From January 1 to June 30 2011, Professor Jostein Gripsrud of the
University of Bergen in Norway, will reside as International Francqui
Professor in Belgium. Within the context of his Francqui Professorship,
communication and media studies departments from the VUB, UGent and ULB
organise a series of masterclasses for PhD students, for which a call
for abstracts is now opened.*
*The masterclass organised by the Centre for Studies on Media and
Culture (Cemeso) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB- Free University
of Brussels), is organised around the general theme 'the politics of
popular culture' (*May 12, 2011)*. The aim of this masterclass is to
give doctoral students the opportunity to present their research and
discuss with Jostein Gripsrud and other high-level academics and
practitioners. In the opening lecture, Jostein Grisprud will present a
framework for the critical scrutiny and evaluation of the politics of
different popular media/culture forms, and focus on the political
relevance of both the textual and formal aspects of popular culture,
i.e. on its rhetorical and aesthetic characteristics. After the keynote
speech, 2 senior academic respondents will present their ideas on the
topic. In the rest of the day, selected PhD students working within the
broad field of 'politics of popular culture', will present their work
(20 minutes for presentation, 10 minutes for discussion). Other PhD
students (and lecturers) are welcome to attend the seminar as well.
Presenters will be asked to focus specifically on questions concerning
the political relevance of contemporary popular culture and media as
they appear in their research.
Research papers and work-in-progress are invited on:
-The relation between the political field and the cultural field
-Poltical actors and popular culture
-The political relevance (in strict and broader sense) of popular culture
-Celebrity politics
-Life-politics and popular culture
-Identity poltics and popular culture
-The use of rhetorics, aesthetic theory, discursive approaches in the
analysis of the politics of popular culture
Abstracts are to be submitted before *February 22, 2011* to
(francqui.masterclass /at/ gmail.com), with mention of the name of the
masterclass (The Poltics of Popular Culture). Abstracts are subject to
peer review, amount to 500 word maximum and contain information on the
research question, theoretical framework, methodology, structure and
research argument of the PhD project. Selected PhD students are required
to write a paper on their PhD project (3000 words) in order for Jostein
Gripsrud and other participants to be able to prepare their response.
The paper presents the PhD project as a whole and is a report of the
student's ongoing doctoral research. In their papers, the PhD students
briefly present the focus of the research and take up the aspects of the
research process: methodological, theoretical
and practical issues on which he/she would like to receive feedback.The
full papers are to be submitted before *April 4, 2011.*
Kind Regards,
Leen Van Brussel
Benjamin De Cleen
Eva De Smedt
Leen Van Brussel
<(levbruss /at/ vub.ac.be)>
Department of Communication Studies
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2
1050 Brussel
02 629 24 33
