[Commlist] Call for papers: Annual Conference ZEMKI: Communication History of International Organisations and NGOs. Questions, Research Perspectives, Topics

*Call for papers: Annual Conference ZEMKI, Bremen, 2021 - Submission 
date Sept. 1st: Communication History of International Organisations and 
NGOs. Questions, Research Perspectives, Topics*

*Subject*
The International ZeMKI Conference 2021 will focus on a topic that has 
thus far received little attention from historians of communication and 
media: the communication history of international organizations. Since 
the second half of the 19th century, for numerous and diverse areas of 
social life, globally active international organizations of varying 
degrees of institutionalization and scope, both non-governmental and 
intergovernmental, have been founded and have dedicated themselves to 
the global challenges of the first modern age. The most famous of these 
is certainly the League of Nations, which was established in 1919 as the 
predecessor institution of the UN.
 >From a communication and media-historical perspective, international 
organizations played a highly visible role in the transnational 
intertwining and consolidation processes of journalism, culture, media, 
politics, technology and the public sphere in the 19th and 20th 
centuries. Against the background of the much-discussed boundaries 
between secret diplomacy and public diplomacy, especially after the 
First World War, such organizations contributed to the development of 
the first arenas and forms of international and transnational public 
spheres whose orientation was towards global governance. In order to 
spread their concerns and goals globally: they constantly used the 
latest communication technologies and the growing diversity of the media 
for their communication; organized and professionalized their 
information work and; developed specific information-policy instruments 
and strategies for that purpose. Woodrow Wilson's idea of Open Diplomacy 
(in fact, the early forerunner of today's “Public Diplomacy”), for 
example, was the idea on which the League of Nations based its 
information policy.
Effects of the differentiation and organization of international 
organizations’ communication, such as the emergence of institutionalized 
public relations and PR in these specific contexts, the development of 
international summit and conference journalism, the creation of 
publicity for international politics and, in parallel, the genesis of 
structures of inter- and transnational public spheres conveyed by the 
media, are issues and topics within this field of research, which from 
the perspective of communication and media history has been by and large 
neglected.
The aim of the conference is to discover and systematically develop 
international organizations as a communication and media history 
relevant field of research. In doing so, the conference will lay the 
foundations for research in communication history as well as offering 
the discipline as a whole a historical perspective that will enable 
communication studies to reflect on international organizations of the 
present day.

*Confirmed keynote speakers are Prof. Dr. Madeleine Herren-Oesch 
(University of Basel) and Dr. Torsten Kahlert (Aarhus University).*

*Problem areas and focal points of the conference*
To illuminate and discuss issues, research perspectives and the thematic 
spectrum of the communication history of international organizations, 
the organizers request submissions which, using concrete international 
organizations as examples, address one or more of the problem areas and 
thematic focuses outlined below:
*1.        The communication and communication management of 
international organizations*
How did non-governmental and intergovernmental international 
organizations design their (media-mediated) communication to reach and 
inform the media and the public? Which actors and groups of actors did 
they address and how? What were the expectations regarding media and 
public attention? What ideas existed about the relationship between 
media and politics? What forms, infrastructures, instruments, concepts 
and strategies were developed to generate the public and medial 
visibility of international organizations? How and by whom was 
information and public relations work institutionalized and 
standardized? How were relations with individual media and their 
representatives organized and professionalized?
*2.        International organizations, media and journalism*
What influence have international organizations had on trends in 
globalization, and in the inter- and trans-nationalization of journalism 
and media communication? In these contexts how did new forms of foreign 
journalism such as summit and international conference journalism 
develop? What position did journalistic and media practices occupy 
within the context of international organizations? Which international 
media policy agenda developed in the interaction between international 
organizations and media institutions, for example, with respect to: 
ensuring the free movement of global news; tendentious reporting and 
dissemination of false reports; unimpeded activity of correspondents; 
and international standards of press freedom and copyright? Which 
international organizations were established, especially in the media 
context?
*3.        International organizations in the public sphere and public 
debates*
What notions of a global or inter- and trans-national public sphere were 
generated in the context of international organizations? How were 
conferences involving international or-ganizations publicly staged? What 
public image did international organizations have? On which topics and 
with which objectives did international organizations try to address and 
reach the public (e.g. disarmament, gender justice, health, nature and 
environmental pro-tection)? How were International Organizations 
perceived beyond the mass media (e.g. in film, photography, caricature, 
art, literature and posters)?
*4.        Theories, methods, sources*
How can the communication histories of international communications be 
embedded theoretically and methodologically? Which sources can be used, 
and which methodological approaches and triangulations are possible and 
necessary to deal with the usually immense quantity and variety of 
handed-down sources?
Optionally, within the framework of an "Open" panel, research conducted 
by young scholars or work-in-progress research from the entire range of 
communication and media history can be presented.

*Submissions*
We are requesting submissions on the conference topic and for the "Open 
Panel" in the form of detailed "Extended Abstracts" (preferably in 
English, German is possible; 4,000 to 5,000 characters including spaces, 
exclusive bibliography) *by September 1, 2020*. Abstracts must be 
submitted in pdf format and anonymized by means of a detachable cover 
sheet and removal of all author identifying information from document 
settings and text. Submissions and questions concerning this call for 
papers should be sent exclusively to: (ekoenen /at/ uni-bremen.de) 
<mailto:(ekoenen /at/ uni-bremen.de)>
Submissions will be peer-reviewed according to the following criteria: 
theoretical founda-tion; relevance of the question; appropriateness of 
the method/procedure; novel-ty/originality; clarity and conciseness of 
presentation. The results of the review process will be announced by 
November 10, 2020.

*Organization*
The conference will take place on April 22 and 23, 2021 in Bremen. The 
host institution is the ZeMKI of the University of Bremen. Erik Koenen 
and Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz are responsible for the organization.
ZeMKI, Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, 
University of Bremen
Dr. Erik Koenen, (ekoenen /at/ uni-bremen.de)
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz, (saverbec /at/ uni-bremen.de)
togehter with:
The Communication History Section of the German Communication 
Association (DGPuK),
Institute for Newspaper Research Dortmund




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