[ecrea] IAMCR 2015 - CfP - Hegemony or Resistance? The Ambiguous Power of Communication

The International Association for Media and Communication Research 
(IAMCR) invites submissions of abstracts for papers and panel proposals 
for the 2015 IAMCR conference to be held from *12 -16 July, 2015* in 
Montreal, Canada. The deadline to submit your abstract is midnight GMT 
on *9 February 2015*. This deadline *will not be extended*.

See the individual CfPs of Sections and Working Groups 
<http://iamcr.org/congress/montreal2015-cfp#sections>

Download the Call for Proposals as a PDF file 
<http://iamcr.org/sites/default/files/IAMCR-2015-cfp.pdf>

Lire et télécharger l'appel en français 
<http://iamcr.org/congress/montreal2015/cfp-FR>

Leer y descargar la convocatoria en español 
<http://iamcr.org/congress/montreal2015/CfP-ES>


     Conference theme:


   Hegemony or Resistance? The Ambiguous Power of Communication

This year’s conference theme seeks to explore the ambiguous relationship 
of communication towards hegemony and resistance. It relates, for 
example, to the various ways in which communication has been described 
not only as a value of our times – echoing an ideal for social 
transparency and communality – but also as a threat in terms of global 
domination. This ambiguity has prompted debates in academia about 
communication being at the same time a value and a tool, a space of 
consent and one of struggle, and having (more authentic) local and 
global dimensions.

For example, recent demonstrations around the world, such as Occupy Wall 
Street, the Arab Spring, the Chilean students’ protest, or the /Los 
Indignados/ movement, as well as the Québec student’s strike and /Idle 
no more/ in Canada, have triggered discussions and reflections about the 
utopia of communication. Massively supported by digital media and 
organised around the ideal of building more authentic forms of 
community, these mass movements of “global solidarity” have mobilized 
communication as a value that challenges authorities, financial or 
economic globalisation and dominant representations of the 
world-as-we-know-it. These movements draw on the argument that global 
corporate media and cultural industries have distanced us from more 
faithful forms of communication. In this sense, they echo what John 
Durham Peters has described as our obsession for communication as a 
“registry of modern longings,” whether based on democracy, social and 
economic justice, or “the mutual communion of souls.” While embracing 
these arguments, protest movements have a paradoxical relationship to 
communication, resisting its role in the domination of global cultural 
industries and capitalism while at the same time applauding its capacity 
to foster values and communality that would otherwise have been lost. 
They often do so through disruptive communication practices using 
communication technologies or cultural productions.

While multiple sites of resistance are spreading around the world, much 
of the debates about communication technologies mark an increasing 
suspicion towards the new media’s capability for empowerment. The crisis 
unveiled by the Edward Snowden case, the importance of Big data and the 
NSA’s large-scale espionage practices, just to name a few examples, 
reveal part of the ambiguous relationship that the public maintains with 
the media. Despite a general consensus over the past few years, which is 
critical of the use of communication technologies for surveillance and 
ideological purposes, few people have really changed their own use of 
communication devices. Political reform promises, as well as the social, 
economic and cultural prominence of new technologies seem to contribute 
to the maintenance of a negotiated status quo. Such situations are far 
from exceptional and examples abound of what Antonio Gramsci referred to 
as hegemonic domination by consent, where communication not only 
represents an instrument for control, but also a space for the 
expression of the majority – “organs of public opinions […] that are 
artificially multiplied” – that legitimate these practices.

Beyond these examples, this year’s conference theme concentrates on this 
ambiguous power of communication. What are the finalities of 
communication with regards to opposing forces acting at micro, meso and 
macro levels? To what extent can media and communication “change our 
living world”? How can communication contribute to the empowerment of 
individuals and groups in their local contexts? How do modern forms of 
communication interact with the ideal of democracy, considered as much 
an apparatus for manipulation as for freedom? If communication has 
power, what is the nature of this power? How do media represent 
hegemonic processes and acts of resistance? In what ways do 
entertainment, social media, journalism or public relations act as 
symbols of resistance or control for corporations and civil society? In 
what ways does media and communication research constitute in itself a 
site of hegemonic domination or of resistance? Contributions may include 
empirical research from a wide variety of terrains, or methodological 
and theoretical papers from a large scope of epistemological perspectives.


     Submission of Abstracts

Each Section and Working Group of the IAMCR will issue its own Call for 
Papers, based on the general thematic outline above. The list of 
Sections and Working Groups and links to their respective Calls may be 
found below <http://iamcr.org/congress/montreal2015-cfp#list>.

Abstracts should be submitted only via IAMCR's *Open Conference System 
(OCS)* at http://iamcr-ocs.org <http://iamcr-ocs.org/> from *1 December 
2014 – 9 February 2015*.

Early submission is strongly encouraged.


