[ecrea] Cfp: Media History from the margins

MEDIA HISTORY FROM THE MARGINS
CSF Summer Seminar at Monte Verità, Switzerland
August 19-24, 2018
Co-organized by the Universities of Lausanne and Luxembourg, and USI 
Università della Svizzera Italiana

Keynote Speakers
- Weihong Bao, University of Berkeley
- Jérôme Bourdon, University of Tel Aviv
- Lisa Parks, MIT
- Trevor Pinch, Cornell University
The summer seminar aims to rethink media history from the margins and to 
place at the center of our attention neglected, alternative, or censured 
media texts, uses, and technologies. By shifting the discussion from 
hegemonic actors, dominant institutions, and successful mass media to 
the fringes of media history, it pursues the double objective of 
rewriting media history into media histories, and of opening a space to 
rethink historiographical practices and methods. The writing of marginal 
histories is inseparable from a reflection on the modes of operation and 
politics of historical writing: bringing together established and 
emerging scholars, the seminar investigates what has been left over by 
hegemonic mass media and hegemonic historical narratives.
Traditionally, media history has been conceived as a ‘grand narrative’ 
of singular media and national institutions: the ‘birth’ of cinema at 
the end of the 19th century and its subsequent ‘coming of age’ with the 
conversion to talkies; the history of public broadcasters in European 
countries; the dominance of post-war TV; and more recently the hegemony 
of digital media. Given the importance of media for the construction and 
consolidation of national mediascapes, media history has furthermore 
received mostly attention from a national angle, notwithstanding the 
importance of transnational communication in a globalized world.
More recent historiography has challenged these narratives by 
highlighting the importance of transnational circulations and 
intermedial relations. Instead of studying singular media within 
national boarders, it focuses on the “entanglement” of actors, 
practices, and technologies approached from the perspective of dynamic 
relationships and interdependences. Building upon this scholarship, the 
seminar favors a multilayered perspective emphasizing transient media 
experiences, material and conceptual hybridity, and marginal events. 
More particularly, it proposes to critically reflect upon centers and 
peripheries in media history: the expression ‘from the margins’ is 
borrowed from postcolonial history exploring the peripheries of world 
history in order to “de-center” Western histories, as well as to 
stimulate a debate on history as a discipline. Here, rather than 
retelling the past, history functions as an act of resistance countering 
dominant narratives.

The seminar is structured in three sections expanding on three days, to 
which is added a one-day graduate symposium. Titled Marginal Spaces, 
Marginal Objects, Marginal Times, the thematic axes pay particular 
attention to geographical and spatial, material and technological, and 
historiographical aspects of marginal media histories.
•	Marginal Spaces looks at media and communication realms located 
outside the axes of traditional media history, and below or beyond 
national actors or geographically situated objects. We look for papers 
that rewrite the geography of producers, users, and discourses, and that 
revisit the logic of center-periphery and of inside-outside mainstream 
media by focusing, for instance, on migrating media objects, or 
alternative and activist media. We wish to discuss organizations and 
media makers working outside dominant media structures and to study, for 
instance, media making in the scientific and military sphere.

•	Marginal Objects analyzes the diversity of technologies for recording, 
reproducing, projecting, and storing sound and images, text and data at 
various historical conjunctures. Embracing concrete and imaginary 
devices, successful machines and forgotten gadgets, the papers consider 
a variety of sources that exceed the technical discourse and relocate 
media materialities within their social, political, and economic 
contexts. We look in particular for papers that present original media 
objects and technologies from the perspective of an intermedial and 
hybrid media history, and that take the singular dispositif as a 
starting point for a broader theoretical discussion. In other words, we 
are interested in marginal objects that help reframe our methodological 
and theoretical perspectives.
•	Marginal Times emphasizes media histories from a longue durée 
perspective that pays attention to the long life of once “new media”, 
and that looks at media practices in times of reconfiguration of the 
mass media ensemble. This section reconsiders “classic” periodizations 
in media history, and historically rethinks notions such as convergence 
or transmedia that structure current debates on contemporary media. It 
is interested in historical media and objects that “travel” across 
decades, and even centuries, acquiring new meanings and forms through 
such “time travel”.  The notion of “times” finally refers to trends and 
“non-trends” in media history: which episodes or phases in media history 
have been neglected so far, and which disciplines or theoretical 
approaches might offer new perspectives in understanding media changes 
and continuities?
Situated on the top of a hill overlooking the lake of Lugano, the 
location at Monte Verità is unique and offers a setting favorable for 
exchange and discussion 
(http://www.monteverita.org/en/24/conference-centre-monte-verita.aspx). 
We aim to take full advantage of this place to create a space for 
collaboration and dialogue. Rather than being conceived as a conference 
of one-way presentations, we consider the event as a collective 
exploration of the fringes of our field.
In consequence, we are interested in contributions that associate 
historical case studies with broader historiographical analysis, and 
that think about their own margins and blind spots. We welcome papers 
that address the overall theme by asking questions rather than giving 
answers, and that include the audience from the start on. We further 
look forward to proposals from scholars working outside the field of 
media studies and whose research challenges our own work. Finally, we 
encourage collaborative submissions that investigate innovative forms of 
academic work, and that communicate in formats other than the 
traditional talk.
Graduate Students Symposium
We invite Ph.D. students working on related topics to apply for the 
one-day graduate symposium. Held on the first day of the event, the 
graduate student workshop brings together Ph.D. students and seminar 
participants, and aims at facilitating exchange between emerging and 
established scholars on research-related issues. The graduate students 
will pre-circulate a short paper related to their thesis, which will be 
discussed in small groups. The discussion-based format of the workshop 
allows for Ph.D. students to interact with participants and receive 
concrete feedback on their research.

Organization
In order to create the best possible conditions for the summer seminar, 
we require the presence of all participants during its entire duration.
The provisory program is as follows: Sunday, August 19: Arrival of 
participants
Monday, August 20: Welcome event and Graduate Students Seminar
Tuesday, August 21: Marginal Spaces
Wednesday, August 22: Group discussions (morning); excursion (afternoon 
– evening) Thursday, August 23: Marginal Objects
Friday, August 24: Marginal Times, Conclusion, Departure of participants

Finances
The seminar is organized at the Conference Centre Monte Verità, Ascona, 
Switzerland, the venue of choice for Congressi Stefano Franscini, the 
international conference platform of ETH Zurich. It is generously 
supported by the Congressi Stefano Franscini and the universities of 
Lausanne and Luxembourg. For participants who may not be able to cover 
their expenses via their universities, we may provide a stipend. The 
costs are as follows: Full Board and Accommodation Single Room : 	ca. 
172.- / night / person
Full Board and Accommodation Double Occupation : ca.  85.- / night / person
				
Organizers
François Vallotton and Anne-Katrin Weber, University of Lausanne
Gabriele Balbi, USI Università della Svizzera Italiana
Andreas Fickers, University of Luxembourg

Deadline for the summer seminar and the graduate student symposium: We 
look forward to abstracts of maximum 500 words and a short bibliography 
until January 31, 2018. Participants will be notified by March 1st, 
2018. Please include in your message whether you apply for financial 
assistance.
To apply for the graduate students symposium, we ask for a summary of 
the doctoral thesis and a short abstract of the questions / topic / 
primary sources you would like to discuss with the other participants. 
The short input papers will be circulated beginning of August 2018. 
Please include in your message whether you apply for financial assistance.
Please submit your abstract including a short biographical note to 
Franç(ois.Vallotton /at/ unil.ch) and (Anne-Katrin.Weber /at/ unil.ch)


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