[ecrea] Conference Call: ECREA’s 6th European Communication Conference ‘Mediated (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, Presents and Futures’

We warmly invite you to submit your abstract to the ECREA, 6th European 
Communication Conference (ECC) to be held in Prague 9 - 12 November 
2016. The overarching conference theme is Mediating (Dis)Continuities: 
Contesting Pasts, Presents and Futures.

ECREA in partnership with Charles University in Prague, will organise 
the 6th European Communication Conference (ECC). The Conference, due to 
take place in Prague from 9 to 12 November 2016, has chosen as its 
overarching theme ‘Mediated (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, 
Presents and Futures’.
The organisers call for proposals in all fields of communication and 
media studies, but particularly invite conceptual, empirical, and 
methodological proposals on mediated memory cultures and working through 
discursive dislocations and cultural traumas intrinsic to (late) 
modernity, that link the general conference theme to the fields 
pertinent to each ECREA section.


Conference theme: ‘Mediated (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, 
Presents and Futures’

Discontinuity is the far side of change. Late modernity – as the 
unstoppable flow of permanent changes – is haunted by the disparity of 
its various histories, geographies, ontologies and technologies. How are 
media and communication practices engaged in communicating across these 
divides?
The theme heralding European Communication Conference 2016 derives from 
the political history of the post-socialist region of which Prague as 
the conference host is a symbolic memento. After the collapse of 
communist totalitarianism, the countries in post-socialist Europe have 
been undergoing a crisis of continuity in the realms of political 
values, historical consciousness, moral sense of the self and the memory 
of the past.

The conference theme, however, reaches far beyond the post-totalitarian 
context and encourages its participants to reflect upon the question of 
how media and communication practices are involved in communicating over 
many other dislocations in political, cultural, temporal or spatial 
realms in all European countries. Acceleration in all aspects of social 
life generates pasts we cannot return to, territories we cannot access 
and selves we do not recognize any more. Are media capable of navigating 
through the related feelings of nostalgia, cultural trauma, guilt, shame 
or (be)longing? Does communication help to make sense of them?

Can a sense of home be mediated for those who are expelled from their 
countries or displaced by war, the paramount discontinuity? How is 
communication entangled in commemoration and remembering? What are the 
communicative means of identity building in the age of digitised 
archives which are not static storehouses of memories? Should we 
consider the media as an actor in economic discontinuities such as 
crisis and recession?

We cordially invite media and communication scholars to submit papers 
addressing these questions – together with other ramifications of the 
conference theme – and to share their ideas with the wide community of 
colleagues from Europe and beyond.


Submission and deadline

Proposals for individual papers, panels, and posters can be submitted to 
one of the 21 ECREA sections through the ECC conference website 
(http://www.ecrea2016prague.eu) from 1 December 2015 to 29 February 
2016. Please see section descriptions and calls below. For section 
overviews, please see http://www.ecrea.eu/divisions/section.

Abstracts should be written in English and contain a clear outline of 
the argument, the theoretical framework, and, where applicable, 
methodology and results. The maximum length of individual abstracts is 
500 words. Panel proposals, which should consist of five individual 
contributions, combine a panel rationale with five panel paper 
abstracts, each of which shall be a maximum length of 500 words.

Participants may submit more than one proposal, but only one paper or 
poster by the same presenting author will be accepted. Participants can 
still present in one extra session as second (or third, etc.) author of 
other papers or posters and can still act as chair or respondent of a 
panel.. All proposals should be submitted through the conference website 
from 1 December 2015 to 29 February 2016. Early submission is strongly 
encouraged. Please note that this submission deadline will not be extended.
Abstracts will be published in a PDF Abstract Book. Full papers 
(optional) will be published via the conference submission system and 
available to the registered attendants after logging into the system.


