[ecrea] Call for Papers: Post-Media Ecologies in Asia, July 13 –15, 2019, Beijing, China

Call for Papers

International Conference: Post-Media Ecologies in Asia
Date: July 13 (Sat.)–15 (Mon.), 2019
Venue: Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

Co-organized by:
Post-Media Research Network (PMRN),
Center for Digital Content & Creative Media, Beijing Normal University,
Department of Digital Media, School of Arts and Communication, Beijing 
Normal University,
Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts

Keynote speakers will be announced shortly.

http://postmedia-research.net/2018/12/03/call-for-papers-post-media-ecologies-in-asia-2019/ 


Post-Media Research Network (PMRN) will open its 2nd international 
conference, entitled “Post-Media Ecologies in Asia,” at Beijing Normal 
University, China from July 13–15, 2019. We hope to build on the success 
of the first conference—“Towards Post-Media Theories in Asia”— held at 
Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan in January 2018.

The nature of media is transforming: It is no longer merely a means of 
communication, but an essential and inseparable part of our society, 
everyday life and even bodies. Following the prescient argument 
developed by Félix Guattari in the pre-internet period, we can say that 
we live in a “post-media era.” Guattari optimistically hoped that the 
transformation of mass media power would help to replace the modern 
subjectivity with more fluid, collective-individual subjectivities 
formed via the interactive use of information, communication, 
intelligence, art and culture machines (Guattari 1990). Looking back on 
his theory thirty years later, we can critically re-examine the idea of 
post-media and try to develop post-media theories more adequate for 
understanding emerging forms of power under our current social, 
economic, political, cultural and technological conditions.

The conference tries to understand post-media conditions in ecological 
terms. Ecologies should be understood not only within natural 
environmental concerns, but also in broader contexts of social relations 
and human subjectivities, as Guattari suggested in terms of ‘ecosophy 
(ecology+philosophy)’ in /The Three Ecologies/. In an age of 
digitalization and globalization, post-media conditions generate hybrid 
forms that challenge conventional dichotomies, such as those of 
man/machine, nature/culture, urban/rural, etc. At the same time, they 
unevenly open up numerous fissures along the lines of race, ethnicity, 
religion, nation, class, gender and sexuality. Thus, post-media 
ecologies are always characterized by unstable and contradictory 
forces—by dissent rather than consensus. Inspired by the theme of the 
Japanese-English bilingual journal /5: Designing Media Ecology/, edited 
by Shin Mizukoshi, Osamu Sakura and Yoshitaka Mōri, as well as the 
efforts of the/East Asian Media Ecologies/ project at Harvard 
University, the conference will aim to further the discussion on the 
transforming relations between media, its environment, human 
subjectivities, social relations and capitalism in post-media ecologies.

“Post-Media Ecologies in Asia” may sound like a contradiction in terms: 
post-media theory should be by definition trans-national and -regional 
as new media itself is a product of borderless global capitalism. Of 
course, Asia should not be regarded as a homogeneous entity, but as a 
socio-cultural imagined construction with contradictions, conflicts and 
heated disagreement on the very boundaries that constitute it. While 
admitting the problems of utilizing the geographical term “Asia,” we 
still believe that to think about theory and practices in and around 
“Asia,” particularly in Beijing, China—where an alternative media 
culture has been radically developing—could provide a means for 
critically re-assessing the perennially Euro-American-centric field of 
media studies. Asia is the largest consumer and producer globally; 
nonetheless the bulk of influential media theory still comes from the 
West. Now is the time to critically examine this imbalance of knowledge 
production in the hopes of grasping the true stakes of globalization today.

This conference hopes to discuss the possibilities and problems of 
current intellectual debates around digital media studies, affective 
theory, cyber-feminism, software studies, platform studies, algorithmic 
power, speculative realism, new materialism, post-humanism, artificial 
intelligence, virtual reality and creative industries. It will provide a 
space to critically examine the political conditions in which new 
digital media is deeply intertwined. Furthermore, this conference aims 
to provide opportunities for young scholars working in and on Asia to 
discuss the future of media studies in this region.

See the detail of the 1st PMRN conference: Towards Post-Media Studies in 
Asia
http://postmedia-research.net/

Please submit your abstract (max. 250 words) and a short biography (max. 
80 words) to Yoshitaka Mōri ((postmedia.research.net /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(postmedia.research.net /at/ gmail.com)>) no later than 31 December 2018.

Language: English

We welcome individual papers as well as panels with three or four 
contributors.

We will notify authors of paper acceptance no later than 20 January 2019.

Organizing Committee Members:

Yoshitaka MŌRI (Tokyo University of the Arts)
Mamoru ITO (Waseda University)
Kazunori MIZUSHIMA (Osaka Sagyo University)
Tomoko SHIMIZU (University of Tsukuba)
Shinji OYAMA (Ritsumeikan University)

HE Wei (Beijing Normal University)
ZHANG Lun (Beijing Normal University)
Anthony FUNG (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Linzi LI (Tokyo University of the Arts)
Sachi KOMAI (University of Tsukuba)
Ryosuke HIDAKA (Tokyo Metropolitan University)





---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please
use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------