[Commlist] Call for abstracts - A Research Agenda for Cancel Culture

Call for abstracts - A Research Agenda for Cancel Culture (Edward Elgar)

Abstracts due 15 October

Cancel culture is both widely celebrated and criticized as a way of 
using media to hold people accountable. It is understood as a 
contemporary media practice, but also a form of social sanction, and as 
a buzzword to chart political fault-lines. The term traces its origins 
in African American culture, including spaces like Black Twitter that 
enable a historically marginalised community to address injustices. 
Elsewhere we witness call-out culture and similar adjacent practices in 
activist circles, among fan communities, and in virtually any 
(semi-)public mediated sphere. These practices - and the ways scholars 
and others talk about them - point to dynamics in media, culture and 
society warrant greater attention.

“A Research Agenda for Cancel Culture, Visibility and Contestation in 
Media” (preliminary title) aims to deliver a range of in-depth accounts 
of how diverse social actors leverage media to watch over, denounce and 
punish purported wrongdoers. These targets range from sexual abusers to 
cultural and political opponents. We are soliciting contributions for an 
interdisciplinary collection on cancel culture, visibility and 
contestation in the media, to be published with Edward Elgar Publishing. 
This book will cover cancel culture and related media practices from 
diverse social scientific and humanities perspectives, including media 
and cultural studies, sociology, political studies, history and 
philosophy. Inter-disciplinary contributions are also welcome.

We invite contributions that address a wide range of socio-cultural 
settings, including:
- Fandoms and policing of public and private statements
- Activism and public denunciations of prominent individuals
- Activism overlapping into fandom and consumerism
- Politics, polarisation, and so-called ‘culture wars’
- National identities and nationalism as a driver of denunciation in media
- Content creators focusing on personal and social grievances
- AI-generated renditions of offence and outrage
- Businesses, brands and organisational responses to cancellation
- Media outrage and impacts on the job market, dating market, etc.
- Impacts of cancellation on appeals to a public for support (ex: 
GoFundMe, Patreon)
- Historic precedents to cancellation (ex: Garfinkel’s status 
degradation ceremony)
- Post-cancellation conditions, including support from affective (fan) 
communities and the possibility of uncancellation.

Within these settings, we especially welcome studies that consider the 
following lines of inquiry:
- Reflecting on particular facets of media (affordances, practices, 
‘bugs as a feature’)
- Positioning the ‘extremely online’ in relation to a broader public
- Mediated visibility and cancel culture as cultural (or surveillant) 
imaginaries
- Context- and sector-specific development of best practices in 
responding to cancellation campaigns
- Alternative models to accountability, justice, and morality

If you are interested in contributing, we ask you to consider the 
following steps:
- 15 October, 2026: Submit a 350-500 word abstract (to 
(trottier /at/ eshcc.eur.nl)) that includes (a) your chosen topic and/or case 
study, (b) the theoretical and/or conceptual framework you employ, (c) a 
brief description of the data you draw upon, and (d) any preliminary 
findings and implications you are able to share.

- 2 November, 2026: we will notify authors if they are invited to submit 
a full chapter, and provide some preliminary feedback.

- 30 April, 2027: full chapters are due (6000 - 8000 words, including 
references).

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