[Commlist] CFP - International Journal of Cultural Studies - Decoloniality in Media and Cultural Studie s

*Call for Papers: International Journal of Cultural Studies*


Special Issue: *Decoloniality in Media and Cultural Studies: Looking 
Back, Looking Forward*


Special Issue Editors: Jonathan Corpus Ong, Laura Guimarães Corrêa, and 
Wen Jin


  Aims and Scope:


Over the past two decades, there have been many calls to decolonize and 
de-westernize research in media and communication. While these efforts 
have generated valuable reflections, as well as academic centers, 
community-driven projects, and South-to-South networks, the field is 
still dominated by universalist perspectives based on Global North 
perspectives. Often the Anglo-American world is taken as the primary or 
only frame of reference in research on many topics. Even when the 
empirical material is in other regions, usually the theoretical 
framework and the references are the ones validated from/in hegemonic 
groups, places, and institutions. Consequently, there is continuous 
friction between the main conceptual frameworks in the field and the 
theories, experiences, interests, and concerns from the Global Majority 
world (Aouragh & Chakravartty 2016; Arora 2024; Guimarães Corrêa 2023; 
Lehuede 2024; Ong et al 2024; Poell et al. 2024; Ricaurte 2019; Udupa & 
Dattatreyan 2023). Applying de- and anti-colonial principles into 
practice–whether through institution-building, advocacy, or activism–is 
another matter: what do we actually gain by invoking decoloniality in 
our scholarly and advocacy efforts if we cannot always walk the talk?


Considering that the discussion about inequalities and exploitation are 
fundamental to the understanding and changing of the contemporary world, 
this special issue invites critical conversation about diverse 
initiatives of applying and practicing decolonial perspectives in media, 
communications and cultural studies. We are concerned that 
decolonization remains a specialization, rather than a force that 
transforms the field as a whole. Such a transformation is important for 
stakeholders around the globe. Universalism shuts out research and 
initiatives from most parts of the world in developing knowledge frames 
and proposing policy solutions. Simultaneously, it prevents Global North 
researchers from critically reflecting on the particularity of Global 
North institutions, communicative practices, and cultural forms. Across 
these emphases, we remain attentive to raced, gendered, and sexed 
formations not only as objects of study, but also as methodological, 
theoretical, and citational frameworks that remain marginalized within 
critical cultural studies.


Our special issue also wants to pursue more reflexive conversations 
about the various ways that decoloniality has also become hollowed out, 
co-opted, and/or de-radicalized when invoked in academic programs. This 
collection also builds on conversations from the panel “Mainstreaming 
Decoloniality in Media and Communication” in the 2025 Annual Conference 
of the Association for Internet Researchers, co-organized by Thomas 
Poell and Jonathan Corpus Ong, which gave particular focus on applying 
decolonial principles when building global networks and centers.


Since its first issue nearly 30 years ago, the International Journal of 
Cultural Studies has been a consistent home for decolonial analysis in 
media and cultural studies. We have published papers and special 
collections about indigenous media and cultural production (e.g., 
Jaramillo-Dent & Arora 2025; Moylan 2022), critical geopolitics (e.g., 
Anthique 2022), right-wing nationalisms (e.g., Baishya 2024), 
theoretical dialogues between Western and non-Western theory (e.g, 
Schorch & Hakiwai 2013; Fornas 2020; Szulc 2022), global suffering and 
vulnerability (e.g., Chouliaraki 2010; Ong 2019), and the place of 
critical theory and cultural studies in global academia (e.g., Hartley 
2014).


In this light, we welcome submissions that reflect on the past, present 
and future of decolonial perspectives and analysis in media and cultural 
studies. Articles are encouraged to address the following questions, 
though are not limited to these:


De- and anti-colonial theories: What are diverse global and indigenous 
expressions of decolonial thought and critique? How do these ideas 
circulate and travel across time and space? What are more–and 
less–radical expressions of decolonial thought? How are they differently 
vulnerable to co-option and hijacking? How do theories on race, gender, 
class–and other elements of power–influence and intersect with 
decolonial perspectives?


Theory and practice: How are theories and principles applied and 
institutionalized? What does a successful practice look like? Thinking 
critically about the field, what are ambivalences and contradictions of 
adopting decolonial perspectives in the Global North? Is it possible to 
do decolonial research in/from large institutions? How can researchers, 
in their/our practices, avoid the exploitation of less privileged 
groups? What are the limitations and challenges of carrying decolonial 
research?


