[Commlist] Call for Applications: Political Economies of the Media, an advanced postgraduate course

Call for Applications: Political Economies of the Media. Theories and 
Methods, an advanced postgraduate course. Inter-University Centre (IUC), 
Dubrovnik, Croatia, 11 - 15 September 2023

Keynote Speakers:

Christian Fuchs, Paderborn University, Germany

Kylie Jarrett, Maynooth University, Ireland

Course Directors:

Thomas Allmer, Paderborn University, Germany

Paško Bilić, Institute for Development and International Relations, Croatia

Benjamin Birkinbine, University of Nevada, Reno, USA

Jernej Amon Prodnik, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Jaka Primorac, Institute for Development and International Relations, 
Croatia

Toni Prug, University of Rijeka, Croatia

Aleksander Slaček-Brlek, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

ECTS accreditation: University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (10 ECTS points 
for PhD students upon full completion of the course)

Course Description:

The media are central institutions of modern societies, providing 
channels for corporate and political control and public space for 
disseminating and consuming information on systemic changes in politics, 
culture, and economics to the public. The media underwent massive 
restructuring through neoliberal policies in the 1970s. Introducing new 
communication technologies such as satellite and cable television, 
internet, and web platforms went hand in hand with market liberalisation 
and communication commercialisation. The multiplication of channels and 
media outlets was accompanied by concentration and centralisation of 
ownership. Recently, large transnational digital platforms have 
solidified their position as core companies within contemporary 
capitalism, restructuring the distribution of media advertising 
investments, speeding up the circulation of capital, automating global 
consumption patterns, avoiding national taxes, and siphoning revenues to 
offshore entities. At the same time, they benefit from automated 
management of their diversified and essentially precarious workforces of 
content moderators, warehouse workers, and gig workers, as well as from 
software inputs from free and open source communities (FLOSS) communities.

The rise of platforms reshapes traditional institutional mechanisms that 
broadly safeguard freedom of expression, media pluralism, and public 
interests. How these mechanisms will be re-considered and how private 
interests will shape markets and societies is an open political issue. 
Alternatives are being envisioned in areas ranging from platform 
cooperatives and commons projects to strategic calls for technological 
sovereignty and public wealth creation. However, such initiatives 
usually need broader political support from the public already 
accustomed to the commercial logic of the media. The commodification of 
everyday life through data capture, surveillance and privacy intrusion 
is easily dismissed by citizens as a minor side effect of free usage and 
flexibility of ubiquitous digital services.

This biennial course aims to explore traditional (e.g. ownership, 
production, content, consumption, labour, regulation) and contemporary 
(e.g. algorithms, platforms, data, artificial intelligence) perspectives 
on the media from the lens of critical political economy. The course 
will explore how capital and the state(s) control, regulate and form the 
media (broadly conceived as ranging from traditional printed press to 
algorithms and software) in societies shaped by persistent social 
inequalities. The level of analysis can vary from macro phenomena of 
geopolitics, transnational, national and institutional dynamics, through 
mid-range phenomena of the structure(s) of the public sphere(s), to 
micro-phenomena of class-based conditions shaping inequalities of access 
and skill for using the media in everyday life and for work.

The course will include presentations from keynote speakers, course 
directors and presentations by advanced MA and PhD students. Through 
lectures and discussions with international experts, students will gain 
in-depth knowledge about recent communication, media, and journalism 
developments from the critical political economy perspective. Methods 
and analytical tools commonly used in the approach will be explained and 
discussed. Presentation of the research papers (considered work in 
progress) will lead to comprehensive feedback that will help students 
develop their projects further and result in publishable academic 
writing. Discussions will be carried out collaboratively, with 
reciprocal assessment by students.

Deadlines:

• Course is open to advanced MA and PhD students. Please submit your CV 
(maximum two pages), title and an extended abstract of your presentation 
(maximum two pages with references) by 15 April 2023 
(topolitical.economies.of.the.media /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(political.economies.of.the.media /at/ gmail.com)>

• Course directors will review applications, and final decisions on 
acceptance will be sent by 15 May 2023.

• Accepted applicants will be invited to submit 6 to 9,000-word research 
papers by 1 September 2023. After completion of the course, the 
applicants will be encouraged to submit their papers for review in an 
international peer-reviewed journal in the field of political economy.

• Note: only PhD students can receive 10 ECTS points upon course 
completion, which entails a submitted research paper, paper presentation 
and full-week active attendance participation in the course (more 
information will be published on the course website).

• Please note that all participants pay a registration fee of 50 EUR. A 
limited number of partial stipends and registration waivers will be 
available. If you are interested in participation support, please 
indicate this in your application.

Venue and Location:

The Inter-University Centre (IUC) Dubrovnik is an independent centre for 
advanced study, grounded in and sustained by its international network 
of partner universities. The IUC Dubrovnik maintains high scientific 
quality standards and provides an open space for critical thinking and 
innovation. Building upon its location and its 50-year history, the IUC 
Dubrovnik serves as a bridge between regions within Europe and between 
the European region and the world by connecting scientific communities 
and connecting communities through science. The IUC Dubrovnik takes 
pride in bringing together scholars and students from different 
countries, cultures and academic disciplines to advanced research and 
higher education programmes. The IUC emphasises and supports 
inter-disciplinary and cross-national collaboration on global challenges 
such as human universal values and rights, health, education, poverty 
and climate, encouraging, in addition to east-west collaboration also, 
new north-south initiatives. The IUC Dubrovnik continues organising 
courses and conferences within the broad spectrum of scientific 
disciplines provided by scientific staff from multiple countries. The 
IUC Dubrovnik also stimulates the development of research activities, in 
particular, related to the courses and conferences within the programme 
and contributes to connecting leading international partner universities 
to regional academic institutions.

Important Information:

•    More information about the IUC is available at:https://iuc.hr/ 
<https://iuc.hr/>

•    All further details about the course will be available 
athttp://www.poleconmed.net/ <http://www.poleconmed.net/>

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