Timeline
Submission of paper and panel abstracts and posters: 29 February 2016
Notification of Acceptance: 30 April 2016
End of Early Bird Registration Fee: 31 August 2016
Presenters’ registration deadline: 1 October 2016
Deadline for submission of the full papers (optional): 15 October 2016

We are looking forward to your contribution. Should you have any 
questions do not hesitate to contact the ECREA 2016 Conference 
Secretariat at (abstracts /at/ ecrea2016prague.eu).


Kind regards,

Irena Reifová (Chair of the Local Organising Committee)
Markéta Štechová (General Coordinator of the Local Organising Committee)

E-mail Contact: (info /at/ ecrea2016prague.eu)

***

Section descriptions and calls

Audience and reception studies
The Audience and Reception Studies section invites contributions that 
focus on how people use and make sense of old and new media and with 
what consequences for individuals, groups, communities and societies. 
The section welcomes various approaches (theoretical/critical works, 
empirical studies, methodological discussions) and methods (quantitative 
or qualitative research, or both), and encourages submissions that cross 
disciplines (e.g. social sciences, political sciences, education 
sciences, humanities and arts, psychology) and traditional boundaries 
(e.g. between old and new media, between mass and group communication, 
between content/production and audience/ reception/effects).

Communication and democracy
The Communication and Democracy section invites you to send in abstracts 
for papers and panel proposals focusing on the relationship between 
media, communication and democracy. Democracy is defined here in a broad 
sense. It is therefore not merely limited to institutional politics and 
practices, and papers and panels on non-institutional democratic 
practices (including social movements and NGOs) are also encouraged. 
Equally, democracy does not only refer to (Western) models of liberal 
democracy, and ‘media and communications’ relates to both more 
traditional (mass) media as well as to the internet and newer (digital) 
platforms, such as social media. The theme for the 2016 conference in 
Prague is "Mediating (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, Presents and 
Futures", but the section also invites papers outside of this general 
theme. Abstracts and panel proposals should ideally address one of these 
sub-themes: Social movement/radical/alternative media, Activism and 
media, Media
participation, Civic resilience in times of crisis, Everyday life and 
civic culture, Media and struggles over independence and recognition, 
Organising (for) political Agency, The political economy of 
participatory media, Social movements and political subjectivities, 
Political agency and civic cultures. The Section encourages a non-media 
centric approach and welcomes contributions from young scholars.

Communication history
The Communication History section provides a forum for scholars who 
approach communication with a historical perspective. The section 
invites contributions dealing with
a) the history of socially relevant and mass communication (e.g., the 
history of media production and institutions, history of journalism, 
public relations and advertising, new media histories, historical 
audiences); as well as the history of communication in general (e.g., 
history of interpersonal or group communication);
b) memory studies (e.g., mass media and social memory);
c) the history of ideas related to the field of communication (this 
includes not only the history of theories concerning public or mediated 
communication and the history of communication as a scientific field, 
but also the methodology and theory of communication history).

Communication law and policy
The Communication Law and Policy section provides a forum for the debate 
and analysis of past and current national and EU legal, regulatory and 
policy directions in the field of European media and communication. The 
field is interpreted broadly to include political, social, cultural, 
anthropological and economic questions. The section invites 
contributions (proposals for papers, posters or panels) in any area of 
(broadly understood) European media and communication law, regulation 
and policy, including historical, comparative and philosophical 
approaches to this domain. We welcome critical methodologies and 
analyses, as well as discussions on new ways of thinking about policy 
and law in the media, communication and cultural industries. We also 
welcome empirical studies of policy or the policy making process as well 
as evidence aimed at contributing to debates on current policy issues, 
especially those that use interdisciplinary approaches and push the 
boundaries of established work.

