[ecrea] CFP Reminder: Ethnicities, Counter-publics, Appropriation and Social Media.

*Ethnicities, Counter-publics, Appropriation and Social Media. *

A one-day symposium at Keele University.

*Date: 8^th  June 2017*

Abstract Submission *deadline: 14th March 2017*

*Call for abstracts*

In two of the big political shocks of 2016, the UK EU referendum result 
and Donald Trump’s election to President of the US, social media was, 
and continues to be, a battleground for disseminating contending 
versions of reality. Immigration has been a key topic of populist 
rhetoric and has promoted a narrative that seeks to blame and 
marginalise ethnic groups in both countries. This has occurred after 
major flash points, including the events themselves, but also as a 
continuing campaign of hate to gain support for right-wing politics and 
groups. Minority groups - Muslims in particular - have been targeted 
following significant terrorist attacks but these high profile campaigns 
also attract counter-discourse and tactics of appropriation by activist 
groups. Much has been written about the affordances of social media and 
their potential (and limitations) for activists. Yet whilst an emerging 
body of work has explored the relationship between ethnicity and social 
media, this has tended to focus on specific platforms (Jackson 2016; 
Rambukanna 2015) and contexts (Magdy et al 2015). More research is thus 
needed into the use-patterns and meanings of online campaigns to 
minority groups, in a rapidly changing political environment. For 
instance: Where does hate-speech derive from and who is circulating it? 
How is it countered and appropriated by online activists? Who represents 
minority groups in these digital spaces, and are there tensions between 
different forms of representation?

This symposium is funded by a British Academy research project which 
aims to explore some of these questions in relation to the #StopIslam 
campaign which has attracted considerable support but equally resulted 
in a profusion of counter-narratives, defending Muslims. We are 
interested in this form of ‘conflicting engagement’ with media 
environments, which result from the ‘unequal, unstable […] qualities of 
interconnection across difference’ (Tsing 2005: 4). The symposium seeks, 
therefore, to examine the dynamics of representation and 
self-representation online, and we particularly welcome papers that 
focus on /critical/ questions about /social media/ such as the social 
and cultural dynamics of online activism.

*Proposals are sought in the following (and other relevant areas):*

Representations/self-representation of ethnic minority groups online

Discursive constructions in social media

Digital activism/ online campaigns both supporting and attacking ethnic 
minority groups

Cases of discursive appropriation online

Counter-narratives, (networked) counter-public mobilisations

Digital protest cultures/ social movements/ resistance politics

Citizen media for social change

Online identity politics

Relationship between traditional mainstream media and digital activism

Far-right ideologies, ‘post-truth’, and minority groups.

Methods for analysing social media content

*Speakers:*

*Dr Ed de Quincey, Dr Eva Giraud and Dr Elizabeth Poole *

Computer Science and Media, Communications and Culture, Keele University

Dr de Quincey’s work is in the area of online human behaviour and using 
social media as a source for Big Data research, Dr Giraud writes on the 
relationship between politics and digital media, particularly online 
activism, and Elizabeth Poole is an expert on the representation of 
Muslims and author of ‘Representing Islam: British Muslims in the 
British Press’.

*Dr Pollyanna Ruiz*

Film and Media, Sussex University

Dr Ruiz is an expert in digital protest cultures and author of 
‘Articulating Dissent in the Public Sphere’.

*Dr Dima Saber*

Birmingham School of Media, Birmingham City University

Dr Saber is an expert in Nationalism, political Islam, propaganda in the 
Arab world, and media for social change.

*Please submit a 150 - 250 word abstract and any queries to Alina Andras 
at:*

(counterpublics2017 /at/ keele.ac.uk) <mailto:(counterpublics2017 /at/ keele.ac.uk)>

*The deadline for abstract proposals is Tuesday 14^th  March 2017.*

The symposium is free for speakers (excluding travel expenses) and 
funded by the British Academy/The Leverhulme Trust.

The organising committee will select papers for a special issue 
onEthnicities, Counter-publics, Appropriation and Social Media in two 
peer-reviewed journals; one is the open access online journal for the 
Open Library of Humanitiesand another, a high-profile Media Journal, 
currently under negotiation.


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