[Commlist] Call for papers for Nordic Journal of Media Studies, Vol. 7 (2026). Title: Media and the past: Mediating the past

Call for papers for /Nordic Journal of Media Studies/, Vol. 7 (2026)

Title: Media and the past: Mediating the past

**

Editors: 

Kirsten Frandsen (Aarhus University): (imvkf /at/ cc.au.dk)<mailto:(imvkf /at/ cc.au.dk)>

Manuel Menke (University of Copenhagen): (manuel.menke /at/ hum.ku.dk) 
<mailto:(manuel.menke /at/ hum.ku.dk)>

Important dates:

Deadline for abstracts: 1 February

Deadline for full submissions: 15 August

 

**

Media and the past: Mediating the past

Nordic Journal of Media Studies invites contributions to the 2026 issue 
exploring the relationship between media, communication, and the past, 
focusing on international as well as Nordic perspectives. The issue aims 
to delve into the intersection of the uses of the past with media 
content, discourses, events, practices, and technologies, including but 
not limited to the mediated communication of the past and collective 
memory in areas such as politics, journalism, popular culture, film and 
television, and sports.

The uses of the past in media play a crucial role in shaping 
perceptions, identities, and societal values, thereby contributing not 
only to an understanding of what is of collective importance today, but 
also what constitutes the foundation for (un)acceptable imaginaries of 
the future (e.g., Angell & Larsen, 2022; de Saint-Laurent, 2018). 
Moreover, generative AI produces new videos, texts, and images based on 
historical training data, giving us an automated reproduction of past 
media. In recent years, the nexus of media, communication, and the past 
has gained attention in both societal and academic discourses, most 
prominently in the wake of populism and its romanticisation of a 
supposedly pure and secure past (e.g., Menke & Hagedoorn, 2023; Merrill, 
2020; Pettersson & Sakki, 2017; Sandford, 2019). Yet, evoking the past 
does not necessarily have to be a restorative project. Investigating the 
past and its uses in media might reveal what is considered worth 
preserving today, which past imaginaries of the future did (not) come to 
fruition, and how today’s engagement with the achievements and mistakes 
of the past are used to imagine and legitimise certain paths into the 
future.

While the past seems to be omnipresent in politics these days, it is of 
no less importance in popular culture, fandom, sports, and many other 
areas in which media, such as films, television series, magazines, 
games, and so on contribute to people’s meaning-making and enrich the 
everyday life of individuals and communities coming together on- and 
offline (Armbruster, 2016; Garde-Hansen, 2009; Humphreys, 2020). 
Moreover, the past in media extends beyond mere representation. It is 
used to compose cultural narratives, it contributes to identity 
formation, and it influences social cohesion. Media serve as powerful 
mediators between the past, the present, and the future, thereby taking 
a significant position in whose pasts get (no) recognition at present 
and (no) consideration for the future (e.g., Gutman & Wüstenberg, 2022; 
Menke & Kalinina, 2019; Molden, 2016). Investigating these dynamics 
allows for a nuanced exploration of how media contribute to the 
construction of shared pasts and the negotiation of diverse cultural 
identities. The past is not only being renegotiated and contested in the 
Nordic context but also everywhere else, where progressive cultural and 
societal ambitions are intertwined with both rich historical traditions 
and conflicts rooted in colonial pasts (e.g., Angell & Larsen, 2022; 
Guttormsen & Swensen, 2016). Consequently, examining how media 
contribute to the construction, preservation, reinterpretation, or even 
revision of narratives about the past becomes imperative to 
understanding where regions, nations, and communities might be heading.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

uses of the past in political and activist communication

the past and collective identity in social movements

mediated memory work of marginalised communities

representations of the past in journalism, legacy media, and alternative 
media

citizen engagement in mediated memory discourses

playful media engagements with the past

cultural and national identities, heritage culture and sites, and the media

representations of the past in film and television series

legacy and heritage in sports communication and media events

digital memory work during crises

emotion, affect, and sentiments towards mediated pasts

visual constructions of the past

populism and nostalgia in social media communication

polarisation and the defence of past privileges

disinformation and the manipulation of memory and history

memory and the past in times of artificial intelligence

**

References

Angell, S. I., & Larsen, E. (2022). Introduction: Reimagining the Nordic 
pasts. /Scandinavian Journal of History/, /47/(5), 589–599. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2022.2051599

Armbruster, S. (2016). /Watching nostalgia: An analysis of nostalgic 
television fiction and its reception/ (Vol. 48). transcript.

de Saint-Laurent, C. (2018). Thinking through time: From collective 
memories to collective futures. In C. De Saint-Laurent, S. Obradović, & 
K. R. Carriere (Eds.), /Imagining collective futures/ (pp. 59–81). 
Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76051-3_4 
<https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76051-3_4>