Crisis communication
The Crisis Communication Section invites contributions that focus on 
communication in the context of crises including precrisis, crisis, and 
postcrisis stages. This also includes abstracts and panel proposals on 
risk communication as well as a broad range of crisis types such as 
organizational crisis, natural disasters, terrorism attacks, war, public 
health crisis, political crisis, etc. The section invites contributions 
that analyse and discuss the theoretical, methodological, and practical 
implications of crises in domestic as well as international contexts. We 
explicitly invite scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds 
exploring risk and crisis communication in different fields such as 
politics, business, media, and civil society from different disciplinary 
angles (e.g., journalism, public relations, organizational 
communication, audience research, media psychology, political 
communication, management, health communication, and 
international/intercultural communication).
All theoretical lenses and methodological approaches are welcome.

Diaspora, migration and the media
Transnational and diasporic communications have for decades posed a 
number of theoretical and methodological challenges for European 
communication research, and the integration of digital media to these 
mediascapes has added further complexity to the field. The section 
invites and encourages theoretical and empirical explorations of 
European communications and diversity from across Europe and beyond. We 
welcome interdisciplinary approaches and innovative studies in all areas 
of media and communication research, and focusing on transnational media 
formations and practices, migration and the media worlds of people who 
migrate, race, racism and antiracism in media practice, the politics of 
difference and identity in an era of media participation, media in urban 
spaces and convivial cultures.

Digital culture and communication
The Digital Culture and Communication section aims at sharing and 
developing research connected with the European context in the emergent 
field of digital media, culture transformations, social change and 
innovation. We welcome work that crosses disciplines and that operates 
at the boundaries of what might generally be allowed to constitute 
media/communication systems. The section actively seeks both empirically 
grounded and theoretical critical work. It therefore welcomes debates, 
approaches and frameworks that question the general specificity of 'the 
digital' and/or uses 'the digital' to rethink existing media and 
communication theories as well as advances in digital research methods.

Digital games research
The Digital Games Research section invites contributions dealing with 
digital games as cultural objects and digital gaming as a social 
practice and related topics. Particular interest goes to understanding 
the cultural, psychological and sociological implications of digital 
gaming as a pastime and of digital games as cultural objects and 
mass-market products. Thereby we employ an inclusive definition of 
digital games as any game played on any digital device and explicitly do 
not limit the scope for submissions in view of the relative youth of the 
domain within the field of communication studies and the dynamic nature 
of the field. Moreover, we welcome contributions dealing with topics 
traditionally associated with specific subfields such as communication, 
but also humanities, media psychology, education science, economics and 
others. Finally, we deliberately aim for both qualitative and 
quantitative work in the belief that both deserve equal attention and 
are able to reinforce one
another.

Film studies
Ranging from early cinema experiences in European metropolises to 
contemporary blockbusters and multiplexes, film has always been at the 
forefront of European popular culture and also a field of vital artistic 
creation. The Film Studies section invites contributions that deal with 
film from a broad variety of perspectives: film as cultural artefact and 
commercial product, as embodied and social experience, as symbolic field 
of cultural production, and as a mediating technology. We strive towards 
methodological and theoretical engagement in studies of both historical 
and contemporary cinema. Thus, cultural studies perspectives, historical 
and theoretical approaches, textual as well as institutional analysis, 
and audience research all find their place within the Film Studies section.

Gender and communication
The Gender and Communication section invites empirical and/or 
theoretical contributions to the field of communication with a specific 
interest in gender and its intersections. Gender is conceptualised in a 
broad sense, aiming for inclusivity and multivocality within the field. 
Contributions can therefore address gender or the intersecting of 
gender-related issues with concepts such as ethnicity, identity 
politics, age, or queer studies. As with gender, the concept of media is 
equally open. Contributions might therefore adopt an interdisciplinary 
approach, for example using insights from feminist media studies and 
popular culture studies -- or posing philosophical questions. Aiming to 
bridge the gap between communication and gender studies, this section 
welcomes approaches that combine a focus on gender with media research, 
namely media production, media analysis (diverse approaches) and media 
uses and/or reception studies.

