ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Edited volume (Routledge)

Deadline: January 15, 2020

Temporal scales and perceptions of past, present and future diverge, clash and merge in complex ways when discussing and visualizing climate change. The “slow violence” (Nixon) of climate change, linked to a complicated and multi-sited history of extraction, has caused immediate and imminent devastation—or, what is now increasingly referred to as the “climate emergency” and “climate crisis”.

This intersection of quick ruptures with gradual, extended experiences of change are difficult to reconcile, especially by journalists and media-makers. Following on from that, this collection aims to reflect on the complex negotiations of temporal scales related to climate change and its mediations. Such negotiations emerge, for instance, in the temporalities related to the mediation of Greta Thunberg, which relate to geological time, its acceleration, tipping points, institutional temporalities of politics and journalism (and its possible acceleration), lifespans and generations as well as living memories of weather and related events. Such scales and perceptions are, furthermore, inscribed within more specific temporalities of media ideologies, ideologies and cultures in very different locales, which — at some level — all are written into the temporalities of global communication.

The broad aim of this volume is consequently to analyse the meetings of and schisms between various temporalities as they emerge within specific mediations of climate change in a diverse range of locations around the world. The collection thus seeks to understand how climate change as a temporal process gets inscribed within the temporalities of journalism, which inflect various local, regional, national and global times as well as various perceptions of change related to generations, (living) memory and (national) politics and how such perceptions are linked to the temporalities of globalisation, colonialism, race, gender and class. The aim of this collection is to free the thinking about climate change communication from science communication and/or social science approaches focusing on how climate communication can be improved (Chadwick) and, linked to that, how effects can be measured. Rather than being immediately focused on more efficient communication as determined and measured by an empiricist tradition, such critical cultural studies may help tease out important nuances of discourse and power that eventually can point towards different communicative practices.

Schedule:

• Date for submitting abstracts (max 300 words): January 15, 2020
• Answers with regard to acceptance: February 1.
• Deadline for first draft of chapters: May 1
• Deadline for editors’ comments to authors: June 15
• Deadline for final edited versions of chapters (7000-8000 words): August 1
• Publication: Autumn 2020.

Send abstracts to editors Henrik Bødker, Dept. of Media and Journalism Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark, hb@cc.au.dk; and to Hanna E. Morris, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA, hanna.morris@asc.upenn.edu

May 15-16, 2020

University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Deadline: January 15, 2020

The fourth International and Interdisciplinary Conference on the Quantitative and Computational Analysis of Textual Data will be held in Innsbruck, Austria, on 15-16 May 2020.

COMPTEXT is an international community of quantitative text analysis scholars in political science, international relations and beyond. COMPTEXT is a legacy project of the 2018 POLTEXT Conference in Budapest (organized by Miklós Sebők) and the 2019 POLTEXT Conference in Tokyo (organized by Kohei Watanabe, Lisa Lechner and Miklós Sebők – for more information, see our official website at: http://www.comptextconference.org/). From 2020 the project continues on a new name, one that better reflects our approach.

We are seeking submissions that

• Address the complexity of research problems at the intersection of social sciences (particularly political science and international relations) and information technology
• Use computational methods in analyzing textual sources
• Adhere to a comparative approach to solving these problems, such as multi-lingual comparative analysis

We strongly encourage all scholars who employ quantitative text analysis methods to submit abstracts for presentation at the conference, but priority will be given to proposals which are relevant to one or more of the abovementioned focus points. We accept both substantive and methodological papers for presentation: substantive papers may be on any studies in social sciences or humanities that utilize quantitative text analysis; methodological papers may cover, but are not restricted to, word embeddings, topic models, different machine learning approaches, or sentiment analysis.

COMPTEXT conferences embrace interdisciplinary and diversity of participants, and we encourage PhD students and early career researchers to submit.

In keeping with our tradition, on 14 May, 2020 a tutorial day will be held for registered participants for a registration fee of EUR 30. Courses will be offered for both beginner and advanced level participants.

