[ecrea] 40th IIS World Congress in Delhi - Call for Papers: Panel “Theorizing the Public Sphere in a digitized globality”

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The 40th IIS World Congress in Delhi

After Western Hegemony: Social Science and its Publics

February 16-19, 2012

Organized by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), 
Delhi &

Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), Uppsala

Call for Papers: Panel “Theorizing the Public Sphere in a digitized 
globality”

Theme:

In current social scientific research as well as in the public discourse 
some well-established themes seem to be converging: globalization, 
localization, mediatization and digitization are being increasingly 
theorized as interrelated and interdependent processes. At the same 
time, researchers are trying to find out whether the classic (Western) 
notion of the public sphere – as the theoretical and empirical 
foundation of a democratic commonwealth – can be adapted and adopted 
against the backdrop of our digital age. The proliferation and 
popularity of digital and increasingly mobile media, laptops and 
netbooks, mobile phones but also social networks like Facebook, Twitter 
and the like thoroughly change the face of our media and how we make use 
of them. This poses the question if such new techno-economic structures 
and changing social practices might bring about a Global Public Sphere?

This development extends to at least three dimensions: a) the dimension 
of (technically facilitated) connectivity and thus to the question 
whether or not such new opportunities are accessible and actually used 
for transnational communication. b) The dimension of common topics – and 
thus an increased cultural reservoir of meaning that may be related to 
globally. Since, c) the public sphere has traditionally been connected 
with a specific political scope or space, the question is raised if the 
public sphere still pertains to political elements in a (world) society. 
Does politics continue to form the constitutive element of a global 
public sphere, or – contrary to this perspective – are they of 
diminishing relevance and get replaced by other themes, topics and 
discourses (such as popular culture, global marketing and advertising, 
mediated-interpersonal communication)?

Possible questions for papers include:

If we understand the public sphere as the sum total of active and 
passive participants in communication regarding matters of collective 
concern – how has it changed in the light of these new developments and 
what is its future? Does this notion still hold analytic value? Are we 
witnessing the emergence of a global public sphere? What is the role of 
the classic (mass) media in this process? What are the 
hindrances/drivers of such a development? Do we need a (new) ethic for 
global communication, and what could it look like?

Paper proposals

We invite paper proposals to discuss these and related questions with 
participants from all countries, cultures and disciplines. Please send 
your extended abstracts (max. 800 words) to the panel convenors (see 
below) by August 25, 2011. Proposals will be peer reviewed, authors 
notified by September 25, 2011. Conference website:
www.scasss.uu.se/iis/iis2012/regular_sessions.html 
<http://www.scasss.uu.se/iis/iis2012/regular_sessions.html>

Organizers:

Marian Adolf, Dr phil, Associate Professor of Media Culture at Zeppelin 
University in Friedrichshafen (Germany). Research interests include the 
Sociology of the Media, Cultural Theory and Critical Media studies. 
(marian.adolf /at/ zeppelin-university.de) 
<mailto:(marian.adolf /at/ zeppelin-university.de)>

Cornelia Wallner, Dr phil, Post-Doc researcher at Ludwig Maximilians 
University in Munich (Germany); specializes in research on the Public 
Sphere, Media Systems and Media Quality measurement. (wallner /at/ ifkw.lmu.de) 
<mailto:(wallner /at/ ifkw.lmu.de)>