[Commlist] CFP for 2021 ICA Pre-Conference "Visions of Change: Communication for Social and Environmental Justice"

ICA Virtual Pre-Conference 2021

‘Visions of Change: Communication for Social and Environmental Justice’

Pre-Conference date: 27 May 2021

Submission deadline: 1 February 2021
Results released: 1 March 2021
Full-length manuscript deadline: 1 May 2021

Organizers:
Hanna E. Morris, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA,
USA, (hanna.morris /at/ asc.upenn.edu) [1]
Rebecca Venema, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano,
Switzerland, (rebecca.venema /at/ usi.ch) [2]
Christine Gilbert, University of Connecticut, (christine.gilbert /at/ uconn.edu)
[3]
Liisa Sömersalu, Sodertorn University, (liisa.somersalu /at/ sh.se) [4]

Contact: (hanna.morris /at/ asc.upenn.edu) [5]

Division/Interest Group Affiliation:  Visual Communication Studies
Division, Environmental Communication Division, and the Activism,
Communication and Social Justice Interest Group.

Description: A key challenge for representing environmental crises such as
climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and toxic pollution is
contextualizing the crises through a diversity of accounts and timescales.
Candis Callison (2020, 2017, 2014) stresses how accountability and justice
are impossible without recognition of the particular harms perpetuated by
long-standing political, economic, and cultural systems of oppression. The
ongoing violence of imperial capitalism are consistently removed from view
through cultural processes of erasure whereby ecological crises are
“decoupled from its original causes by the workings of time” (Nixon,
2011: 11). Take, for instance, the differential response to recovery and aid
given to the richest and withheld from the poorest, predominantly Black and
Brown communities of color in the New York/New Jersey region following
Hurricane Sandy and, moreover, the absence of sustained public attention and
reporting on the long-term, “slow violence” impacts of the storm
(Superstorm Research Lab, 2013; Nixon, 2011). Women in the Global South are
also disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and yet,
continue to be excluded from journalistic institutions, academia, and
government (Shiva, 1988; Bonilla and LeBrón, 2019). Scholars and advocates
of environmental justice (e.g. Bullard, 2011, 2009, 2000; Mascarenhas, 2020,
2012; Sze, 2020, 2006) demand recognition of the recurrent and consistently
overlooked disparities of environmental risk as well as the inequities of
political and economic response. This entails the centralization of
historically marginalized perspectives, experiences, and knowledges at the
local, national, and transnational level. Visuality and visual politics play
a particularly important role for making perspectives, experiences, and
knowledges visible and to advocate for resistance and change (e.g. Doerr,
Mattoni, & Teune, 2013; Mattoni & Teune, 2014; Uldam & Askanius, 2013). 
Human
rights violations and environmental disasters are phenomena often brought to
the attention of a larger public through visual representations in, for
example, news reports or on social media. Visuals are particularly powerful,
memorable, and hold strong potential to attract attention, trigger emotions
and impact perceived legitimacy of activist movements (e.g. Kappas & Müller,
2010; Poell & van Dijck, 2015). They are thus important tools for expanding
visibility and fostering movements and activism for social justice. But
visuals can also perpetuate hierarchies, stereotypes, and sensationalist
representations.

It is within these contexts of current social and ecological crises and
struggles for social and environmental justice that that we invite extended
abstracts (of no more than 1,000 words) pertaining, but not limited to, the
following topics:

— representations of environmental risks and justice: How are issues of
social and environmental justice visualized in or across different media
contexts? What are recurring motifs and interpretation patterns? How do
different actors (e.g., journalists, activists, artists) use visual media to
draw attention to environmental risks and/or to envision responses and
actions for change? How do affected communities themselves—through
bottom-up initiatives—visualize issues of equity and justice?

— logics of environmental and social justice: How can journalism,
photography, visual art, film, and other communicative modes centralize the
experiences of the most vulnerable, impacted, and frontline communities? How
can images and texts negotiate, contest, and resist asymmetrical 
relations of
power as opposed to entrench them further?

— economies of media production and environmental / social justice: How do
political economies of media influence and/or impede the ability for
journalists, filmmakers, and photographers to conduct deeper and longer
investigations of “slow violence” (Nixon, 2011)? What media systems (e.g.
co-ops, trusts, etc.) are better able to foster more robust and dynamic
coverage of ecological crises? What are the advantages and challenges of
local journalism in covering issues of environmental justice?

— democratization of knowledge production and methods: How can researchers
of media centralize issues of power, equity, and justice? What 
methodological
approaches and theoretical frameworks are capable of fostering a more
democratic exchange and synthesis of knowledges? How can universities and
academic departments transform research agendas and priorities in order to
centralize issues of equity and social and environmental justice? How can
scholars learn from and partner with environmental justice organizers and
advocates without exploiting or further marginalizing vulnerable individuals
and communities?

— practices of data collection and analysis--opportunities and challenges:
Digitization has brought new methodological and ethical challenges for
finding, collecting and sampling images while also presenting new
opportunities for their analysis. Projects that highlight emerging 
techniques
for working with metadata, “big” data, reverse image search, social media
analytics, automated analysis and machine vision, and other digital tools in
the study of social justice / environmental justice are also encouraged. We
also welcome reflections regarding ethical implications of such tools or
regarding ethical dilemmas and questions with respect to power, 
positionality
and implications of visibility in activism and social justice research
practices.

The pre-conference will be held virtually on 27 May, 2021 (full schedule 
TBD)
and will encompass a mix of both synchronous and asynchronous presentation
and workshop sessions, including a keynote address by a distinguished 
scholar
of communication and environmental justice (TBD) who will address the
multifaceted questions, aspects and challenges of visual and environmental
communication research pertaining to issues of environmental and social
justice. Registration is required. There are no prerequisites and there will
be no registration fee. A link and further details regarding the virtual
platform and schedule will be sent to registered participants ahead of the
pre-conference date. All participants and presenters will be grouped
according to time zone for the live paper workshopping sessions. Please 
visit
the accompanying website https://icavisualcommunicationstudies.com/ for [6]
updates and further information on the pre-conference schedule during the
coming months.

Pre-conference submission instructions:

Upload an extended abstract of no more than 1,000 words (excluding
references) through this Form [7] by 1 February, 2021. Outcomes will be
communicated by 1 March, 2021. Full-length manuscripts (for discussants to
provide feedback on) are due to pre-conference organizer Hanna E. Morris
((hanna.morris /at/ asc.upenn.edu) [8]) by 1 May, 2021.

Further information and a PDF version of the Call for Papers is
also available at this
website: https://icavisualcommunicationstudies.com/past-events/preconferences/ica-pre-conference-2021/ 

[9]

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