Submission of Paper Proposals:

Proposals, along with an abstract of 250 words and a few substantive and methods-related keywords, should be submitted via the submission form by 15 January 2020.

Notifications of acceptance are due by 15 February, 2020. The registration deadline is 15 March, 2020. Full-length papers must be uploaded by 7 May, 2020.

The Organizing Committee consists of:

• Lisa Lechner (University of Innsbruck – lead organizer)
• James Cross (University College Dublin)
• Christoph Ivanusch (University of Innsbruck)
• Miklós Sebők (Centre for Social Sciences, Budapest)
• Thomas Walli (University of Innsbruck)
• Kohei Watanabe (University of Innsbruck)

For more information, please visit our website: http://www.comptextconference.org/

Questions related to Innsbruck 2020 should be directed to innsbruck@comptextconference.org

In case you have any questions with regards to the COMPTEXT project please contact us via info@comptextconference.org

The Communication Department of Columbia College Chicago (USA)

Apply here

We seek applicants for a full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty position in Social Media, Digital Strategy and Communication beginning August 2020.

The Communication Department seeks a scholar with a vibrant research agenda in the emerging field of social media and digital strategy with an emphasis on work in diverse communities. The faculty member will teach courses in two of the college’s newest and fastest growing undergraduate programs, which constitute about one third of the department’s student population: Social Media and Digital Strategy, and Communication. The faculty member may also teach within the department’s new graduate Civic Media program and have the opportunity to collaborate with the School of Media Arts’ Convergence Lab.

The ideal candidate will have extensive and sustained professional experience within digital communication, social media, analytics, community engagement and/or related fields; a demonstrated record of effective teaching with a diverse student body; and established and ongoing professional relationships within these fields.

For more information go here: https://colum.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=190000D3

June 4-6, 2020

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Deadline: December 1, 2019

Scholars are hereby invited to sign up for a hands-on symposium on film exhibition and distribution during World War II. The purpose of the symposium is threefold:

(1) Developing and sharing methodological expertise in compiling, analysing and comparing data on historical film programming;

(2) Gaining more insight in the transnational patterns of film supply and demand during the war, across belligerent and neutral countries;

(3) Building and strengthening a network of scholars with a shared interest in the topic.

The symposium is co-produced by CREATE (University of Amsterdam) and DICIS (Scientific Research Network on Digital Cinema Studies) and hosted by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the University of Amsterdam. It will consist of two main segments: a seminar with brief presentations, and a workshop where participants will work hands-on with the collaboratively collected data. Participants in the symposium are requested to compile, in advance, a data set that consists of film programming data, according to a fixed data model, in order to allow for comparative analysis. Afterwards, all data will be made publicly available in an open access environment.

The detailed call for participants can be read and downloaded here: https://www.digitalcinemastudies.com/documents/cfp-symposium-movie-theatres-in-wartime.pdf

Application

If you are interested in joining this initiative, please send the organisers a document with the following information, before 1 December

• Brief description of relevant research interests
• Brief curriculum vitae + contact details
• Description of expected data set (which city/country; which available sources for film programming); current status of the data set (existing data set or to be compiled)
• Maximum: 2 pages

Please note that participants are expected to cover their own costs for travel and accommodation. Registration is free.

Please send your application to the organisers: Thunnis van Oort (T.vanOort@uva.nl), Roel Vande Winkel (roel.vandewinkel@kuleuven.be) and Pavel Skopal (skopal@phil.muni.cz)

Audra Diers-Lawson

Crises come in many shapes and sizes, including media blunders, social media activism, extortion, product tampering, security issues, natural disasters, accidents, and negligence – just to name a few. For organizations, crises are pervasive, challenging, and catastrophic, as well as opportunities for organizations to thrive and emerge stronger.

Despite the proliferation of research and books related to crisis communication, the voice that is often lost is that of the stakeholder. Yet, as both a public relations and management function, stakeholders are central to the success and failure of organizations responding to and managing crises in a cross-platform and global environment. This core textbook provides a comprehensive and research-driven introduction to crisis communication, critical factors influencing crisis response, and what we know about predicting stakeholder responses to crises. Incorporated into each chapter are global case studies, ethical challenges, and practitioner considerations.