Garde-Hansen, J. (2009). MyMemories? Personal digital archive fever and 
Facebook. In J. Garde-Hansen, A. Hoskins, & A. Reading (Eds.), /Save 
as... Digital memories/ (pp. 135–150). Palgrave Macmillan. 
https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230239418_8 
<https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230239418_8>

Gutman, Y., & Wüstenberg, J. (2022). Challenging the meaning of the past 
from below: A typology for comparative research on memory activists. 
/Memory Studies/, /15/(5), 1070–1086. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980211044696 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980211044696>

Guttormsen, T. S., & Swensen, G. (2016). /Heritage, democracy and the 
public: Nordic approaches/. Routledge. 
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315586670 
<https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315586670>

Humphreys, L. (2020). Birthdays, anniversaries, and temporalities: Or 
how the past is represented as relevant through on-this-date media. /New 
Media & Society/, /22/(9), 1663–1679. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820914874 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820914874>

Menke, M., & Hagedoorn, B. (Eds.). (2023). Digital memory and populism 
[Special section]. /International Journal of Communication/, /17/. 
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/issue/view/19#more4 
<https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/issue/view/19#more4>

Menke, M., & Kalinina, E. (2019). Reclaiming identity: GDR lifeworld 
memories in digital public spheres. In N. Maurantonio, & D. W. Park 
(Eds.), /Communicating memory & history/ (pp. 243–261). Peter Lang. 
https://doi.org/10.3726/b14522 <https://doi.org/10.3726/b14522>

Merrill, S. (2020). Sweden then vs. Sweden now: The memetic 
normalisation of far-right nostalgia. /First Monday/, /25/(6). 
https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v25i6.10552 
<https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v25i6.10552>

Molden, B. (2016). Resistant pasts versus mnemonic hegemony: On the 
power relations of collective memory. /Memory Studies/, /9/(2), 125–142. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698015596014 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698015596014>

Pettersson, K., & Sakki, I. (2017). Pray for the fatherland! Discursive 
and digital strategies at play in nationalist political blogging. 
/Qualitative Research in Psychology/, /14/(3), 315–349. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2017.1290177 
<https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2017.1290177>

Sandford, R. (2019). Thinking with heritage: Past and present in lived 
futures. /Futures/, /111/, 71–80. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2019.06.004

Procedure

Those with an interest in contributing should write an abstract (max. 
750 words) where the main theme (or argument) of the intended article is 
described. The abstract should contain the preliminary title and five 
keywords. How the article fits with the overall description of the issue 
should be mentioned. 

Send your abstract to both editors by 1 February at the latest

Scholars invited to submit a full manuscript (6,000–8,000 words) will be 
notified by e-mail after the abstracts have been assessed by the 
editors. All submissions should be original works and must not be under 
consideration by other publishers. All submissions are submitted to 
Similarity Check – a Crossref service utilising iThenticate text 
comparison software to detect text-recycling or self-plagiarism.

Visit Crossref to learn more about Similarity Check: 
https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/ 
<https://www.crossref.org/services/similarity-check/>

After the initial submission and review process, manuscripts that are 
accepted for publication must adhere to our guidelines upon final 
manuscript delivery. You may choose to use our templates to assist you 
in correctly formatting your manuscript.

Read the instructions for authors and download a manuscript template 
here: 
https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/publish-with-nordicom/instructions-authors 
<https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/publish-with-nordicom/instructions-authors>

About Nordic Journal of Media Studies

//

/Nordic Journal of Media Studies/ is a peer-reviewed international 
publication dedicated to media research. The journal is a meeting place 
for Nordic, European, and global perspectives on media studies. It is a 
thematic digital-only journal published once a year. The editors stress 
the importance of innovative and interdisciplinary research, and welcome 
contributions on both contemporary developments and historical topics.

Read the aims & scope of NJMS: 
https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/nordic-journal-media-studies 
<https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/nordic-journal-media-studies>

About the publisher

Nordicom is a centre for Nordic media research at the University of 
Gothenburg, supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Nordicom 
publishes all works under a Creative Commons 
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) 
licence, which allows for non-commercial, non-derivative types 
of reuse and sharing with proper attribution. All works are published 
Open Access and are available to read free of charge and without 
requirement for registration. There are no article processing charges 
for authors, and authors retain copyright. 

Read Nordicom's editorial policies: 
https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/publish-with-nordicom/editorial-policies 
<https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/publish-with-nordicom/editorial-policies>

Visit Creative Commons to learn more about the CC licence: 
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode 
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode>

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Read the call for papers on Nordicom’s website: 
https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/latest/news/call-papers-media-and-past-mediating-past 

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