regarding students or new faculty colleagues. We mentor these people, despite the fact that we might not be trained, knowledgeable or prepared for specific mentoring situations. Similar to undergraduate and graduate students, junior faculty also need guidance in their teaching and research. However, in some instances, mentoring becomes a secondary issue when, as scholars, we are too busy working with students, teaching our classes, and conducting our research. Thus, we might neglect our responsibilities to mentor students outside the classroom or new faculty who might be struggling with different issues, such as maintaining a research agenda, becoming a good educator, or balancing their work and personal lives. Therefore, mentoring is one of the most crucial aspects of our academic lives.

This book will tackle two interrelated issues: The role and importance of mentoring in our discipline as well as critical/cultural studies and the ways in which we mentor students and junior faculty with diverse backgrounds. We invite authors who will present a position or an issue in regards to mentoring students and faculty or the lack of it in higher education, especially in mentoring new faculty and minority students. Our goal is to generate a scholarly discussion by utilizing different theoretical models, highlight some of the important issues in mentoring as a form of critical and intercultural communication pedagogy, and finally to present guidelines and examples to mentor more effectively.

In this project, we see mentoring as a form of critical communication pedagogy, outlined by Fassett and Warren (2007), and intercultural communication pedagogy, outlined by Atay and Trebing (2017) and Toyosaki and Atay (2018). Hence, borrowing from communication pedagogy and critical cultural scholars, Calafell (2007), Calafell and Gutierrez-Perez (2017) and Chrifi and Calafell (2016), in this book we argue that mentoring as a commitment and practice builds on the ideas of critical dialogue, embodies critical love and intercultural and transnational sense-making, and promotes a web of community that cultivates care and commitment.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

1. Mentoring in international contexts

2. Mentoring in the context of diversity

3. Mentoring and critical race theory

4. Mentoring and disability

Abstracts are due by Thursday, June 15, 2020, with a word length of no more than 250 words, along with pertinent references, contact information, and a short biographic blurb of no more 300 words. Please email your abstracts as Word documents to both Ahmet Atay (aatay AT wooster.edu) and Diana Trebing (dtrebing AT svsu.edu) for an initial review.

Mathias Corvinus Collegium (Budapest, Hungary)

The Hungary Initiatives Foundation, a Washington D.C. based non-profit organization, in partnership with the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest, Hungary is presently accepting applications for the Budapest Fellowship Program, for the 2020/2021 academic year.

The Budapest Fellowship Program is a full-time, fully-funded transatlantic fellowship opportunity in Budapest, Hungary, for young American scholars and professionals, and it includes a Junior Fellowship aimed for senior graduate students and a Senior Fellowship, for postdoctoral researchers and early career professionals.

The program aims to cultivate the next generation of American policy professionals and equip them with a thorough understanding of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Hungary. The fellows will have an opportunity to conduct independent research on the topic fellows choose while gaining practical experience working at a Hungarian host institution that matches their professional interests.

The Fellowship, through the support of the Hungary Initiatives Foundation will cover all program expenses, including roundtrip airfare to Budapest, Hungary, housing, a monthly stipend as well as health insurance. The opportunity is open for US citizens with a research interest in Central and Eastern Europe and have outstanding research and academic credentials.

You may find more details about the Budapest Fellowship Program on The Hungary Initiatives Foundation's website, at the following link:

https://www.hungaryfoundation.org/budapest-fellowship-program/

The application deadline is June 30, 2020.

Questions regarding the program or the application process may be directed to hif@hungaryfoundation.org.