[Commlist] Call for Papers: ICA Virtual Pre-Conference 2021: ‘Visions of Change: Communication for Social and Environmental Justice’

*Call for Papers: 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
Rebecca Venema, Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
Christine Gilbert, University of Connecticut, USA
Liisa Sömersalu, Sodertorn University, Sweden

Contact: (hanna.morris /at/ asc.upenn.edu)<mailto:(hanna.morris /at/ asc.upenn.edu)>

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

*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 updates and 
further information on the pre-conference schedule during the coming months.

*Submission instructions
Upload an extended abstract of no more than 1,000 words (excluding 
references) through this form 
(https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdOD4_BLQuDnUwoIocl49-0ZmWR57QC9_nGQdNE8bmbdF5N5Q/viewform?usp=sf_link) 
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)<mailto:(hanna.morris /at/ asc.upenn.edu)>) by 1 
May, 2021.


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