Call for Proposals - Doing Global Media Studies: Theories, Practices, Reflections Symposium

Doing Global Media Studies: Theories, Practices, Reflections CARGC Fellows’ Symposium, March 22 - 23, 2023

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, the 2023 biannual fellows’ symposium will reflect on evolving concepts and methodologies in the field of global communication and media studies. We are witnessing  ongoing global crises, from widespread displacements and climate disasters to pandemics and the rising threat of fascism. In light of these circumstances, we invite emerging scholars, artists, and activists to explore what a global approach to media and communication can do today. What is at stake in studying global communication and media at this historical moment?

We seek to decenter Western epistemologies by foregrounding the local, the situated, and the relational interconnectedness of cultures, institutions, and infrastructures through media. In an effort to think beyond the national frameworks typically employed by area studies, we foreground transregional methods and frameworks of study that situate the global within the local and vice versa. Bringing together questions of the global and the local allows us as scholars to be reflective and reflexive, to situate our own scholarship within the world, rather than from an imagined, 'objective' outside.

We invite scholarly and creative projects, including research papers, creative writing, video essays or documentaries, sound or audio projects, artistic installations, and performances. We  welcome submissions from early career scholars, as well as artists and activists whose work engages these issues. Submissions from scholars, artists, and activists based in the Global South are particularly encouraged. Topics may include:

• Activist interventions, inclusive practices, and in/equity in global communication and media
• Epistemologies of the planetary, the global, and the local and their interrelations
• Mediating (neo)colonialism, environmental extractivism, and competing sovereignties
• The politics of translation, comparative frameworks, and regional approaches
• Media’s im/mobilities and south-to-south flows of cultural exchange
• Global perspectives on (the failures of) communicating mis/disinformation, nonsense, and noise
• Global political economy of media industries, platforms, and popular culture

The keynote address will be given by Professor Purnima Mankekar.

Conference Format & Timeline

The CARGC Fellows symposium will take place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA and online on March 22 & 23, 2023. The symposium  is planned as a hybrid event, with in-person participation highly encouraged. It will feature a keynote address by Dr. Purnima Mankekar and roundtable sessions (in which participants will give 5-8 minute flash presentations of their work). Senior scholars  will act as discussion facilitators for the roundtable sessions, responding to and providing feedback on participants’ work. The purpose of these roundtables is to foster discussion between participants before opening up to a wider Q&A from the audience. Accepted participants will also be invited to a professional development workshop on teaching global media studies and communication.

• Keynote address and in-person roundtable sessions will be made accessible to global audiences through Zoom. Please note that the professional development workshop is for symposium presenters only.
• Accepted participants with financial need may apply for a travel grant to offset a portion of the cost of travel
• Timeline: Submission deadline for abstracts is December 15, 2022. Acceptance notifications will be sent to selected participants by late January 2023. Please note that although all sessions will be held in a roundtable format, participants are still asked to circulate their conference-length papers and/or creative work to their roundtable chair.

Submission Guidelines

Important Note: Participant(s) may only submit one proposal to the conference. Proposals should be uploaded through our submission platform.

Academic Paper Submissions:

• Select “Academic paper” on the submission form
• Abstracts and presentations should be in English
• Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words (excluding references)
• The abstract must clearly and succinctly describe the paper’s topic, argument, theoretical framework, or theories which the project draws from, context/data, method/research approach, and expected results/findings/intervention.
• Please indicate whether you intend to participate in person or virtually

Creative and Multimodal Work Submissions:

• Select the appropriate format (“Audio submission,” “Short film or documentary,” or “Creative writing”, “Performance”, “Installation” ) on submission form
• Abstracts should be in English; creative works in other languages should be accompanied by English captions
• The abstract should be a description of your project no longer than 300 words (excluding any references)
• The description should highlight how the piece addresses or grapples with the conference theme and/or the topics listed above
• You may also provide a link to your multimodal project (though this is not required)
• Please indicate whether you intend to participate in person or virtually

Please note that to keep the conference interactive and to leave room for questions and discussion, participants must be available to present their work synchronously during the conference, either in person or via Zoom.
 
Deadline for submissions is December 15, 2022. For any questions or concerns, e-mail cargcfellowssymposium@gmail.com .

Submit your proposal