Demonstrating the connection between theory, decision-making, and strategy development in a crisis context, this is a vital text for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Communications, Public Relations, Marketing, and Strategic Management.

The text will have podcast lectures, PowerPoints for each chapter, a testbank, instructor's manual, and three simulation exercises available as supporting materials by 1 January, 2019 (just in time for second semester adoption). It is available as an e-book (Kindle included), hardcover, and paperback.

The text is available on Amazon or direct from Routledge at: https://www.routledge.com/Crisis-Communication-Managing-Stakeholder-Relationships-1st-Edition/Diers-Lawson/p/book/9781138346246

The supporting resources will be available from: https://audralawson.com/resources/crisis-communication-managing-stakeholder-relationships/

Review of the text:

"Crisis Communication represents a real advancement in our knowledge. The book brings together two relevant fields of studies, crisis communication and stakeholder relationship management, contributing to the advancement of both and offering a new perspective in bringing them together. Covering a wide range of topics using the most established perspectives as well as the newest ones, this is a book to be read by students for their introduction to the field and by senior professionals to update their knowledge." – Alessandra Mazzei, Director at the Centre for Employee Relations and Communication at IULM University, Italy

University of Groningen 

Deadline: November 20, 2002

Apply here

Organisation

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has established an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative university offering high-quality teaching and research. Its 31,000 students are encouraged to develop their own individual talents through challenging study and career paths. The University of Groningen is an international centre of knowledge: it belongs to the best research universities in Europe and is allied with prestigious partner universities and networks worldwide.

The Faculty of Arts is a large, dynamic faculty in the heart of the city of Groningen. It has more than 5000 students and 700 staff members, who are working at the frontiers of knowledge every day. The Faculty offers a wide range of degree programmes: 15 bachelor's programmes and over 35 master's specialisations. Our research, which is internationally widely acclaimed, covers Media and Journalism Studies, Archaeology, Cultural Studies, History, International Relations, Language and Literary Studies, and Linguistics.

Job description

Excellent research assessments and growing student numbers enable the Department of Media Studies and Journalism of the University of Groningen to hire an assistant professor in Journalism Studies.

Candidates should be able to teach courses in our Dutch and international MA programmes in Journalism, our minor programmes in Journalism, and our international BA and MA programmes in Media Studies. Moreover, we expect the successful candidate to contribute actively to our research agenda which we are conducting in the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies. The position combines teaching (60%) and research (40%).

Our BA and MA programmes rank first among all Media Studies programmes in the Netherlands in the national student survey. The MA programmes in Journalism focus on high quality reporting in a cross-media setting with a strong focus on digital skills and innovation, and combine academic reflection with academic skills. The department admits 30 Dutch and 30 international MA students on a yearly basis after a rigorous selection procedure. The minor programme in Journalism addresses a range of developments in the field of journalism studies, providing courses to students from a range of disciplines within the university.

Our international, English-taught BA programme in Media Studies focuses on the social and informative functions of media. It provides students with a thorough understanding of the affordances of different platforms and the interplay between them; the political and economic underpinnings of media systems; patterns of use, production and content; and the functions and impact of media in culture and society. The MA programmes Datafication and Digital Literacy, Social Media and Society, and Media Creation and Innovation provide students with cutting-edge knowledge of the digital transformations that profoundly change society.

Research is conducted within the interdisciplinary Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, which has been rated as “excellent/world-leading” in the 2016 Research Assessment. If appointed, the candidate is expected to actively contribute to a vibrant research environment. Ample support will be provided in applying for bids with national and international funding agencies.

The successful applicant is expected to:

• teach and supervise students in the department’s undergraduate and graduate programmes; international candidates will teach solely in English, they are offered the chance to follow a Dutch language course
• participate actively in curriculum development, design and administration of course modules
• conduct and generate top research in media studies or communication studies
• pursue research grants and other forms of external funding
• participate actively in international research networks and build international collaborations
• participate actively in the activities of the interdisciplinary research Centre for Media and Journalism Studies.

