[ecrea] CfP: Political Agency in the Digital Age ECREA Communication and Democracy Conference 2015

Political Agency in the Digital Age. Media, Participation and Democracy
ECREA Communication and Democracy Conference 2015
9-10 October 2015, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Confirmed keynote speakers

  *   Nick Couldry, London School of Economics and Political Science
  *   Anastasia Kavada, University of Westminster
  *   Guobin Yang, Annenberg School for Communication

Theme
Research on media and politics has traditionally tended towards 
separating the sphere of politics from political processes in other 
societal spheres, focusing on parliamentarian politics and formal, 
institutionalised interest group politics (e.g. unions). At the same 
time, there has been a tendency to focus on elites, whether political, 
corporate, media or cultural. With the emergence of digital media, the 
research agenda within the field of media and politics research is 
shifting towards exploring interrelations between institutionalised 
politics and political processes in other societal spheres, and moving 
beyond elites to also include "ordinary" people. The personalization of 
digital media and the rise of user-generated content have led to an 
increased interest in personal self-expression of citizens at an 
individual level as a political act. While this represents an important 
development, it also warrants fundamental questions about what counts as 
politics and who count a
 s political actors. At the same time euphoric accounts of the 
potential of digital media for political agency are questioned 
critically both in terms of actual potential and the wider structures in 
which they are embedded. The conference aims to gather papers that 
provide a differentiated analysis of political agency in the digital age.

We are seeking contributions that address questions of shifting agency 
in connection with changing media technologies, while considering a 
dialectical relationship between social and media-related change. 
Contributions could address - but are not limited to - the following topics

*    Social movement/radical/alternative media
*    Digital activism
*    Materiality of media participation
*    Spaces of participation and protest
*    Civic resilience in times of crisis
*    Digital media uses in extra-parliamentarian and 
non-institutionalized politics
*    Digital media representations of extra-parliamentarian and 
non-institutionalized politics
*    Digital media at the intersections of traditional politics and 
social movements
*    DIY citizenship and digital media
*    Performance and political agency
*    Everyday life and civic culture
*    Popular culture and civic engagement
*    Digitization and individualisation


Submission details

Individual presentations
Please submit a 300 word anonymised abstract.

Panel proposals
Panel proposals should include a 300 word panel rationale plus 
individual 200 word abstracts from a minimum of four speakers.

Please submit your abstract here: 
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cd2015
Deadline for submission is 1 May 2015.
Notifications of acceptance will be issued by 1 June 2015.

Registration and fees
Early bird registration EUR50
Full fees EUR75
Early bird reduced student fee EUR30
Reduced student fee EUR40

---------------
ECREA-Mailing list
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier and ECREA.
--
To subscribe, post or unsubscribe, please visit
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
--
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Chaussee de Waterloo 1151, 1180 Uccle, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
---------------