[ecrea] CFP Race and the Cultural Industries: Second Call for Papers

*Race and the Cultural Industries *

*A one-day conference organised by the Media Industries Research Centre 
(MIRC), University of Leeds, in conjunction with the MeCCSA Race Network *

*Wednesday 14th Sept 2011*

* Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, Call for 
Papers *

This conference will explore issues of race, the cultural industries and 
cultural production. Following Greg Dyke’s famous comment that the BBC 
is ‘hideously white’ there has been an increasing recognition of how 
non-whites are marginalised in the media – both in terms of 
participation and portrayal. Indeed, in recent years there has been 
numerous initiatives launched across the cultural sector that have made 
efforts to increase and encourage participation from minority 
communities. Yet tensions remain regarding social and cultural barriers 
to entry as well as critical issues to do with the representation of 
non-white groups. The aim of the conference is to go beyond policy 
debates and think more critically about the media and identity, and the 
cultural politics of race in the West.

'Race and the Cultural Industries' is an interdisciplinary conference 
and welcomes papers based on research on all sectors of the media, from 
news to entertainment, taken from the UK or more international contexts. 
It seeks to encourage participation from cultural practitioners as well 
as scholars in order to create a dialogue between research, policy and 
practice.

We welcome papers in anything related to the topic of race and the 
cultural industries, amongst which might be the following:

• Race and the politics of representation

• The media, multiculturalism and citizenship

• Cultural policy and subsidising culturally diverse arts

• The production of Black and Asian popular culture

• Islamaphobia and the reporting/representation of the ‘War on Terror’

• Institutional racism in the cultural industries

• Audience development and issues of marketing and distributing 
culturally diverse arts

• Diasporic media practice

• ‘Glass ceilings’ and the politics of quotas and diversity initiatives

• New media, race and identity

*To submit an abstract (300 words) please email (a.saha /at/ leeds.ac.uk)**. 
Deadline for abstracts is 8th July 2011. *

Confirmed speakers are:

Tanika Gupta, MBE – Playwright and screenwriter

Mykaell Riley – Director of Centre for Black Music Research, Ex-Steel 
Pulse member and black music historian

Jason Toynbee – Open University

David Hesmondhalgh – University of Leeds

Mark Banks – Open University

Sarita Malik – Brunel University

Ash Sharma – University of East London

Sanjay Sharma – Brunel University