Qualifications

In addition to a number of basic requirements set by the University of Groningen, such as excellent social and communication skills, presentation skills, coaching skills and a results-oriented attitude, we are looking for candidates who have:

• a PhD in Journalism-, Media-, or Communication Studies, or related fields
• wide-ranging knowledge in Journalism Studies, preferably with a focus on the digital transformation of journalism
• teaching experience at university level and proven didactic abilities
• gained their University Teaching Qualification (UTQ) or are prepared to do so within a year
• an excellent research track record, including relevant publications
• an outstanding national and international academic network as well as strong contacts with professionals in the field
• willingness to make substantial contributions to the development of the Department’s research and educational programmes
• organisational experience and skills
• excellent command of English (at least CEFR B2/C1 level for reading, listening, writing and speaking)
• expected to have or gain understanding of the Dutch language (CEFR B2 for reading and listening, and CEFR B1 for writing and speaking) within two years.

Conditions of employment

We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

• a salary depending on qualifications and work experience starting from € 3,637 (scale 11) to a maximum of € 5,656 (scale 12) gross salary per month for a full-time position
• an 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% year-end bonus and participation in a pension scheme for employees
• favourable tax treatment may apply to Non-Dutch applicants.

The appointment will initially be on a temporary basis for 4 years with the possibility of becoming a permanent position following a positive ‘Results and Development’ assessment. The assessment for a permanent position is possible from the third year onwards.

Preferred date of entry into employment is 1 February 2020.

Application

You may apply for this position until 20 November 2019 Dutch local time by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

Applications should include:

• a cover letter that explains the motivation for applying for this position
• a full curriculum vitae including a full list of publications and talks
• a research plan of 1-2 pages that includes future ideas for grant applications
• a teaching statement that contains a description of courses taught and teaching qualifications
• the names and contact details of two academic referees.

Only complete applications submitted by the deadline will be taken into consideration.

Job interviews via Skype will be held on 4 December 2019; personal interviews are planned for either 18 December 2019 or 9 January 2020.

We are an equal opportunity employer that values diversity. We have adopted an active policy to increase the number of female scientists across all disciplines of the university. Therefore, women are encouraged to apply. Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP), https://nvp-plaza.nl/download/?id=7714 and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers, https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Information

For information you can contact:

Prof. Marcel Broersma, Professor of Media and Journalism Studies, 0031 50 363 5955, m.j.broersma@rug.nl

Drs. Miralda Meulman, Degree programme coordinator (about the formal procedure), 0031 50 363 8950, sec.amc@rug.nl

Please do not use the e-mail address(es) above for applications.

Recherches en communication

Deadline: January 15, 2020

Coordinators of the issue: Andrea Catellani (UCLouvain), David Douyère (University of Tours), Olivier Servais (UCLouvain)

See the complete call for papers on the website of the scientific journal “Recherches en communication”: http://sites.uclouvain.be/rec/index.php/rec/announcement/view/203

The religious process uses any material form to communicate the presence of absent or transcendent entities and to enable a relationship to be established with them, and to organize the regime of action that results from this relationship. With the computerization of society and the development of exchanges by digital means, it also mobilizes signs of its own dynamics on the networks. The present issue therefore aims to investigate the forms of digital expression and visibility of the religious and the reasons for their digital expansion.

These forms of visibility can be carried out by devotees (Favret-Saada, 2017), activists or set up by religious institutions and movements of different types. We will look at the speeches, images, digital devices and ergonomics that develop the proposed religious service, as well as the economic and socio-political contexts that can motivate, explain or¨underpin these communications, always within the framework of a vision focused on information and communication. Finally, we will also look at the practices (Jonveaux, Duteil-Ogata, forthcoming) of production and mobilization of these devices, as well as their theorizations.

