[ecrea] CFP: Union for Democratic Communications 2016 Conference

CFP: The Union for Democratic Communications 2016 Conference

Troubled Waters:  Structural Inequalities, Structural Responses

Location: Wayne State University. Detroit, MI.
Date: September 29 – October 1, 2016

Deadline to submit extended to:  May 20, 2016

Paper Submission: http://www.democraticcommunications.org

Call for Papers:

As global inequality reaches staggering levels and capitalism becomes 
increasingly unstable, people of color increasingly face 
disproportionate impacts of environmental degradation, pauperization, 
and state repression. Media and communications systems play an important 
role in enabling and resisting such phenomena across the globe, from 
Europe’s refugee crisis, to police violence in the U.S., to the illegal 
occupation of Palestine, to the displacement of people across the Global 
South due to climate change.

The global phenomenon of racialized inequality has poignantly played out 
in Detroit, the site of this year’s conference. The city, once a symbol 
of the United States’ industrial dominance, has been reconstructed over 
the last 40 years as one of decay in the popular imaginary. From 
lead-tainted drinking water to crumbling schools, southeastern Michigan 
has felt the suffering that stems from the failures of the corporate 
state and institutionalized racism. Unfortunately, Detroit’s experience 
is not unique, but rather must be seen as part of a broader war on the 
working-class and people of color under neoliberalism, facilitated by 
utopian myths around digital technology and the post-industrial economy.

Though these problems are the result of varied historical and 
deep-seated racial and social injustices, their continued existence is 
not a foregone conclusion. This UDC conference will draw attention to 
the relationship between neoliberal culture and ideology and 
institutional racism, both domestically and internationally. 
Specifically, the conference organizers encourage submissions that 
examine how systematic, institutionalized racism shapes our physical, 
social, cultural, ecological, and mediated environments; we also 
encourage submissions that identify promising avenues of institutional 
and social transformation.

We invite abstract submissions to this year’s conference from new, 
emerging and established scholars; graduate students; artists; 
activists; and media practitioners. We welcome proposals for paper 
presentations, workshops, theme panels, film screenings, artistic 
interventions, and other formats.  Abstracts should be between 300-500 
words.  Graduate students who want to be considered for the Brian Murphy 
Student Paper Award should submit a full paper along with their abstract.
All submissions are subject to double-blind review and can be submitted 
at www.democraticcommunications.org

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Any questions?  Please email (udc.steering /at/ gmail.com)

Union for Democratic Communications
www.democraticcommunications.org

—
Doug Tewksbury, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Communication Studies Department
334 Dunleavy Hall
PO Box 1922
Niagara University, NY 14109

e: (dtewksbury /at/ niagara.edu)

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