[ecrea] CFP: The Communicative Turn in Risk Communication Theory and Practice

From: Enric Castelló <(enric.castello /at/ urv.cat)>

> Catalan Journal of Communication and Cultural Studies
> Special Issue 2.2 CALL FOR PAPERS
>
> The Communicative Turn in Risk Communication Theory and Practice
>
> Guest editors
> Tom Horlick-Jones (Cardiff University) and Jordi Farré (Rovira i
> Virgili University, Tarragona)
>
> In recent years a technical discourse of risk has assumed the status
> of a universal basis for governance and administrative practice in
> both private and public sector organisations within Europe, the United
> States and elsewhere. This re-framing of pre-existing organisational
> concerns in terms of risk categories reflects an underlying
> bureaucratic concern with the accountable, controllable and
> cost-effective management of contingency (Horlick-Jones, Power, Renn
> etc.). During this period, the use of risk communication as a
> regulatory and policy tool has become increasingly important as a part
> of institutional attempts to inform and influence the behaviour of
> target audiences. Research into formal risk communication has now
> developed from a concern with the top-down provision of factual
> materials to a focus on a range of more diverse activities, with a
> trend toward various sorts of stakeholder engagement (e.g. Fischhoff)
>
> Proceeding by analogy with the celebrated linguistic (or hermeneutic)
> ?turn? in the social sciences (e.g. Barthes, Rorty etc.), in which
> language use came to be seen as at least in part constitutive of the
> objects of their concern, this collection of papers will address the
> communicative turn by which risk objects, categories and practices
> have come to be shaped by the theory and discourse that informs risk
> communication.
>
> Catalonia, as a European industrial region with petrochemical and
> nuclear complexes, has a strategic interest in promoting research into
> risk communication processes. The Catalan Journal of Communication and
> Cultural Studies welcomes proposals for contributions to this special
> issue which address this central theme. Papers might be grounded in
> empirical studies of specific risk communication processes; make
> linkages between communication theory and risk theory; or perhaps
> offer some combination of these. Other possible perspectives might
> include the relationship between risk communication and risk
> management practices; the double hermeneutic (Giddens) linking formal
> risk communication and the everyday mundane risk practices of
> organisational or lay actors; and the notion of engagement as a
> process of ?co-generative theorising? (Deetz).
>
> The journal plans to include papers of around 6-7,000 words, and short
> research notes and reports of around 2-3,000 words. Abstracts (of no
> more than 500 words) for proposed contributions should be sent to
> (catalan.journal /at/ urv.cat) by 20th December 2009. Acceptance of abstracts
> will be confirmed by 20th January 2010. Full manuscripts should be
> submitted before 31st March 2010. All contributions will be subject to
> anonymous peer review.

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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