[Commlist] Call for papers: Paradoxes of visibility: negotiating race and gender in the UK political and media landscape

*/Paradoxes of visibility: negotiating race and gender in the UK 
political and media landscape/*

*/21st May 2025/*

*/A joint MeCCSA Race, Ethnicity and Postcolonial Network and MeCCSA 
Women’s Network online event/*

  “/I think that cultures where women are told that they should not 
work; I would knock on doors … and you would see somebody at the door 
who says: ‘I can’t speak to you, I will get my husband.’ I don’t think 
that is as equally valid as our culture/” - /Kemi Badenoch/

/"Multiculturalism makes no demands of the incomer to integrate. It has 
failed" – Suella Braverman/

The mediation of female politicians has been extensively studied, with a 
rich body of research examining their representation in mainstream media 
(e.g Adcock 2010, Garcia-Blanco & Wahl-Jorgensen 2012, Campus 2013, Ross 
2017, McKay 2020) and the realm of social media (e.g. Southern & Harmer 
2021). Studies such as these outline the double standards and sexism 
that female politicians continue to experience. At the same time, recent 
research has also traced the worrying trends around harassment and 
violence directed at female politicians (see Krook & Sanín 2019) and 
intense digital abuse on social platforms (Scott 2019). Notably, 
UK-based research has illuminated that a significant portion of this 
online abuse is disproportionately aimed at female politicians of colour 
and can be hyper-individualised (Amnesty International UK 2017). There 
remains a pressing need for further exploration into the broader 
discursive, mediated field in which women of colour in politics emerge, 
particularly within the context of the current UK political landscape.

This issue takes on heightened importance when considering the emergence 
of Kemi Badenoch, the first female ethnic minority leader of a 
mainstream political party. Badenoch's public denial of white privilege 
(see her speech to the International Democracy Union Forum in Washington 
DC 2024) and other structural inequalities bring to the fore a critical 
tension in contemporary British politics. Her stance challenges 
prevailing narratives around race and feminism, highlighting the growing 
prominence of post-feminist and post-racial sensibilities. Badenoch’s 
position aligns her with a group of Conservative women, such as Liz 
Truss, Priti Patel, and Suella Braverman, who similarly navigate and 
contribute to the complex dynamics of post-racial and post-feminist 
discourse. In contrast, left-leaning politicians are often assumed to 
espouse a more intersectional approach, embracing feminist ideologies 
and advocating against racial injustice. And yet the political Left in 
the UK trail behind the Conservative Party in electing female and/or 
people of colour in top leadership roles.

This tension marks a significant moment in both race and feminist 
studies, as the hypervisibility of solidarity networks, such as #MeToo, 
#TimesUp, and #BlackLivesMatter, emerge as powerful consequences of 
historical racist and gendered struggles. Such solidarity challenges the 
conventional boundaries of community, underscoring that one’s political 
affiliations are not predetermined by the circumstances of birth or the 
spaces one occupies by chance.

Crucially this event seeks to bring together the fields of media and 
communications, race, and gender studies in order to critically engage 
with the constructed fantasies of post-racial and post-feminist 
discourse and the urgent need for marginalized voices to be recognized 
and acted upon within British politics. By examining the relationship 
between politics, race, media and gender, the event aspires to be a 
provocation for politics and academia, at the boundaries of theory and 
practice, to develop new analytical frameworks and intersections.

*Submission Guidelines*

MeCCSA Race, Ethnicity, and Postcolonial Network and the MeCCSA Women’s 
Network invite contributions that consider issues and questions of, but 
are not limited to:

  * news media representations
  * social media self-representations
  * politics and the diaspora
  * empowerment and feminism
  * networks and networks of solidarity
  * right-wing or left-wing political discourse and Britishness
  * post-feminist and post-racial political discourse around women of
    colour in politics
  * feminist discourses and activism around politics
  * anti-racist debates and movements
  * social media engagement with female politicians of colour
  * intersections of gender and race in Brexit and post-Brexit discourses

We welcome interdisciplinary and multimodal approaches and contributions 
from scholars across all career stages, including PhD students and early 
career scholars across various fields. Submissions should include:

  * Title of the paper, film, artwork, or video essays
  * A brief abstract (250-300 words)
  * At least three bibliographical references
  * Author's name, institutional affiliation (if applicable), and email
    address

Please submit your proposals by Friday 28th of February, 2025 to Mita 
Lad at (m.lad /at/ mdx.ac.uk) <mailto:(m.lad /at/ mdx.ac.uk)> and Fiona McKay at 
(fiona.mckay /at/ strath.ac.uk) <mailto:(fiona.mckay /at/ strath.ac.uk)> with 
“/Paradoxes of visibility/” in the subject line*.* If you have any 
questions, reach out to the same email address. Abstract decisions will 
be communicated by 17th March 2025.

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