[ecrea] CFP - European Journal of Cultural Studies - Special Issue

>Call for Papers - European Journal of Cultural Studies - Special Issue
>
>**Submission Deadline: 31st December 2010**
>
>Cultural Intermediaries in Context:
>Locating Identity and Practice in the Formation of Value
>
>Guest Co-Editors: Jennifer Smith Maguire 
>(University of Leicester); Julian Matthews (University of Leicester)
>
>
>There has been an increase in research around 
>cultural intermediaries in recent years, jumping 
>off from Special Issues in Cultural Studies in 
>2002, and Consumption, Markets and Culture in 
>2004. This Special Issue is intended to move the 
>field forward by foregrounding the issue of 
>context: how does location (across and within 
>cultural fields; across and within societies; 
>across and within time periods) impact on the 
>identities and practices of cultural 
>intermediaries? The Special Issue will offer a 
>timely collection that examines the present 
>understanding of the cultural intermediary, and 
>the materiality of their cultural work in the formation of value.
>
>The operations of cultural intermediaries in 
>commodity chains have developed as a recent 
>focus of attention for the sociology of culture 
>and cultural studies. Rooted in the work of 
>Bourdieu (1984), and taken up within discussions 
>of a radically new stage of capitalism (e.g. 
>Featherstone 1991; Lash & Urry 1987), cultural 
>intermediaries have more recently been the focus 
>of a range of studies loosely grouped under the 
>banner of 'cultural economy' (e.g. du Gay and 
>Pryke, 2002). This body of research has examined 
>the role of cultural intermediaries in mediating 
>between the production and consumption of 
>cultural goods, and their place more generally 
>within the organization of economic and cultural 
>life. However, attention to cultural 
>intermediaries' identities and lifestyles has 
>yet to be fully integrated with close 
>investigation of their material practices of 
>mediation. Furthermore, research has thus far 
>focused largely on single case studies of 
>occupations, despite the clear significance of 
>cultural location and context for the formation 
>of value-for example, at different stages within 
>the 'career' (Méadel and Rabeharisoa 2001) of a 
>product, or for the same occupation operating 
>within different fields. Thus, the 
>interconnections of various intermediaries 
>operating in and across various fields, and how 
>such cultural work can be conceptualised 
>generally remain fertile areas for further study, discussion and debate.
>
>Empirically-grounded contributions might 
>consider a range of issues including, but not confined to:
>.       theoretical conceptualizations of the 
>cultural intermediary and the intersection of 
>identity and practice (including the tensions 
>and synergies present in definitions of the 
>cultural intermediary and their work, as offered 
>by Bourdieu and later cultural economy studies);
>.       the role of context (including 
>education, patterns of professionalization, 
>class habitus) in the formation of cultural 
>intermediary 'dispositions' and the tensions 
>that arise between objective credentials and 
>subjective dispositions, intuition, aesthetic 
>sensibilities and so forth in the performance of authority;
>.       the role of cultural location in the 
>selection and deployment of 'devices' for the 
>formation of value (including the specific, 
>material practices involved in bringing goods to 
>market, identifying (with) and understanding the 
>intended market, performing credibility-for 
>themselves and their goods-via the mobilization 
>of different forms of capital, and so forth);
>.       the ecology of cultural intermediaries 
>within commodity chains (the 'regimes of 
>mediation' (Cronin 2004), and the status, 
>relative weight and interconnections of cultural 
>intermediaries operating within the same and across fields);
>.       cross-cultural comparisons of cultural 
>intermediaries operating within the same field, 
>and cross-field comparisons of cultural 
>intermediaries operating at comparable positions 
>in different commodity chains (calling attention 
>to the relative universality, or cultural- or 
>field- specificity, of particular forms of value and their production);
>.       comparisons of cultural intermediaries 
>operating in the same field, but working with 
>goods that occupy different status positions 
>(calling attention to the question of autonomy 
>for those working with goods of restricted 
>production compared with those working with goods of mass production).
>
>Submissions:
>
>The deadline for papers is 31st December 2010.
>
>If you have any queries regarding the 
>suitability of your potential contribution 
>please contact either of the guest co-editors:
>Jennifer Smith Maguire (jbs7 /at/ le.ac.uk)
>Julian Matthews (jpm29 /at/ le.ac.uk)
>
>Submissions should be sent electronically as 
>Word documents to Jennifer Smith Maguire (email: 
>(jbs7 /at/ le.ac.uk)). If this is not possible, then 
>please send five copies to Jennifer Smith 
>Maguire, Department of Media & Communication, 
>University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK.
>
>Papers, in English, should include an abstract 
>of 100-150 words, with a suggested target of 
>about 7000 words (including notes and 
>references). For specific manuscript submission guidelines, please go to:
>http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journalsProdManSub.nav?prodId=Journal200898&crossRegion=antiPod 
>
>
>--
>Dr Julian Matthews
>Lecturer
>Course Director, MA New Media Governance and Democracy
>Department of Media and Communications
>Room 913
>Attenborough Tower
>University of Leicester
>University Road
>Leicester LE1 7RH
>T: +44(0)116 2522582
>F: +44(0)116 2525276
>E: (jpm29 /at/ leicester.ac.uk)
>W: http://www.le.ac.uk/mc/staff/JulianMatthews.html
>
>Editor, Communication and Media Section, Sociology Compass
>http://www.blackwell-compass.com/subject/sociology/

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