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[ecrea] The 5th annual PhD Conference at the Institute of Communications Studies

Wed Feb 16 16:15:19 GMT 2011



The 5th annual PhD Conference at the Institute of Communications Studies

Constructing & Deconstructing Identity:
Challenges to Communicating Who We Are

17th June 2011
Call for Papers
The role of media in the formation, negotiation and affirmation of our identities, both as individuals and as members of larger cultural and political bodies, has a long research tradition, and ideas founded on the analysis of how TV, cinema, radio and magazines affect how we define ourselves still have currency today. However, in an age referred to by academics, government bodies and the media as the ?Digital Age?, a large part of our social interaction takes place online, identity has become a much more volatile concept: as we are blogging, Facebooking and Twittering about who we (think that we) are, the German philosopher R. D. Precht?s question ?Who am I and if so how many? looks to become one of
the central questions to understanding our mediated world.
Equally, the media always have been a platform for the negotiating of national and political identities. On the one hand the internet as an instant global communications network has facilitated more heterogeneous construction of identity, mirroring the complexities of the question of what it means to ?belong?, and given us a tool with which to challenge dominant, often state-led ideological narratives. On the other hand, the net?s diffuse, instantaneous and labyrinthine characteristics cater to its more sinister function as a playground for often very subtle modes of ?identity engineering? in religious and political
contexts.
Following the tragic events of 9/11 and successive terrorist attacks, border control has become a major political tension point. With increasingly invasive security mechanisms such as biometric identification documents and bodyscanners being introduced internationally, ?identity? has become a hotly contested issue. It has never been more important to be able
to prove who you are.
At the same time, the spread of predominantly digital security technologies means that our proof of our identity lies within our personal data sets, which are stored in identity documents, credit cards, insurance cards and driving licenses, and collectively gathered in
?
behind-the-scenes databases. Identity has become technologically defined and as regular reports of incidences of data theft have shown, increasingly commodified and at risk of
theft.
This raises ontological questions about the meaning of identity, but also ethical ones about proof of identity becoming an instrument of political power and domination and the extent
to which we can still claim ownership over our own identities.
Contributions are invited from PhD students in Media and Communications Studies, Cultural Studies, Political Science and related fields. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to, the following, as we are interested in any papers that approach the issue of media and identity, whether from a historical or a contemporary perspective, in a unique and
challenging way:
Selfhood and Nationhood
. National borders vs. borders of the self
. Citizen?s identities in post-colonial countries and areas (e.g. Macau SAR, Hong Kong
SAR): cultural, economical and political perspectives
. Globalization or glocalization, media representation of culture diversity.
. Identity within the ?Surveillance Society?

Ideology and Identity in Communication
. Notions of ?Otherness? in popular culture: representations of the ?Other? or
disability
. Constructions of the "Other" in political communication ("us vs. them" narratives) . Is communication integral to the construction of identity? In the past, to what
extent has communication been used in the pursuit of identity?
. To what extent does a particular media form communicate its own personal identity
to a populace?

Identity: value, purpose and meaning
. Credibility and identity: how do you "prove" who you are? (e.g. the ID card debate) . Identity theory as well as philosophical or ethical definitions of identity in a media
world
. The commodification of identity underlying the possibility of identity theft

Marketing identity
. The professional?s identity in the cultural industry: professional or amateur, citizen
journalist or professional?
. Celebrity culture: who's redefining 'famous'?
. Opinion and identity--self-publication and self-promotion in new media & the
blogosphere
. The role of advertising in constructing identities for ­ possibly fictitious ­ social
groups and the role of these constructed boundaries in social engineering

Please email a 300 word abstract to the following email address by 1st March 2011 (earlier
submissions welcome!)
(ics-pg-conference /at/ leeds.ac.uk)

On behalf of the Organizing Committee
ICS Postgraduate Conference 2011
17 June 2011
Institute of Communications Studies
University of Leeds, UK
On behalf of the Organizing Committee
ICS Postgraduate Conference 2011
17 June 2011
Institute of Communications Studies
University of Leeds, UK

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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