The proposals for articles may therefore be part of one (or more) of the following axes:

1. Religious digital media and devices

2. Discourses, textbooks and theorizations of religious digital technology

3. Religious digital actors

4. Digital religious action

5. Religious institutions and the digital world

6. Religions and socio-political mobilization of digital technology

7. New religions on the Internet

8. Criticism of online religions: parodies and misappropriations.

The articles will include, in addition to a presentation of the methodology adopted, the field of scientific insertion and the theoretical contexts mobilized, a presentation of the corpus (websites, applications, videos, sound sequences, etc.) or the field studied, or the theoretical and epistemological proposal made, and an indication of the researcher's position with regard to the object or confession studied, for the sake of scientific integrity. Particular emphasis will be placed on clarity of enunciation, including theoretical and conceptual clarity, accuracy of data (and modes of data acquisition) and accuracy of data processing.

Procedures for responding to the call for articles

Interested researchers are invited to submit the full version of their paper (maximum 30,000 characters) on the journal's website by January 15, 2020.

Link for submitting a paper: http://sites.uclouvain.be/rec/index.php/rec/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions

The answer will be given no later than two months after the submission.

Articles may be submitted in French or English.

Articles submitted and accepted for publication in this dossier are published one by one on the site, at the time of their completion, without waiting for the entire dossier to be ready for publication.

Instructions for writing the article: maximum 30,000 characters per article (spaces and references included, abstract and keywords not included), if possible with illustrations (royalty-free). The complete presentation procedures are available on the website:  http://sites.uclouvain.be/rec/index.php/rec/about/submissions

Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen

Deadline: December 1, 2019

The Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen invites applications for one three-year PhD scholarship within the research project “Bodies as Battleground: Gender Images and International Security”. The research project is funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark and the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. The successful candidate will be employed by February 1st, 2020 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The project

“Bodies as Battleground: Gender Images and International Security” addresses three themes: gender, security and images. The project starts from a discursive conception of security, an understanding of gender as cultural, and the image as open to multiple interpretations. The overall research question of the project is: "How are gender-specific security problems constituted through images?" The project employs a mixed-method strategy and is organized around four subprojects. These show the importance of historical context for how gender security problems might be shown, the relationship between levels of violence and gender representation in war photography, the way gender norms are reproduced or challenge in photographic images, and the possibilities of images to bring theoretical attention to "invisible" security problems.

The PhD scholarship

The PhD scholarship is part of a subproject that asks: ‘How are gender norms reproduced or challenged in war photography?’ This subproject will involve a qualitative analysis of photos taken by photojournalists during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The PhD student will work with textual and visual discourse analysis and collaborate with another PhD student who is conducting a quantitative analysis of the same photojournalistic dataset. This subproject is managed by Professor Lene Hansen.

Are you the right candidate?

Preferred applicants will have an interest in questions related to conflict, gender, images, and photojournalism. We are looking for candidates with strong analytical skills and proven qualitative methodological qualifications. Experience in working with textual or visual discourse analysis is an advantage but not a requirement. We accept applications under the 5+3 PhD program. Please note that students who are expecting to graduate this term and are awaiting the evaluation of their dissertation/master thesis may apply under the 5+3 program.

Please contact Professor Lene Hansen (lha@ifs.ku.dk) for a full description of the research project and more information about the position. For information on the PhD program and the application procedure please consult the website of the Copenhagen Graduate School of Social Sciences http://samf.ku.dk/phd-skolen/english/ (in English) and http://samf.ku.dk/phd-skolen (in Danish).

Applications

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding society, and invites all qualified applicants, regardless of personal background, to apply for the positions.

In order to be awarded a PhD scholarship the applicant has to enroll as a PhD student at the Faculty of Social Sciences, cf. the rules of the Danish Ministerial order No 1039 of 27 August 2013.