Assessing concepts: What is the analytical purchase of concepts such as 
decoloniality; anti-colonial; postcolonial;  contracolonial; 
orientalism; intersectionality; amefricanidade; pact of whiteness; 
epistemic disobedience; cultural imperialism; coloniality of power; 
pluriversality; data and techno-colonialisms?


Citation politics: Who can be cited in decolonial research (Udupa & 
Dattatreyan 2023)? Can the subaltern be a reference? Can a settler think 
decolonially?


Global/transnational collaborations: How do we share or redistribute 
resources in global collaborative projects? What are examples of centers 
and networks in media and cultural studies that have successfully 
navigated situations of political conflict and instability, and what 
survival strategies can we learn from them? How can our discipline’s 
governance bodies and associations guard against tokenism and knowledge 
extractivism?


Challenging US hegemony: While we advocate for more bottom-up, situated 
approaches, we also recognize the need to critically attend to the 
global dominance of major US-based media and tech companies as well as 
of their cultural and creative industries.


Conflict, repression, and resistance: What are the challenges for 
cultural studies researchers in times of concrete neo-colonization and 
violence, such as ongoing conflicts in Europe, in the Middle East or the 
recent attacks on South American countries?


The geopolitics of the internet: How can we account for the human and 
environmental costs of AI in increasingly digitized and datafied 
societies? How can we examine these unequal global power relations 
without reverting to a universalist and techno-solutionist mindsets that 
only reifies the centrality of US tech corporations and regulatory 
agencies? Can we decolonize data? Is China a data colonizer (Tse et al 
2024)? What are the promises–and pitfalls–of trends toward digital 
sovereignty advanced by Global South “middle powers”?


Contemporary global cultural practices: How can we study the global 
circulation and

“contra-flows” of such cultural forms as K-Pop and South African pop 
through the lens of decolonial theory?  What are the affective and 
geopolitical implications of these cultural forms? How do distributed 
social networks enabled by social platforms establish new hierarchies 
and how do global cultural practices both conform to and subvert such 
hierarchies?



Works Cited


Aouragh, M., & Chakravartty, P. (2016). Infrastructures of Empire: 
Towards a Critical Geopolitics of Media and Information Studies. Media 
Culture & Society, 38(4), 559–575. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443716643007 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443716643007>


Arora, P. (2024). From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global 
South on Designing Inclusive Tech. Harper Business.


Athique, A. (2019). Media, civilization and the international order. 
International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(3), 334-351. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919888923 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919888923>


Baishya, A. K. (2024). Viral nationalism: Right wing media and the 
aesthetics of distributed participation. International Journal of 
Cultural Studies, 28(3), 597-616. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779241302489 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779241302489>


Chouliaraki, L. (2010). Post-humanitarianism: Humanitarian communication 
beyond a politics of pity: Humanitarian communication beyond a politics 
of pity. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 13(2), 107-126. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877909356720 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877909356720>


Fornäs, J. (2020). Cultural studies: Crossing borders, defending 
distinctions. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(3), 298-309. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919891443 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919891443>


Guimarães Corrêa, L. (2023). Four Concepts to Think from the South. 
International Journal of Cultural Studies, 27(2), 143–154. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779231218395 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779231218395>


Hartley, J. (2014). Housing cultural studies: A memoir of Stuart Hall, 
Richard Hoggart and Terence Hawkes. International Journal of Cultural 
Studies, 18(2), 185-207. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877914561832 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877914561832>


Jaramillo-Dent, D., & Arora, P. (2025). An Antropofagia approach to AI 
and creativity: Lessons from Latin America to rethink collectivity, 
process and meaning in creative value. International Journal of Cultural 
Studies, 28(6), 1210-1230. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779251346959 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779251346959>


Lehuedé, S. (2024). The Double Helix of Data Extraction. Technology and 
Regulation, 2024, 84–92. https://doi.org/10.71265/awqfar53 
<https://doi.org/10.71265/awqfar53>


Moylan, K. (2022). ‘Welcome to a Coronavirus production’: Beyond Bows 
and Arrows’ Indigenous on-air community-building during lockdown. 
International Journal of Cultural Studies, 26(1), 52-68. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779221123079 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779221123079>


