[Commlist] Cfp “Crossing Borders with a New Medium: Radio and Imperial Identities”

*Call for Papers **“Crossing Borders with a New Medium: Radio and 
Imperial Identities” | **Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, 7-8 
May 2020*

The emergence of radio introduced profound changes in public 
communication, changing patterns of information dissemination at local, 
national and international levels. While in the early 1920s broadcasting 
was mostly operated by small stations listened to by a small group of 
people who owned radio sets, before the end of the decade large stations 
had already emerged on the scene, aiming to reach nationwide or even 
international audiences. The audio medium soon became a central 
instrument in the construction and dissemination of national cultures 
and shared identities. While this was obviously the case in the interwar 
dictatorships, in Western democracies broadcasting (first radio and 
later on television) also took centre stage in the dissemination of 
popular culture and was seen as a powerful tool of propaganda and of 
creation of national identities (MacKenzie, 1986; Douglas, 1999; 
Scannell & Cardiff, 1991; Hilmes, 2008) as well as of imagined 
communities (Anderson, 1983). In the case of the Imperial nations this 
role was extended overseas with radio becoming the most important medium 
for uniting the home countries with those living in the far reaches of 
the empires, though not unproblematically.

A growing body of literature on the history of imperial and colonial 
broadcasting, as well as of sound, have been contributing to the 
understanding of the role of radio technologies, broadcasting and music 
in the 20^th  century in forging audible and sonorous empires. However, 
the ways in which different imperial countries used radio to create a 
sense of nation and colonial identities among those living in different 
geographies and historical periods remains an open question that may 
well require different theoretical and methodological approaches, 
questions and answers. Firstly, how did different imperial projects 
engage with broadcasting, and how did they use radio as both an imperial 
and colonial tool across different geographies? How has broadcasting 
been incorporated and appropriated (similarly and differently) within 
different colonial settings alongside the rise of the anti-colonial 
liberation movements? How did different imperial nations embrace 
technological transformation in the field of broadcasting and of sound 
in order to achieve their goals? Which were the different broadcasting 
programming strategies adopted by distinct imperial nations and colonial 
rules in different territories? In which way have conditions and choices 
in radio reception shaped imperial and colonial broadcasting? Which were 
the broadcasting and sound practices that posed resistance to imperial 
and colonial radio strategies and policies? What role did the audio 
medium play during decolonization and how did broadcasting institutions 
change and adapt in the aftermath of colonialism?

The conference “Crossing Borders with a New Medium: Radio and Imperial 
Identities” seeks papers that tackle these and other issues of 
(inter)national and cross-border broadcasting practices and policies in 
different colonial settings. It aims to discuss how radio purposively 
served the idea of Empire while also serving as a tool to fight colonial 
rule alongside the rise of pro-independence movements.

Hence, papers dealing with the following topics will be highly 
appreciated (non-exhaustive list):

·Radio and national identities;

·Imperial and colonial broadcasting institutions;

·Radio professionals in imperial and colonial broadcasting contexts;

·Programming in international broadcasts;

·Reception of Imperial and colonial broadcasts;

·Technologies used for international broadcasting;

·Radio, ethnicity and race;

·Radio and practices of resistance;

·Broadcasting and colonial subjectivities;

·Radio and colonial independences;

·Radio and decolonization;

·Media entanglements in imperial contexts;

·Intermedial approaches to radio history in colonial contexts;

·Media systems in colonial and decolonial settings;

·Radio and music market in imperial and colonial contexts;

·Challenges of oral history.

·Sources and archives dealing with broadcasting in colonial settings;

All presenters selected will have a 20-minute slot to present their 
work, followed by Q&A.

*How to Submit?*

Please send a title and a 400 word abstract in Word or Pdf format before 
20 January, 2020 (deadline) to (broadcasting.empire /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(broadcasting.empire /at/ gmail.com)> .

Author name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and contact information 
should be sent on a separate file or on the body of the e-mail.

Authors will be notified of acceptance on 7 February 2020.


*Conference fee*

Full fee: 100€ (early bird) / 130€ (includes lunches and coffee-breaks)
Reduced fee for students: 50€ (early bird) / 65€

The conference will be hosted by the Research Centre for Communication 
and Culture (CECC) at Universidade Católica Portuguesa and will take 
place within the framework of the research project “Broadcasting to the 
Portuguese Empire: Nationalism, Colonialism, Identity” funded by FCT and 
FEDER. For more information about the project visit: 
https://www.broadcastingempire.com <https://www.broadcastingempire.com/>

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