The application must be submitted electronically using the APPLY NOW button below, and must include:

• Cover Letter detailing your motivation and background for applying for the specific PhD project
• Project description (max. 5 pp. double-spaced, not including bibliography)
• Time schedule
• CV
• Diploma and transcripts of records (BSc/BA and MSc/MA)
• Other information for consideration, e.g. list of publications, documentation of English language qualifications (if any)

In order to be eligible for a scholarship in the 5+3 PhD study programme the applicant must have completed a two year MSc degree programme, or have earned 120 ECTS credits at an equivalent academic level before starting his or her employment. Applicants should check the study programmes for more detailed descriptions of the entry requirements. PhD students are paid a salary in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The PhD student has a work obligation of up to 840 hours over the 3 year period of time without additional pay. The work obligation can include for instance teaching.

Application process

On the website of Copenhagen Graduate School of Social Sciences you will find information about the application process and enclosures to include with your electronic application:

https://samf.ku.dk/phd-skolen/english/applicants/application/current_advertisement/

https://samf.ku.dk/phd-skolen/til_ansogere/ansoegning/aktuelle_opslag/

The application must be submitted electronically no later than December 1, 2019, 23:59 Danish time.

Applications received after the deadline will not be taken into account.

Interviews are expect to take place on January 10th 2020.

After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointments Committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert assessment committee.

The following criteria are used when shortlisting candidates for assessment:

1. Research qualifications as reflected in the project proposal.

2. Quality and feasibility of the project.

3. Qualifications and knowledge in relevant social science disciplines.

4. Performance (grades obtained) in graduate and post-graduate studies.

Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the assessment committee, and each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself. You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk

Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories, University of Brighton

Deadline: January 6, 2020

The Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories (CMNH) at the University of Brighton invites applications for AHRC/TECHNE fully funded doctoral studentships commencing October 2020 on topics concerning the cultural significance of the past for lived experience, social relationships, politics and identities in the present and in the future.

Trans/interdisciplinary in ethos, the CMNHoffers supervisory expertise to students working in and across a range of disciplines including history, cultural studies, literature, memory studies, social anthropology, cultural geography, art, media, film and visual studies, performance studies, critical theory, sociology, psycho-social studies, critical heritage studies, and narratology.

CMNH has particular research interests in the following thematic areas:

• Heritage in the Twenty-First Century;
• Medical Histories, Memories and Life Narratives;
• Complex Temporalities in Post–Conflict Spaces;
• Reparative Histories: Radical Narratives of 'Race' and Resistance;
• The Northern Irish Troubles: Histories, Memories, Silences in Conflict Transformation;
• History and Cultural Memory of Twentieth-Century Wars;
• Histories of Culture, War and Conflict in the Modern Middle East;
• Culture and Conflict of the Global Sixties: Cold War, Decolonisation,
• Third-Worldism, Transnational Solidarity

Applicationsfor PhD studies in these areas, and on topics that address the relation between powerful or official memories, narratives and histories and those which give expression to subordinate, marginalised and neglected historical experience, are especially welcome.

Proposals concerned with any practice that produces understandings and representations of ‘the past’ (including oral history, life history/life writing, remembrance and commemoration, critical archive practice, public history and heritage, autobiography, and history-making in popular culture as well as academic scholarship), and that relates to the interests of individual supervisors, are also welcome.

PhD students play a central role in the Centre and successful applicants will benefit from an exciting and supportive research culture with many opportunities for participation in our collective work. For further details about the Centre's thematic research areas, research interests and activities, staff and current research students, see http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/mnh

These studentships are offered by the TECHNE doctoral training consortium via the University of Brighton’s Doctoral College. For information about the awards, eligibility and application process, and to download application forms, go to https://www.brighton.ac.uk/research-and-enterprise/postgraduate-research-degrees/funding-opportunities-and-studentships/dtp-ahrc-techne-general.aspx

For information on TECHNE see http://www.techne.ac.uk

Applications supported by the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories have had a very good success rate in previous years. For advice on an application and potential supervision contact Prof Graham Dawson

G.Dawson@brighton.ac.uk  or Dr Deborah

Madden D.Madden2@brighton.ac.uk

Deadline for applications to the University of Brighton: 6 January 2020

Final deadline for applications supported by the University of Brighton to TECHNE: 20 February 2020.

