[ecrea] CfP ECREA 2010 Hamburg Pre-Conference: Communicating Change Change II

Pre-conference to the ECREA 2010 ? 3rd European Communication Conference
?Communicating Climate Change II: Global Goes Regional?
University of Hamburg, Germany, 11-12 October 2010
Call for papers

Held by: KlimaCampus Hamburg /Institut für 
Journalistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft
Organization: Irene Neverla, Corinna Lüthje, Inga Schlichting

The climate change has emerged as one of the most 
important global agendas. On its way from a 
subject of scientific inquiry to the issue of 
general public, debates on climate change have 
not only spread widely but also undergone 
transformations.  Most importantly, the issue has 
expanded to the regional level, both in the cases 
of scientific climate research and media 
discourse. Accordingly, the conference on 
?Communicating Climate Change II ? Global Goes 
Regional? focuses on regional aspects of the global climate change.

The events of natural disasters and extreme 
weather whether it is drought or intense 
rainfall, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, 
tsunamis, storm surges, wildfires, heatwaves, or 
volcanic eruptions are being increasingly linked 
by the media with climate change. Media are 
making the abstract global phenomenon regionally 
tangible by adding a transcultural and global 
dimension to regional geohazards. By regional 
geohazards we mean threats by extreme weather and 
extreme natural events of geophysical origin, 
which only in their circular interaction between 
human and nature develop into a hazard. 
Repetitions of these occurrences pose a permanent 
threat to communities in respective regions. 
Prerequisite for a geohazard is the awareness of 
the threat that results primarily from the 
memories of a catastrophic and traumatic key 
event. Examples include storms and storm surges 
of the North Atlantic coast in the Netherlands, 
Great Britain, and Germany; hurricanes in the 
U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico; tropical 
cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Asia Pacific; 
volcanic eruptions in Italy; earthquakes in 
Japan; avalanches in the Alps; floods and wildfires.

It is against this background that the 
pre-conference aims to explore the following 
questions: How do the media represent global 
climate change and regional geohazards? How do 
they construct the memory of extreme weather 
events? What transcultural similarities and 
cultural specificities can be identified? How 
does reporting on human-nature interaction 
develop? How do recipients perceive climate 
change and regional geohazards and what cultural 
commonalities and differences can be discerned? 
How political decisions are taken on climate 
change issues both in local and regional levels 
and what role the media play in the process? What 
immediate, medium or long-term local or global

strategies are discussed in media discourses? How 
mitigation and adaptation related to catastrophe 
and risk of changing climate are being reported 
in the media? Which actors and experts are 
dominating the media coverage? What discourses can be identified?

The pre-conference will feature the presentations 
of peer-reviewed papers as well as distinguished 
key-note speakers from an interdisciplinary field 
of research who will examine important aspects of 
communicating global climate change on a regional level.

Keynote
The keynotes of the pre-conference "Communicating 
Climate Change II ? Global Goes Regional" will be 
given by Hans von Storch (GKSS/University of 
Hamburg), Dominique Brossard (University of 
Wisconsin/Madison) and Shelly Ungar (University of Toronto).

Deadline
All abstracts should be submitted through the 
ECREA 2010 website (www.ecrea2010hamburg.eu) no 
later than 15 March 2010. Please note that 
abstract submission deadline will not be 
extended. Early submission is strongly encouraged.
Online submission system opens 22 December 2009.

Important dates
22 December 2009: Online submission system opens
15 March 2010: Deadline for online submission of 
abstracts (3.500 characters max)
15 May 2010: Notification of acceptance
15 September 2010: Deadline for submission of 
full papers (for preparation of the conferences)

Location: Hamburg University Guest House
The University Guest House is located near the 
Main Building of the Hamburg University and its campus.




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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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