[ecrea] Call: Diversity in Transcultural and International Communication, Conference Bremen Oct. 2014

Conference of the International and Intercultural Communication Section
of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) in Cooperation with
the Creative Unit „Communicative Figurations”, University of Bremen
hosted by  the Institute for Media, Communication and Information
Research (ZeMKI), University of Bremen, coordination team: Stefanie
Averbeck-Lietz, Rebecca Venema, Gabriele Gerber

Diversity in Transcultural and International Communication
October, 2nd.-3rd. 2014, Haus der Wissenschaft (House of Science), Bremen

The conference addresses both the meta-analysis of „diversity“ and an
analysis of the organization and practice of diversity.

Theory and Research
Diversity concepts take different socio-cultural categories into
account and implement these in organizational and institutional
contexts. As such „diversity“ can be seen both as a normative concept
and as a social phenomenon. Normative ideas can be found in concepts
such as „representation“ (e.g. the representation of social minorities
in the media), „participation“ (the participation in public
communication of diverse layers and groups within the population),
“plurality” or “variety” (among communicators, contents and opinions).
Does our discipline provide the appropriate tools for researching
diversity in communication processes? Which theories and concepts are
available for the research of communication ethics in international
and/or transcultural communication with respect to the phenomenon
diversity? Which normative and empirical foundations are they based
on? This leads to a second, more application-oriented issue and
potential key topic of the conference: diversity as an operational
instruction, task and/or practice.

Application-Oriented Concepts and Practices
They can be found in UNESCO’s declaration on „Cultural Diversity“
since 2001 (which provides recommendations for regulating
broadcasting) and are included, for example, in the German UNESCO
Commission’s white book entitled „Shaping Diversity [Vielfalt
gestalten]“. The UNESCO paper suggests that diversity refers to the
recognition and appreciation of differences regarding ethnic, gender,
sexual, physical, linguistic, cultural, generational, religious and/or
ideological characteristics. In the perspective of our academic
discipline this refers to the attribution and construction of
“otherness“, including stereotyping forms or „othering“ found on
various levels of public media communication (mass media, blogs,
social web, Twitter…).

We welcome contributions on the following topics:
1. Theoretical Concepts of Diversity
•    State of the art: disciplinary, interdisciplinary and
transdisciplinary approaches; basic theories and medium-range theories
concerning the research of “diversity”
•    Boundaries and overlaps of terms and theories concerning the
concepts of „cosmopolitanism“, “multiculturalism”, „interculturalism”,
“transculturalism” and “hybridity” among others
•    The typology and analysis of intercultural communication processes
and situations from the point of view of communication ethics
•    International comparisons: Which diversity concepts exist and how do
other research communities in other countries research „diversity“? Is
diversity research euro-centric?
2. Empirical Research on Diversity
•    Public representations and constructions of social differences and
equality in mass media content, in (micro-)blogs, social media, event
communication, PR etc.
•    Analysis of public and/or academic discourse on „diversity“
•    Diversity in media professions (public visibility of those working
in media professions such as journalism, PR, advertising, film,
theatre etc.)
•    Diversity as a Norm of communication ethics (e.g. in
international/intercultural communication)
•    Diversity management in media corporations
•    Case studies on diversity as an element and normative control
parameter of diverse communication processes (political communication,
journalism, PR, company and organizational communication…)
•    Diversity and justice under circumstances of mediatization and 
globalisation
•    Diversity as a factor in media and communication politics and policies


Submission and selection of papers
Please send your anonymized proposal for a 20-minute presentation in
English (preferred) or German to the organizers
((iik2014 /at/ uni-bremen.de)) no later than JUNE, 10th 2014 (using a single
pdf file). The abstract should not be longer than 8000 characters
(including blank spaces) and should be assigned to the conference
topics. Please add a title page to the abstract containing the name(s)
and address(es) of the presenter(s) and the title of the presentation.
All submissions will be anonymously peer-reviewed according to the
criteria of originality, relevance, theoretical foundation,
appropriateness of the methods used, clarity of language, and
reference to the conference theme. Submitters will be informed about
the outcome of the selection process by July 2014.

Contact
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz, Rebecca Venema, M.A., Gabriele
Gerber (secretary)
University of Bremen, FB 09
Zentrum für Medien-, Kommunikations- und Informationsforschung (ZeMKI)
Linzer Str. 4
D-28359 Bremen
mailto: (iik2014 /at/ uni-bremen.de)
Phone:  0049-421-218-67604 (Mrs. Gerber, secretary)
    0049-421-218-67628 (Prof. Averbeck-Lietz)





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