International and intercultural communication
The International and Intercultural Communication section welcomes 
contributions that explore different forms of cross-border dialogue, 
exchange and flows between and/or within nations, regions, cultures, 
communities and individuals. We explicitly define our section's field of 
interest very broadly by referring to all types of cross-border, 
transnational or global communication as we focus on mediated and 
(inter)personal forms of communication and do so from the perspective of 
production, distribution, content and reception. The section also 
invites papers on the social, economic, political and cultural 
characteristics and consequences of globalization, power imbalances and 
international and intercultural communication processes.

Interpersonal communication and social interaction
The Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction section welcomes 
contributions that focus on the study of human interaction and human 
communicative behaviour. The core is constituted of contacts and bonds 
between people, whether in private or public contexts, whether 
face-to-face or through various communication technologies. The research 
fields and theory development areas of interpersonal communication and 
social interaction are wide-ranging. They include interpersonal 
relationships, relationship formation, development and termination, 
group and team communication, conversational organisation, verbal and 
nonverbal communication, public speaking, radio and television 
performance, rhetoric, argumentation, persuasion and mutual influence, 
communicative competence and interpersonal skills, ethnography of 
speaking, and other related approaches to human social interaction. All 
kinds of contexts are welcome (e.g., family, work, instructional, 
political, health), as are all
methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, mixed).

Journalism studies
The Journalism Studies section is concerned with cultural, political, 
economic, social and professional aspects of journalism and news work. 
The section accordingly invites for consideration papers of high quality 
across the range of journalism studies, focussing on occupational, 
participatory, regulatory, ethical, social, technological, political, 
commercial, cultural, educational, historical and other dimensions, with 
particular reference to the European and/or global context.

Media industries and cultural production
Media industries and cultural production Section welcomes panels and 
papers on all aspects of research on media and cultural production from 
anyone with an interest in these areas, regardless of rank or 
experience. The definition of cultural production we adopt includes 
‘industrial’ forms, but also amateur and informal ones too.  Panels and 
papers can be contemporary and/or historical, theoretical and/or 
empirical. We welcome contributions dealing with any medium or set of 
media, including web design, social media, and internet content 
production; entertainment fields such as film, music and various popular 
broadcasting genres, and ‘informational’ areas such as journalism, 
documentary and current affairs. We also welcome submissions about 
‘non-media’ forms of cultural production such as theatre, dance, music, 
fine art. Media and cultural labour are key topics within the domain of 
the section, as are studies of how industries and producers seek to 
‘know’ their
audiences. Papers and panels that address notions of change and 
continuity, in line with the overall conference theme, are of course 
welcome – but other submissions are very welcome too.

Mediatization
Mediatization may be understood both as a new agenda within media and 
communication studies and as a broad theoretical framework to understand 
the role of the media in culture and society. As an agenda it is 
concerned with the empirical study of the long-term processes where 
media change have consequences for social and cultural change and how 
these changes may provide new conditions for communication and social 
interaction in contemporary culture and society. As a theoretical 
framework it tries to develop concepts, models and methods to understand 
these interrelationships based on a constructive dialogue with existing 
theories of media and communication. We invite paper, panel and poster 
proposals on both theoretical and empirical questions.  Proposals may 
for instance address: historical as well as contemporary aspects of 
mediatization, critical perspectives on interrelationships between 
communicative, social and cultural change, and the interplay between 
mediatization and other
general processes such as globalization and personalization.

Organisational and strategic communication
The section for Organizational and Strategic Communication promotes an 
active and critical dialogue among scholars with the aim of 
consolidating an interdisciplinary field which includes public 
relations, corporate communication, advertising, marketing, political 
communication, organizational communication and other specialized 
communication areas. The overall objective of the section is to enhance 
European research within the field of organizational and strategic 
communication by mapping out and theorising the conceptual and 
methodological background of contemporary practice. Therefore, the 
participation rules of the section allow contributions from researchers, 
professors, masters and doctoral students, as well as from practitioners 
in relevant fields.

