[ecrea] CfP: Populism, Post-Truth Politics and Participatory Culture - ICA Popular Communication Division Preconference

*Populism, Post-Truth Politics and Participatory Culture: Interventions 
in the Intersection of Popular and Political Communication *

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*ICA Preconference, by the Popular Communication Division, sponsored by 
the Centre for Participatory Culture, University of Huddersfield*

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*24^th and 25^th May 2017, San Diego, CA.*

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_Organisers_:

Cornel Sandvoss and Stephen Harrington

_Background and Aims: _

 From Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the 2016 US presidential 
election and the successful Brexit campaign in Britain, via the rise of 
far right populist parties across Eurpoe to new Left movements across 
Southern Europe or Corbynism in the UK, representative democracies in 
Europe and the US are currently being confronted with dramatic and rapid 
transformations to the substance of political discourse, frequently 
summarised as ‘post-truth politics’. Rapidly accelerating over the past 
two years, many of these changes to politics, political movements, 
political campaigning and political debate have been observed and 
explored in the field of communication studies focusing on its early 
manifestations such as the Tea Party as much as progressive grass root 
movements over the past decades. This preconference draws on the rich 
body of work in the study of new political formations, political 
campaigning, the changing nature of political discourse, the eroding 
boundaries between political and popular communication and between 
popular entertainment and popular and populist politics in the field of 
media and communication studies over this period, and aims to provide a 
forum for the presentation of current research on the rapid rise of 
political populism, political movements and post-truth politics in 2016 
in different national and international contexts and thus to provide 
comparative perspectives on transformations of political discourse, 
participation and electoral behaviour.

The preconference will foster a dialogue between scholars working within 
different conceptual and methodological traditions in order to advance 
interdisciplinary debates and approaches to the study of contemporary 
popular and populist politics; building on this analysis the 
preconference concludes with reflections on how this analysis can and 
ought to translate into interventions on behalf of communication 
scholars in the political process and its communicative infrastructure.

_Themes:_

The rise of new political movements and campaigns, including but not 
limited to the rise of far-right and post-truth populism, are distinctly 
multi-factorial. In exploring their premises and consequences we 
distinguish between media intrinsic and extrinsic factors. While the 
preconference will focus on media intrinsic factors that are closely 
associated with changes in political discourse as a result of a.) 
technological change including processes of digitisation and media 
convergence, b.) transformations of media ownership and (broadcast) 
market deregulation and c.) the proliferation of forms of participation 
and textual production among media users and audiences, it also 
acknowledges the wider economic, social, cultural and political factors 
that have informed and driven these transformations.  The preconference 
therefore examines the interplay between media intrinsic and extrinsic 
factors in the rise of popular and populist movements. We thus invite 
contributions to a range of related fields of research including:

  * ·Media, politics and trust
  * ·Citizen journalism and political participation
  * ·Perception on (news) media among media users
  * ·The crisis of political journalism
  * ·The role of comedy and other forms of entertainment in political
    discourse
  * ·Infotainmentand political discourse
  * ·Social movements, protest and digital media
  * ·Social media and the public sphere
  * ·The affective and emotional qualities of political support and voting
  * ·Fans of politicians as well as campaigns and movements as fan cultures
  * ·Political discourse, Othering and anti-fandom
  * ·Further communication research pertinent to understanding populism
    and post-truth politics

Participants are invited to examine cases and phenomena from across the 
world, including, but not limited to:

·The 2016 US election campaign

·Far right populism including movements such as the Tea Party, UK Leave 
campaign, Fidesz, Front National, UKIP, AfD, PiS and FPÖ.

·Movements against neo-liberalism and austerity including Bernie 
Sanders’s 2016 campaign, Syriza, Podemos and Momentum.

·Forms of civic action and political interventions by media users and 
audiences across the political spectrum as well as within realms of 
entertainment.

We invite submissions to any of the above themes and topics in the 
following formats:

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_Full Research Papers _

We welcome paper submissions on any research of empirical, conceptual 
and methodological relevance to the preconference theme. Given the 
preconference’s topical nature, submissions of current and ongoing 
research are highly encouraged. Paper proposals should be supported by 
an extended abstract of up to 800 words outlining the paper’s 
background, rationale, methodology and indicative findings (if 
available). Paper presentations will be between 15 and 20 minutes

_Position Papers_

We also invite submissions of shorter position papers (10 minutes). 
Position papers should be based on emerging and developing research and 
will offer an opportunity to present and reflect on new and innovative 
conceptual, methodological and empirical approaches. Proposals for 
position papers should be based on an abstract of up to 500 words.

_Panel Proposals _

Panel proposals should aim to focus on a particular theme or aspect of 
populism, post-truth politics or political participation across 
different case studies, or instead examine a given case study through a 
range of approaches and themes.

Panels should feature between three and six papers. Proposals should 
include the following: 1. A 400-word abstract including a rationale for 
the panel. 2. A 150-word abstract for each of the papers on the panel 
followed by a brief (100 word) description of each panelist’s background 
band qualifications regarding the proposed topic. 3. A 75-word 
description of the panel for the conference program.

_Mediated / Alternative Submission Formats_

We also encourage scholars and practitioners in the field to submit 
related research outputs in any format (both academic and artistic in 
formats such as, but not limited to, written, visual, sonic, audio, 
video, hypertext, ) to be featured on preconference website, /in situ/ 
or as part of the programme.

All proposals for contributions to the preconference should be submitted 
online at https://goo.gl/FcdSjZ. For any further questions on the 
submission process please contact Cornel Sandvoss at 
(c.sandvoss /at/ hud.ac.uk) <mailto:(c.sandvoss /at/ hud.ac.uk)>.

*The proposal submission deadline is midnight (GMT) on 31^st December 2016.*

We will support dissemination of the preconference through a digital 
dissemination strategy including live streaming.

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