Ong, J. C. (2019). Toward an ordinary ethics of mediated 
humanitarianism: An agenda for ethnography. International Journal of 
Cultural Studies, 22(4), 481-498. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919830095 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919830095>


Ong, J., Lanuza, J., Jackson, D., Alves, M., Grohmann, R., Recuero, R., 
& Tavares, C. (2024). Custom Built / Feito Sob Medida: Reforming Tech & 
Democracy Programs for the Global Majority. Global Technology for Social 
Justice Lab at UMass Amherst. https://glotechlab.net 
<https://glotechlab.net/>


Poell, T., Duffy, B. E., B. Nieborg, D., Mutsvairo, B., Tse, T., 
Arriagada, A., de Kloet, J. & Sun, P. (2025). Global perspectives on 
platforms and cultural production. International Journal of Cultural 
Studies, 28(1), 3-20.


Ricaurte, P. (2019). Data Epistemologies, the Coloniality of Power, and 
Resistance. Television & New Media, 20(4), 350–365. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476419831640 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476419831640>


Schorch, P., & Hakiwai, A. (2013). Mana Taonga and the public sphere: A 
dialogue between Indigenous practice and Western theory. International 
Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(2), 191-205. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877913482785 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877913482785>


Szulc, Ł. (2022). Culture is transnational. International Journal of 
Cultural Studies, 26(1), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779221131349 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779221131349>


Tse, T., Zhang, Y., & Van Noord, N. (2024). China as Data Coloniser? 
Rethinking Cultural Production, Cultural Mediation, and Consumer Agency 
on Kenyan and Chinese E-commerce Platforms. International Journal of 
Cultural Studies, 28(1), 278–299. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779241292077 
<https://doi.org/10.1177/13678779241292077>


Udupa, S. & Dattatreyan, E.G. (2023). Digital Unsettling: Decoloniality 
& Dispossession in the Age of Social Media. New York: New York 
University Press.


**

*Important Dates:***


Call for Papers announcement: February 2, 2026


Extended abstracts (1200 words) and Author Bios due: April 7, 2026


Acceptance decisions announcement: May 1, 2026


First draft of papers (6000-8000 words): September 15, 2026



Submission Guidelines:


1200-word Extended Abstracts are due April 7, 2026. Please email the 
abstract along with 300-word author bios to (ijcseditorong /at/ umass.edu) 
<mailto:(ijcseditorong /at/ umass.edu)> with the subject heading “Special 
Issue: Decoloniality in Media and Cultural Studies”.


No payment from the authors (APC) will be required for publication.


About the Journal:


The International Journal of Cultural Studies aims to be the flagship 
outlet for critical cultural scholarship in media, communication and 
cultural studies. Founded in 1998 by John Hartley and edited by Jonathan 
Gray from 2017 to 2025, the journal has become widely recognized for 
advancing globally minded analyses of cultural texts and processes 
across local, national, and transnational scales of power and action. 
The journal’s traditional strengths are in critical theories and 
qualitative methodologies as applied to current and historical debates 
in media and cultural studies. We especially welcome submissions 
grounded in critical frameworks such as feminist analysis, critical race 
theory, postcolonial critique, political economy, queer theory, 
transnational analysis, intersectionality, planetarity, and 
posthumanism, among others.


The journal’s current editorial leadership is shared between Laura 
Guimarães Corrêa (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Wen Jin 
(East China Normal University, China) and Jonathan Corpus Ong 
(University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA). They are especially 
dedicated to promoting alternative critical perspectives produced in the 
global South and diverse sites of critical discourses.


The journal publishes six issues annually and receives over 1,000 
submissions a year from around the world. Our lead time is approximately 
four weeks until first notification of desk rejection or activation of 
the peer review process. Our acceptance rate is 4.5% (as of Fall 2025).


For special issue inquiries, please email all three editors at 
(ijcseditorong /at/ umass.edu) <mailto:(ijcseditorong /at/ umass.edu)>, 
(ijcseditorjin /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(ijcseditorjin /at/ gmail.com)>, 
(ijcseditorcorrea /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(ijcseditorcorrea /at/ gmail.com)>.

---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely. The commlist has no responsibility for any damage caused by its postings. Subscription to the list automatically implies agreement with this rule.
--
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/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------