Philosophy of communication
The Philosophy of Communication section invites papers and panel 
proposals that deal with fundamental philosophical and theoretical 
issues in communication inquiry and practice, including questions of 
theory formation and methodology, old and new paradigms of communication 
research, key concepts in media and communication studies, new 
approaches to media philosophy, the contribution of specific 
philosophers to the field, epistemological and ethical problems of 
communication and media, and the role of the media in human existence. 
The section welcomes contributions from philosophers and communication 
scholars representing all philosophical and communication-theoretical 
perspectives and schools.

Political communication
The Political Communication section invites empirical and/or theoretical 
contributions on the changing nature of the relationship between 
citizens, political actors and the media, old and new. We welcome papers 
that address issues such as: the implications of mediated and mediatized 
politics on the quality of modern democracy; the European political 
communication deficit; the link between political communication and 
media policy, new journalistic practices, but also rising antagonistic 
civic communicative inputs, practices and processes of the mediation and 
mediatization of politics. Similarly, we invite papers on communication 
strategies and news management of political elites; campaign 
communication; citizenship and public sphere; media effects on political 
orientations and participation; as well as interpersonal and online 
political communication. Papers that take a comparative view on 
political communication in Europe are very welcome. The section aims to 
bring together, and
encourage critical and interdisciplinary approaches while creating 
dialogue between a broad diversity of methodological and theoretical 
approaches.

Radio research
Modern (dis)continuities have been mediated mainly by image-based 
productions. Sound risks therefore to be discontinued itself as a 
relevant and meaningful language to contest pasts, presents and futures. 
Aware of the necessity to recentre some attention on the acoustic 
experience, Radio Research Section welcomes proposals focused not only 
on radio productions but more widely on sound-based media content. In 
tune with the conference theme, the section invites researchers to 
submit proposals discussing how sound may shape the interpretation of 
social and cultural life. Thus, papers could be situated in the 
following fields as they relate to radio and audio media: audience 
studies; community radio; audio content (programming and genre); audio 
narratives and acoustic language; radio identities; web and mobile 
platform content; digitisation; research methodologies; social 
networking and user-generated radio; innovation; sound art. Whole panel 
proposals are also welcome, although there
will inevitably be pressure on the available timeslots in the programme.

Science and environment communication
The 21st century faces unprecedented challenges in the environment and 
science fields. The Science and Environment Communication section seeks 
to foster a strong, reflexive and dynamic research network and welcomes 
work that crosses a range of disciplinary and methodological boundaries. 
Examples of topic areas include - but are far from restricted to: media 
representations of science and the environment; political and commercial 
discourse on the environment; dialogic, participatory approaches to the 
communication of research-based knowledge; communication, democracy and 
research governance; public engagement with science and the environment.

Television studies
The Television Studies section aims to facilitate strong cooperation for 
European research and education in the field of television studies. In 
the face of technological and cultural changes to television 'as we know 
it', the section provides a network for TV researchers from a wide range 
of disciplines focussing on all aspects of television, both addressing 
the 'post-broadcast era' and television's history and multiple futures. 
The phenomenon of television in its broadest sense is the topic of the 
section: TV as programme, TV as aesthetic form, TV as lived experience, 
TV as cultural and economic institution, TV as part of legal and 
political actions, TV as symbolic field of cultural production, TV as 
popular entertainment, TV as media technology, TV as commodity, TV as 
part of convergence culture, etc. The section welcomes various 
approaches (theoretical, analytical, historical, empirical, critical, 
methodological) and encourages inter- and transdisciplinary work on 
television. For this conference, we would particularly but not only like 
to hear from researchers working on television as a medium of 
transition,  on continuities and disruptions in television history, on 
changes in audience behaviour and the social relevance of television. 
All contributions should look at television in the broadest sense like 
mentioned above.





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