March 28-31, 2020

Deadline: December 31, 2019

FilmForum 2020: XVIII Gorizia International Film Studies Spring School, Porn Studies Section

The 2020 edition of the Porn Studies section of the MAGIS – International Film Studies Spring School aims to investigate pornography as a dispositive of subjectivation (Foucault 2001), that is as a complex and heterogeneous assemblage of technologies, institutions, discourses, practices, ideologies (Agamben 2009) able to create subjectivity through «a mixed economy of power and knowledge» (Rabinow and Rose 2003). The main goal of the section is therefore to understand what kind of subjects are produced by pornography and how they are constructed, with particular attention to the intersections between sexuality and race, class, age, dis/ability.

Drawing loosely on Jacques Derrida’s philosophical reflections, we could say that pornography-as-dispositive is informed by a carno-phallogocentric logic, that is by «the scheme that governs the production of the subject in Western culture» (1992). According to Derrida, this subject is produced by means of a process of exclusion (of other subjects) and through the construction of a structural Otherness. Pornography has always established complex and contradictory relations with this scheme. On the one hand, pornography (or, a specific kind of pornography) seems to reiterate (and reinforce) the logic of carno-phallogocentrism, in that it seems to create the quintessential «sovereign subject»: white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied, young, and (upper) middle-class. On the other, pornography (or, another kind of pornography) seems to undermine the carno-phallogocentric scheme from the inside, deconstructing some of the central nodes on which it is based, building instead heterotopic spaces in which subjects seem to develop new and decentralized subject positions.

With this in mind, we invite proposals that explore, but are not restricted to, the following topics:

• pornographic representations of race, class, age, dis/ability, present and past
• pornographic stereotypes about race, class, age, dis/ability and their «changing historical contexts» (Rosello 1998)
• «marked bodies» (Holmes 2012) in pornography
• re-appropriation of representation by decentralized subjects
• «oppositional modes of production and perverse viewerships» beyond «the framework of visibility politics organized about the nexus of positive-negative images» (Nguyen 2014)
• essentialist vs. constructivist readings of race, class, age, dis/ability and naturalization vs. denaturalization of difference in pornography
• fetishization of race, class, age, dis/ability in pornographic production
• industrial niches (such as, for instance, interracial, “chav porn”, granny porn, disability porn, etc.) and commodification of race, class, age, dis/ability within long-tail economy (Anderson 2004)
• stars and performers, present and past (for example, Jeannie Pepper, Lexington Steele, Nina Hartley, Long Jeanne Silver, Brandon Lee, Asa Akira, etc.)
• specialized films, film series, websites, platforms channels and categories on porn aggregators based on race, class, age, dis/ability.

The deadline for the submission of papers and panel proposals is December 31, 2019.

Proposals should not exceed one page in length. Please make sure to attach a short CV (10 lines max).

The conference fee is €150.

Selected papers will be considered for an edited collection within the book series “Mapping Pornographies: Histories, Geographies, Cultures” (Mimesis International, Milan-London).

Address questions and proposals to: goriziafilmforum@gmail.com, e.biasin@libero.it, g.maina@gmail.com, federico.zecca@uniba.it.

The Porn Studies section of the Gorizia International Film Studies Spring School is now one of the most important conferences in the field of porn studies, opening space for innovative approaches and methodologies for investigating the relationships between sex, commerce, media and technology. Drawing together the work of leading scholars from around the world (including Peter Alilunas, Feona Attwood, Lynn Comella, Kevin Heffernan, Peter Lehman, Alan McKee, John Mercer, Susanna Paasonen, Eric Schaefer, Clarissa Smith, Thomas Waugh, Linda Williams) as well as emerging scholars, the School has mapped a transformed landscape of sexual representations and coordinated a new wave of research. The section is also specifically focused on the relationship between production and dissemination of knowledge and related industrial/archival/artistic practices: artists, performers, archivists, curators, and media practitioners in general have been involved in the debate through screenings, curator talks, artist talks, and panel discussions (among others, the School has hosted talks by directors such as Bruce LaBruce, Ashley Hans Scheirl, Anna Span).