[ecrea] CFP: "History of the Media in Transition Periods" 4-6 September 2013

Call for Papers: “History of the Media in Transition Periods”
4-6 September 2013
Lisbon, Catholic University of Portugal

Convergence and digitalization have become buzz-words employed to 
demonstrate how technological change has impacted on the media and is 
reconfiguring today’s media systems. Accordingly, media research in the 
last decade has centered itself on the contemporary changes operated on 
and by the new media, sometimes over-estimating the transitions that are 
taking place and not acknowledging common patterns that can be found 
between the emergence of new media and the appearance of other means of 
communication in previous decades. In fact, instead of being something 
new brought by digitalization, moments of technological transition can 
easily be found in many historical periods, namely throughout the 20th 
century. While today the internet and new media are inducing new 
patterns of media consumption, back in the 1920s radio broadcasting 
facilitated change in everyday life by bringing entertainment into the 
homes, while in the 1950s television also enabled new patterns of media 
consumption inside the home.

The increased interest in understanding today’s new media can be 
explained by the seductive power of “the new”, which leads scholars to 
interpret contemporary transitions as being the most profound in 
history. For example, it is now frequently claimed that new media play a 
crucial role in changing social habits, economic structures and even 
political regimes.  Whatever about the past, in today’s culture there is 
increasing concern and attention focused on media’s active role in 
transition periods, i.e. during periods of discontinuity. When thinking 
about economic or political crisis, or even in war periods or regime 
changes, the media have been active players in mediating the new reality 
and promoting the discussion in the public sphere, besides being used as 
instruments of cultural diplomacy.

Having this background in mind, the ECREA Communication History Section 
intends to discuss the role of the media in transition periods, whether 
these are technological, political, economic, social or cultural 
transitions.

Thus, the Section invites contributions from scholars who are interested 
in topics related to this theme and who can present papers and engage in 
the discussion at its 2013 workshop in Lisbon, which will be organized 
in collaboration with the research line “Media, Technology, Contexts” of 
the Research Centre for Communication and Culture (CECC).

Extended abstracts (500 words max.), for a 15 minute presentation, can 
be submitted by e-mail to: (ecreacomhistory /at/ gmail.com) until 17th March 
2013, focusing on (but not limited to) the following topics:

•       Media and technological change;
•       The emergence of new media (popular press, film, radio, 
television, internet);
•       The role of media in regime transitions or political change 
(emergence of authoritarian regimes, implementation of democracy, 
political shifts inside a particular regime);
•       Media in periods of uncertainty (economic transitions, social 
upraises, war periods);
•       Past economic crisis and their impact on media and journalism;
•       Media and the creation or alteration of social habits;
•       Changes in audience behavior and consumer/audience identities;
•       Mass Communication in the two World Wars or in the Inter-War 
Crises (Russian Revolution and Rise of Fascist and National Socialist 
Regimes);
•       The role of media in the Cold War;
•       Media change in specific European 'regions' or geo-political 
formations;
•       Theories and conceptualizations of media change in transition 
periods;
•       To what extent is historical understanding and explanation 
becoming increasingly techno-centric or media-centric?

The ECREA Communication History Section is also planning to publish a 
handbook with the aim of providing a coherent set of contributions which 
yield a well-structured and relevant overview of European mass media 
history and so provide a platform for more transnational perspectives on 
relevant historical developments.

The workshop in Lisbon will also provide an opportunity to advance the 
Section's interests and plans for handbooks and other texts related to 
overviews of European media and communication history.

All abstracts submitted will be subject to peer-review. Authors will be 
notified by 14 April 2013.

Both ECREA members and non-members can submit extended abstracts to the 
workshop.








Sónia Pereira

....................................................................

Assessoria Científica do Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura

Faculdade de Ciências Humanas

Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Palma de Cima

1649-023 Lisboa

Tel.: (+351) 217 214 018, ext. 3143

E-mail: (sonia.pereira /at/ fch.lisboa.ucp.pt)



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