[ecrea] CfP "2nd International Conference in Scandalogy"

Call for Papers

2^nd International Conference in Scandalogy (2018)

//

“Cultures of Scandals – Scandals in Culture”

University of Bamberg

Department of Communication Studies

Bamberg, Germany

29-30 March 2018

In April 2016 the 1^st International Conference in Scandalogy took place 
at University of Bamberg, Germany. Researchers from different countries 
and academic disciplines presented studies on scandals and discussed 
recent cases of moral outrage. The conference did not only attract 
scientific attention but was also topic of nationwide media coverage. In 
2017 a collected volume “Scandalogy: An Interdisciplinary Field” will be 
published by the Herbert von Halem Publishing House 
(http://www.halem-verlag.de/scandalogy-an-interdisciplinary-field/).

This Call for Papers invites submissions for the 2^nd International 
Conference in Scandalogy: “Cultures of Scandals – Scandals in Culture”. 
With this overarching theme we attempt to consolidate two perspectives. 
On the one hand, we invite theoretical papers that help to shed light on 
the concept of scandal cultures. On the other hand, we are interested in 
case studies that illustrate the dynamics of scandalization in specific 
countries or cultures.

How certain actions lead to public outrage is an indicator for the 
specific scandal culture of a society (Hondrich 2002). For instance, sex 
scandals can end political careers in the USA. The recent case of 
Anthony Weiner illustrates this point. Nevertheless, the case of Silvio 
Berlusconi shows that there is a different “Mediterranean scandal 
culture”. In Germany power scandals as well as misconduct concerning 
German history and political culture are characteristic types of 
scandals (Esser & Hartung 2004). However, it appears that scandal 
cultures are mutable − although by a long process.

In 2016 we witnessed the rise of Donald Trump to become the 45^th 
President of the United States, which could be seen as a turning point 
for our concept of scandalization: His racist and misogynist comments 
and his insults against minorities in general have not weakened him as a 
political actor. Does this mean we are witnessing a transformation of 
scandal culture in the USA? If so, what are the reasons for this and 
what are the consequences for dealing with future scandals and affairs?

Trump’s actions on the campaign trail cannot only be explained by 
intentional self-scandalization (Haller 2015), as the leaked audio 
footage of the notorious “Access Hollywood“-tape illustrates. Yet this 
particular case has shown that the logic of sex scandals in American 
politics is partly defunct. How can this drastic shift in this 
particular political scandal culture be explained? Has the moral code of 
American politics changed?

Arguably, in this context the rise of social media has transformed the 
economics of media attention. Trump’s tweets garner enormous publicity 
but do not appear to be explainable as strategic patterns of 
communication. However, Trump’s deliberate provocations produce more 
attention than the latest revelation about collusions with Russia. New 
media appears to affect the way that scandals can be mediated (and 
diverted) in public discourse by communicators of the journalistic and 
the political sphere. But has traditional reporting on scandals lost its 
effectiveness?

These examples show that the research of scandals lacks sufficient 
theoretical models which help conceptualizing variables of the 
journalistic, political, and cultural spheres to explain the process of 
scandalization. The analysis of cultures of scandals invites such 
theoretical approaches. We would like to see additional contributions 
that investigate the overlapping, differentiation, and cross-pollination 
of cultures of scandals. In short, we would like to know: Why does an 
action become a scandal in a specific country, while it is not being 
scandalized in another?

A number of studies deal with this question in a particular context and 
explore scandals in culture: So far, case studies have shed light on 
scandals and scandalization in Scandinavian countries (Allern & Pollack 
2012; Herkman & Matikainen 2016; Ekström & Johansson 2008), in Great 
Britain (Thompson 2000), in the USA (Entman 2012), in Germany (Hondrich 
2002; Esser & Hartung 2004), and in Switzerland (Haller 2015). Our call 
invites further contributions, also from other countries, that analyze 
scandals through case studies and on an empirical basis.

We are interested to bring the practitioners’ perspective into the 
academic field as well:

Often, journalists are limited to describing and criticizing scandals 
instead of reflecting a potential lack of response by the public. One 
may argue this deficit could be alleviated if academic research and 
journalism would be more sensitive to characteristics of specific 
cultures of scandals. Therefore, we also invite submissions that are not 
limited to the academic field but deal with aspects of scandals and media.


Confirmed Keynote Speaker

Prof. Dr. Hans Mathias Kepplinger (University of Mainz)

Information on Paper Submission:

Abstracts should not exceed 300 words. Please include an additional 
short biographical note of no more than 150 words.

As the selection of abstracts will be peer-reviewed anonymously, we ask 
contributors to include a separate title page containing title, 
author/s, affiliation/s, and the address, phone, fax, and e-mail of the 
first author.

All submissions will be evaluated on relevance and originality, clarity 
of research purpose, grounding of theoretical and methodological 
approach, focus, and organization.

A publication of selected articles is planned.

Please email abstracts to (andre.haller /at/ uni-bamberg.de) or 
(hendrik.michael /at/ uni-bamberg.de) by September 30th 2017.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by the end of November.



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