[Commlist] CfP - International Conference “Radio Soundscapes in (Post)Colonial Settings”

*Call for Papers*

*“Radio Soundscapes in (Post)Colonial Settings” *

*Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, 7-8 July 2022*

Over the last century broadcasting has played a central role in the 
construction and dissemination of national cultures and shared 
identities. Employed to promote the idea of nation within state borders, 
for Imperial nations this role was extended overseas, where the audio 
medium became central in the effort to unite the home countries with 
those expats living in the far reaches of empires. In many territories 
under European rule, namely in Africa, this led to the creation of what 
were at first white soundscapes in which local cultures and languages 
were absent from the airwaves.

In the late 1950s, as the winds of decolonization swept through the 
African continent, state and private-owned imperial and colonial 
stations opened up their programming schedules to African languages and 
cultures. In some cases, such as the BBC, this was aimed at safeguarding 
the station’s listenership in the context of increasing competition from 
stations set-up by the nascent African states (Potter, 2012; Ritter, 
2021), while in others, namely in the Portuguese Empire, programmes in 
African languages were used to indoctrinate the black population on the 
supposed benefits of colonialism (Ribeiro, 2017). State-funded 
broadcasters coexisted with private stations that developed commercial 
radio style and programming, where new jingles and music genres created 
a novel and parallel irresistible (sonorous) empire (di Grazia, 2005; 
Domingos, 2021). But in this radio ecosystem that emerged in the 
mid-20^th century in different regions of Africa there were also other 
stations operated by independence movements that resorted to 
broadcasting to promote independence from colonial powers and to foster 
new national identities. In the postcolonial era, broadcasting was 
instrumental in fostering new cultural and political identities, with 
the new independent states also resorting to the audio medium to create 
their own sound identity.

The conference “Radio Soundscapes in (Post)Colonial Settings” aims to 
bring together scholars researching the history of colonial and 
postcolonial broadcasting and sound, in order to shed light on the role 
of radio and music in forging audible and sonorous empires and new-born 
nations. Thus, the conference seeks papers that discuss technologies, 
programmes and audiences in both colonial and postcolonial settings, 
including those focusing on the construction of new soundscapes and 
radio ecosystems following decolonization. Among many questions that may 
be addressed, the conference welcomes papers including, but not limited 
to, the following topics:

·Radio and national identities (namely in postcolonial nations);

·Soundscapes in colonial, decolonial and postcolonial settings;

·Imperial, colonial and postcolonial broadcasting institutions and 
professionals;

·Reception of imperial, colonial and postcolonial broadcasts;

·Technologies used for crossborder 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, decolonial and postcolonial settings;

·Radio and music markets in colonial and postcolonial contexts;

·The challenges of oral history;

·Sources and archives dealing with broadcasting in colonial and 
postcolonial settings.

Selected presenters will have a 20-minute slot in which 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 April, 2022 (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 6 May 2022.


*Conference fee*

Full fee: 100€ (early bird) / 130€ (standard fee)
Reduced fee for students: 50€ (early bird) / 65€ (standard fee)

Lunch and coffee-breaks included.

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/>

The conference will be held at the Lisbon campus of Universidade 
Católica Portuguesa, which can be easily accessed via metro (30-minute 
ride), bus or taxi (10-minute ride) from the Lisbon airport. 
Participants who are unable to travel to Lisbon will be offered the 
possibility of participating online.

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