[Commlist] CfC - The Mediation of Sustainability Volume Two

The Mediation of Sustainability Volume Two: The United Nations 
Sustainable Development Goals, Media Practice, Public Discourse, and 
Social Action

Call for Chapters

Dr Ben Harbisher

On 1 January 2015, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development came into force. The UN 
describes its Sustainable Development Goals as ‘a shared blueprint for 
peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the 
future’. Consisting of 17 inter-connected fields of activity, the UNSDGs 
are framed as a moral intervention, and couched in the language of 
development. It is this perspective – an apparently progressive 
commitment to justice combined with adherence to the expansion of the 
economy – that has encountered both support and indeed criticism from 
academic commentators. While Kopnina believed that the UNSDGs will lead 
to ‘a greater spread of unsustainable production and consumption’ 
(2015), the sheer scale of the UN’s ambitions prompted Biermann et al 
(2017) to note that ‘[the Goals] collective success will depend on a 
number of institutional factors such as the extent to which states … 
translate the global ambitions into national contexts’.
In essence, the SDGs address a number of ‘stakeholders’- ranging from 
multinationals to Governments; NGO’s and of course are regarded as 
objectives that should apply to all citizens of the world. Over the 
remaining seven years of this programme, the UN intends to readdress its 
efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle 
climate change, while ensuring that ‘no one is left behind’. Invariably, 
the midway point for this ambitious venture has been marred by several 
factors including i) repercussions from the global pandemic, ii) 
conflict in several theatres of war, iii) a worldwide financial crises, 
iv) the fragmentation of international trade agreements, v) the decline 
of political alliances, and vi) the rapid deterioration of environments 
and ecosystems. More alarming still, institutions such as the European 
Union have reported a decline if not reversal of SDG agendas such as 
gender-based violence and disparity in the workplace (both during and 
following the pandemic), an even greater financial divide than 
originally forecast (driving poverty, reducing opportunities, education, 
health and welfare), and year-on-year hostile weather patterns leading 
to floods and wildfires across the European continent and in other 
territories as well.

The intention of this publication is to examine the progress made in the 
fight to end poverty, to promote health, to develop sustainable cities, 
to prevent further climate change, to facilitate economic growth, 
protect the oceans, and end world hunger. The second volume of this work 
aims to celebrate successful SDG initiatives as well as outline new 
areas of activity/ existing risks. The publication aims to explore 
sustainable practices across business, industry, the creative arts, and 
education as four distinct sections in the book.

Potential themes include: •	sustainable media, media practice, and 
sustainability research
•	links between business, economy, regeneration, and sustainability
•	sustainability in the arts, creative practice, media production, film 
and television
•	how the SDGs are communicated or promoted within ‘developed’ and 
‘developing’ nations •	the extent to which these goals being measured, 
enacted, enabled, or resisted •	sustainability in education, pedagogy, 
and curricula
•	grassroots initiatives that may embrace or go beyond the framework set 
by the UN •	the social, political, cultural and economic barriers to the 
attainment of the UNSDGs •	emerging areas of interest regarding 
disability discrimination, inclusion or research
•	the application of discourse/multi-modal approaches to the textual 
material produced within a material/symbolic environment •	the 
representation of groups identified as vulnerable and in need of support 
•	the ways in which the rights of women, notions of gendered identity, 
descriptions of class location, and ideas about race/ethnicity are 
articulated (or not) within the UNSDGs •	the use (or appropriation) by 
state and corporate authority of discourses that attempt to reproduce 
the symbolic references employed by the UN •	who, within the various DAC 
territories and within ‘developed’ nations, are presented as the main 
proponents, actors, or opponents of the UNSDGs •	the relationship 
between the UNSDGs and the concept and practice of globalisation •	the 
role of policing, surveillance, regimes of border-control, and other 
barriers and impediments to collective social action •	the relationship 
between the Goals and the activity of social movements •	how 
‘existential’ and other threats are constituted through the language and 
images used in the SDGs •	the media ecology/context of the call and the 
responses it creates •	case studies covering the successes or failures 
of the initiatives
Proposal for Chapters
Please send an abstract of the proposed piece at 300 words, and a brief 
bio of 150 - words to Ben Harbisher ((ab9227 /at/ coventry.ac.uk)) – no later 
than 29th September 2023. Feedback will be provided shortly thereafter, 
with draft submissions due late March 2023 for initial review.

The anticipated publication of the book will be August 2024.

Upon acceptance of your CfC response please also consider IP factors 
such as copyright in advance of completing a form from the publishers to 
secure publication rights for your work and any images, tables and 
artwork provided therein.

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