[Commlist] IAMCR Pre-Conference on Representations of (Post-)Industrial, Communities: Voice, Visibility and Value

  IAMCR Pre-Conference: Representations of (Post-)Industrial
  Communities: Voice, Visibility and Value

This pre-conference hosted by IAMCR’s Communication in Post- and 
Neo-Authoritarian Societies Working Group 
<https://iamcr.org/s-wg/working-group/cpn> (CPN), examines public and 
communicative processes around (de-)industrialisation in Europe and 
North America, focusing on questions of voice, visibility, 
representation, and inequality. It takes a pluralist approach, combining 
analyses of public discourse with research grounded in lived experience.


      Call for proposals

Authors are invited to submit abstracts of 250-300 words (excluding 
references, figures, and tables) by *15 March 2026 (23:59 CEST / 21:59 
UTC).*

Download the full call for papers 
<https://iamcr.box.com/shared/static/i8d7j4jgo83n6knvp9psuwl3x55tcg74.pdf>

Abstracts must include name, affiliation, and contact information. 
Submissions should be written in English and include the main research 
question(s), research interest, theoretical framework, methodological 
approach, and key empirical findings (if applicable).

A selection of papers presented at the pre-conference will be invited to 
contribute to a *special issue of the open-access, double-blind 
peer-reviewed /Global Media Journal 
<https://www.globalmediajournal.de/index.php/gmj>/ (German edition).*


      Date and time

Saturday, 27 June 2026

10:00–17:00 (to be confirmed)


      Location

Dublin (venue to be confirmed)


      About the pre-conference

Industrialization in Europe and North America was associated with 
profound societal transformations, most notably the urbanisation of 
populations and the creation of mass workforces. Across generations, 
many families expected their children to follow established occupational 
trajectories into mines, steelworks, docks, mills, and factories. For 
much of the twentieth century, heavy industries offered relatively 
stable employment and social security, contributing to gradual 
improvements in working-class conditions up to the 1960s.

Deindustrialization, by contrast, has often been experienced as a 
process of decline and loss – in economic as well as social terms. 
Beyond the erosion of material living standards, it has entailed the 
loss of pride, security, and self-worth among urban working-class 
communities. As industries disappeared, so too did the social 
infrastructures that sustained everyday life. Urban spaces fell into 
decay, amenities declined, and the voices, values and identities of 
communities were increasingly marginalised within broader national 
imaginaries. For many affected communities, this history continues to 
shape present experiences of being voiceless, unrepresented, and neglected.

The proposed pre-conference seeks to explore these dynamics by examining 
the public and communicative processes around (de-)industrialization. It 
aims to take a pluralist approach to industrial transformation, 
attending both to macro-level public discourses and to the lived 
experiences of communities navigating industrial decline and 
post-industrial restructuring. By foregrounding communication as a 
central site through which industrial transformation is interpreted, 
contested, and experienced, the pre-conference invites critical 
engagement with questions of inclusion/exclusion, voice, (in)visibility, 
(mis/under-)representation and inequality in societies shaped by ongoing 
processes of deindustrialization.



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