[ecrea] CfP - The Poster - Issue 5.1- Lies, Damn Lies and Alternative Truth

This is the Second Call for Papers
Issue 5.1- Lies, Damn Lies and Alternative Truth

Introduction.
The Poster, the journal of rhetoric in the public sphere,  is making a 
call for: • Papers, Artist / Designer Monographs
• Image and Photo Essays
• Reviews
• Opinion Pieces: from a variety of subject areas and interdisciplinary 
perspectives With the aim of developing new understandings of the on the 
subject of the mechanisms and operation of: Alternative Truth, Outright 
Lies, Spin and Propaganda in the Age of Putin and Trump; told through 
visual rhetorics.
Context
Civil society finds itself living in the the (Trump) Tower of Babel. We 
inhabit an increasingly divided society, divided through a lack of a 
common worldview, with communication technologies promotinh the daily 
creation of alternative canons of truth with the ease of a child's 
kaleidoscope making patterns. This facile and joyful fecundity in social 
myth making brings deep problems for traditional political 
communication, because as Habermas notes: 'Every act of reaching mutual 
understanding is confirmed by a rationale consensus; otherwise it is not 
a "real" act of reaching understanding, as we say. Competent speakers 
know that any de facto consensus attained can be illusory; but their 
basis for the concept of an illusory (or simply forced) consensus is the 
concept of a rationale consensus. They know that an illusory consensus 
must be replaced with an actual one if communication is to lead to 
mutual understanding. As soon as we start communicating, we implicitly 
declare our desire to reach an understanding with one another about 
something. If consensus―even about a difference of opinion―can no longer 
be reasonably expected, communication breaks down.' (p. 450 (Truth and 
Seeing from Preliminary studies in the theory if communication action 
(2001) from Theorising Communication. 2007))
In this world of floating values the hope for political consensus of the 
Habermas model seems to be receding into the Net.
What does this mean for communicators, designers, artists, theorists and 
propagandists when our rhetorical barbs lose their edge through simple 
miscomprehension? When disbelief in the shootings at Sandy Hook is 
replaced by a belief in the Bowling Green Massacre, how will political 
communication happen?
Call
Areas of interest for studies of visual political communication include 
(but are not limited to):
Is a social disconnect with the normative narratives that mass 
communication depends on rendering propaganda speechless?
Is the rise of the Digital Public Sphere killing consensus politics, or 
saving us from a weight of overbearing myths?
Does the disruption of large scale mono-cultures by online communities 
mark an end for 20th century models of mass propaganda? Are the 
subalterns taking control?
What happens to informed democratic systems when the rulers and the 
ruled fundamentally inhabit different worlds, shaped by different idea.
Universal Translators: Are there communications methods that can speak 
across the divides? Can we Mass Customise political communication to 
speak the same truth, in different tongues, to all audiences at once?
The relationship between culture and technology has shaped political 
communication since the time of the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda 
Fide, and now emergent communications tools have widened the grasp and 
increased the reach of a political message. The rise of the Net has 
given individuals and small groups the same grasp and reach as the 
largest power-block: and the possibilities for technically mediated 
political communication keeps growing.
More than timely, it has become imperative, for researchers to examine 
the complex interplay between the means and methods of political 
communication and the possibility of a normative consensus in the 
political world.

Details
Multimodality is a key element to understanding the use of images in 
combination with other forms of mediated communication. We therefore 
encourage scholars from both social and political science, as well as 
cultural studies, arts, and communication studies, to submit proposals 
for work for publication. The journal is looking for: Full papers of 
7000-9000 words plus illustrations on the issue’s theme (for double 
blind peer review). Rich illustration of the text is welcomed. 
Theoretical papers as well as methodological discussion are welcome, but 
preferably in combination with empirical analysis of imagery. Case 
studies, comparisons across culture, or historical studies are invited.
Artist / Designer Monographs. Extended scholarly pieces addressing the 
issue’s theme (for double blind peer review). 10000 – 25000 words plus 
extensive illustrations.
Image and Photo Essays composed of illustrations, photographs, diagrams 
or schematics that use visual languages to communicate their point of 
view on this edition’s themes. Textual support may be added, if it is 
felt necessary.
Reviews of relevant books, exhibitions and political gatherings (the 
editors would be more than happy to publish a good review of the U.S. 
Republican or Democratic party conferences, a Congressional 
investigation, or a demonstration).

Timeline
Initial Abstracts/Statements of Intent (250 words) due Friday 15th of 
December 2017. Selected contributors will be informed in the following 
week. Full manuscripts due Monday 19th of February 2018.


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