[ecrea] Flow Journal Special Issue CFP: Media, Activism, and Politics in/for the Age of Trump

Call for Papers: Flow Volume 23 Special Issue: Media, Activism, and 
Politics in/for the Age of Trump
Media played an integral, deeply complicated role in the recent 
presidential campaign, with Donald Trump’s candidacy and win 
fundamentally transforming the relationship between the media, culture, 
and politics.  Throughout this unusual election cycle, debates have 
circulated around the news and popular media’s coverage of Trump, the 
politics of network and cable television’s political coverage, the 
spectacle of the televised debates and Trump’s reality TV celebrity, and 
the impact of this all on American political and cultural debate and 
identity.  Following Trump’s win, many wondered how polls, news, and 
entertainment media could have gotten the tenor and tone of both the 
election and electorate so wrong; social media was blamed for fostering 
echo chambers that perpetuated polarization, with Facebook’s hosting of 
fake news coming under particular attack.
Various media outlets also played an important role in the political 
campaigns themselves, from Clinton’s use of social media to reach 
millennial voters and broaden support (#imwithher) to Trump’s more 
off-the-cuff racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic tweets.  Yet social 
media also provided important spaces of activism and resistance 
(#notmypresident, safety pins), facilitated the organization of 
nationwide protests, and enabled the creation and articulation of 
collective identity and group solidarity.  Communities of color, 
immigrants, Muslims, and LGBTQ+ individuals have utilized social media 
to publicize, challenge, and resist the violence and hatred epitomized 
by Trump and his supporters, while women have used mediated spaces and 
platforms to speak back to rape culture and misogyny while reclaiming 
derogatory names (“nasty women”).
This Flow Special Issue, “Media, Activism, and Politics in/for the Age 
of Trump,” seeks to interrogate the relationship between the media -- 
social, news, entertainment, mainstream -- and the election.  How did 
various media cover or engage with the candidates, and how did this 
intersect with popular understandings and sentiments?  How did Sanders’, 
Clinton’s, and Trump’s campaigns differently utilize news, 
entertainment, and social media, and to what effect?  In what ways has 
the media fostered, functioned as, or discouraged activism during the 
campaigns and after the election?  What role did/can media play in 
interrogating and processing what “Trump’s America” -- and America 
itself -- means today?  How can media studies help us understand and 
productively respond to Trump’s victory and move forward critically and 
communally?  What kinds of media texts and pedagogical approaches can we 
use in the classroom to contextualize the developments surrounding this 
election while providing important spaces of discussion, conversation, 
and exchange?  Building on such questions, we invite contemporary or 
historical critical responses for publication in this Special Issue of 
Flow.  To be considered for this timely issue, please send completed 
short essays of 1000-1500 words, along with at least three image (.png) 
or video files and a short bio, to Jackie Pinkowitz at 
(flowjournaleditors /at/ gmail.com) by Friday December 9.  The Special Issue 
will be published at flowjournal.org by December 19, 2016.

Possible topics include but are by no means limited to:
•	(Social) Media, activism, protest, and resistance
o	Hashtags, tweets, subtweets, and metadata in social media activism
•	Mediated collective protest of marginalized communities (ex: Black 
Lives Matter, Standing Rock, etc.)
•	Relationship between hate groups and (the) media •	Television and/or 
online news coverage of political and/or presidential campaigns
o	Taglines and soundbites in (political) media
o	History and practice of “equal coverage” of political candidates
o	Mediated presidential debates (and moderators)
o	“Normalization” of Trump by/within news media coverage
•	Political and ideological polarization in media coverage and/or media 
consumption
•	Social and news media echo chambers and siloing effects
•	Role of media in political campaigns and outreach
•	Political candidates’ use of social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
•	Memes, Reblogs, and Gifs: the circulation of politics in online spaces
•	Donald Trump and reality and competition-based television programming
•	Political candidates as media personalities or celebrities
o	Specifically Republicans (Reagan, Schwarzenegger, Trump, etc.) • 
Political news shows, anchors, and networks
•	Political satire and humor in the media (The Daily Show, Last Week 
Tonight, etc.)
•	Documentary film, race, and politics •	Media leaks, politics, and 
ethics (ex: Wikileaks and Clinton’s emails; Sony Hack)
•	Media, identity, and dictatorship/power
•	Media, policy, and democracy/access
•	(Social) media and collective trauma and grief
•	Popular film and media texts that might serve as teaching aids in 
discussing the election and post-election climate
•	Media of/within global and international contexts (ex: Brexit, 
European anti-refugee sentiment, ISIS and anti-Muslim discourse)
•	Nostalgia, identity, and political campaigns


---------------
ECREA-Mailing list
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier and ECREA.
--
To subscribe, post or unsubscribe, please visit
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
--
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Chaussée de Waterloo 1151, 1180 Uccle, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
---------------