[Commlist] CfP: Radio Soundscapes in (Post)Colonial Settings

*“Radio Soundscapes in (Post)Colonial Settings”*

*Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, 7-8 July 2022*

Over the last century broadcasting played a central role in the 
construction and dissemination of national cultures and shared 
identities. Used to promote the idea of nation within state borders, in 
the cases of the Imperial nations this role was extended overseas with 
the audio medium becoming central in the effort to unite the home 
countries with the expats living in the far reaches of the empires. In 
many territories under European rule, namely in Africa, this led to the 
creation of what were at first white soundscapes in which local cultures 
and languages were absent from the airwaves.

In the late 1950s, as the winds of decolonialism swept through Africa, 
state and private-owned imperial and colonial stations opened up their 
programming schedules to African languages and cultures. In some cases, 
such as the BBC, this aimed to safeguard the station’s listenership in 
the context of increasing competition from stations set-up by the 
new-born African states (Potter, 2012; Ritter, 2021), while in others, 
namely in the Portuguese Empire, programmes in African languages were 
used to indoctrinate the black population on the supposed benefits of 
colonialism (Ribeiro, 2017). Some of these overall broadcasts also 
coexisted with a developing commercial radio style and programming, 
where new jingles and music genres created a new and parallel 
irresistible (sonorous) empire (di Grazia, 2005; Domingos, 2021). But in 
this radio ecosystem that emerged in the mid-20th century in different 
regions in Africa there were as well other stations operated by 
independence movements that resorted to broadcasting to promote 
independence from colonial powers and to foster new national identities. 
In the postcolonial era, broadcasting was instrumental in fostering new 
cultural and political identities with the new independent state also 
resorting to the audio medium to create their own sound identity.

The conference “Radio Soundscapes in (Post)Colonial Settings” aims to 
join scholars researching the history of colonial and postcolonial 
broadcasting and sound aiming to shed light on the role of radio and 
music in forging audible and sonorous empires and new-born nations. 
Thus, the conference seeks papers that discuss technologies, programmes 
and audiences in both colonial and postcolonial settings, including 
those focusing on the construction of new soundscapes and radio 
ecosystems following decolonization. Among many questions that may be 
addressed, the conference welcomes papers dealing with the following 
topics (non-exhaustive list):

·Radio and national identities (namely in postcolonial nations);

·Soundscapes in colonial, decolonial and postcolonial settings;

·Imperial, colonial and postcolonial broadcasting institutions and 
professionals;

·Reception of imperial, colonial and postcolonial broadcasts;

·Technologies used for crossborder broadcasting;

·Radio, ethnicity and race;

·Radio and practices of resistance;

·Broadcasting and colonial subjectivities;

·Radio and colonial independences;

·Radio and decolonization;

·Media entanglements in imperial contexts;

·Intermedial approaches to radio history in colonial contexts;

·Media systems in colonial, decolonial and postcolonial settings;

·Radio and music markets in colonial and postcolonial contexts;

·Challenges of oral history;

·Sources and archives dealing with broadcasting in colonial and 
postcolonial settings.

All presenters selected will have a 20-minute slot to present their 
work, followed by Q&A.

*How to Submit?*

Please send a title and a 400 word abstract in Word or Pdf format before 
20 April, 2020 (deadline) to (broadcasting.empire /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(broadcasting.empire /at/ gmail.com)> .

Author name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and contact information 
should be sent on a separate file or on the body of the e-mail.

Authors will be notified of acceptance on 6 May 2022.


*Conference fee*

Full fee: 100€ (early bird) / 130€ (standard fee)
Reduced fee for students: 50€ (early bird) / 65€ (standard fee)

Lunches and coffee-breaks included.


The conference will be hosted by the Research Centre for Communication 
and Culture (CECC) at Universidade Católica Portuguesa and will take 
place within the framework of the research project “Broadcasting to the 
Portuguese Empire: Nationalism, Colonialism, Identity” funded by FCT and 
FEDER. For more information about the project visit: 
https://www.broadcastingempire.com <https://www.broadcastingempire.com/>

The conference will be held at the Lisbon campus of Universidade 
Católica Portuguesa that can be easily accessed via metro (30-minute 
ride), bus or taxi (10-minute ride) from the Lisbon airport. 
Participants that are unable to travel to Lisbon will be offered the 
possibility of participating online.

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