     Languages

All plenary sessions will have full simultaneous interpretation in 
English, French and Spanish.

Many, but not all, sections and working groups will organise sessions in 
French and/or Spanish or make arrangements for informal interpretation 
during multi-lingual sessions.

Some of the sections and working groups that will include presentations 
in languages other than English, request that abstracts be submitted in 
English to facilitate the international peer review process.

Please consult the individual CfP of the section or working group where 
you would like to present 
<http://iamcr.org/congress/montreal2015-cfp#sections> for further details.


     Deadlines

The deadline for submission of abstracts is *9 February 2015*. Please 
note that this deadline will not be extended. The *OCS system* at 
http://iamcr-ocs.org <http://iamcr-ocs.org/> will close at midnight GMT 
on *9 February 2015*.

Decisions on acceptance of abstracts will be communicated to applicants 
by their Section or Working Group Head no later than *23 March 2015*.

Conference registration will be open in *March 2015*.*
*

For those whose abstracts are accepted, full conference papers are to be 
submitted via IAMCR-OCS <http://iamcr-ocs.org/> by *19 June 2015*.


     Guidelines for Abstracts

Unless otherwise stated by a Section or Working Group, abstracts should 
be between 300 and 500 words in length.

All abstract submissions *must* be made via IAMCR's OCS at 
http://iamcr-ocs.org <http://iamcr-ocs.org/>. There are to be no email 
submissions of abstracts addressed to any Section or Working Group Head.

It is expected that for the most part, only one (1) abstract will be 
submitted per person for consideration by the Conference. However, under 
no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the 
name of the same applicant either individually or as part of any group 
of authors. Please note also that the same abstract or another version 
with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to other 
Sections or Working Groups of the Association for consideration, after 
an initial submission. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach 
of the conference guidelines and will be automatically rejected by the 
Open Conference System, by the relevant Head or by the Conference 
Programme Reviewer. Such applicants risk being removed entirely from the 
conference programme.

Upon submission of an abstract, you will be asked to confirm that your 
submission is original and that it has not been previously published in 
the form presented. You will also be given an opportunity to declare if 
your submission is currently before another conference for consideration.

Technical guidelines, if any, are defined by the individual Sections and 
Working Groups. Consult the Section or Working Group's specific CfP or 
contact the heads of the Section and Working Group 
<http://iamcr.org/s-wg> you want to submit to if you have questions.

For further information, please consult the conference website at: 
http://congresiamcr.uqam.ca/ or contact the Local Organizing Committee 
(LOC) by email: (iamcr2015 /at/ uqam.ca) <mailto:(iamcr2015 /at/ uqam.ca)>.


     Criteria for Evaluation

Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:

  1. theoretical contribution
  2. methods
  3. quality of writing
  4. literature review
  5. relevance of the submission to the work of the Section or Working
     Group
  6. originality and/or significance of the work

Sections and Working Groups may use additional criteria and may assign 
different weights to the above criteria. Consult the specific CfP or 
contact the heads of the Section and Working Group 
<http://iamcr.org/s-wg> you want to submit to if you have questions.


     Sections and Working Groups

The individual CfPs of IAMCR's Sections and Working Groups are 
accessible via the links below.


     Sections

   * Audience <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-aud-2015>
   * Communication Policy and Technology
     <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-cpt-2015>
   * Community Communication <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-coc-2015>
   * Emerging Scholars Network <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-esn-2015>
   * Gender and Communication <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-gec-2015>
   * History <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-his-2015>
   * International Communication <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-inc-2015>
   * Journalism Research and Education <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-jre-2015>
   * Law <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-law-2015>
   * Media and Sport <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-mes-2015>
   * Media Education Research <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-mer-2015>
   * Mediated Communication, Public Opinion and Society
     <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-mps-2015>
   * Participatory Communication Research
     <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-pcr-2015>
   * Political Communication Research <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-pol-2015>
   * Political Economy <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-poe-2015>


     Working Groups

   * Comic Art <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-coa-2015>
   * Crisis Communication <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-cri-2015>
   * Diaspora and media <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-dim-2015>
   * Digital Divide <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-did-2015>
   * Environment, Science and Risk Communication
     <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-esr-2015>
   * Ethics of Society and Ethics of Communication
     <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-eth-2015>
   * Health Communication and Change & Communication and HIV/AIDS
     <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-hcc-2015>
   * Islam and Media <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-iam-2015>
   * Media Production Analysis <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-mpa-2015>
   * Popular Culture <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-poc-2015>
   * Post-Socialist and Post-Authoritarian Communication
     <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-psp-2015>
   * Public Service Media Policies <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-pmp-2015>
   * Religion, Communication and Culture
     <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-rcc-2015>
   * Visual Culture <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/cfp-vic-2015>


+++