ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

October 7 -11, 2024

CES | Alta (Coimbra, Portugal)

Deadline: July 31, 2024

The ‘Media and Sexual Violence’ School is an opportunity to reflect on how we understand sexual violence from its representations in different media, from different disciplinary perspectives and from the work of community-based organisations. Its specific aim is to analyse how sexual violence is mediatised in contemporary society, and, in this sense, it will discuss practical and methodological research tools, as well as the ethical dilemmas and challenges that mark cultural productions and journalistic coverage. The School is being held as part of the UnCoveR project, the first comprehensive transdisciplinary study of sexual violence in Portuguese media landscapes. The project studies sexual violence as a phenomenon framed by notions of sexual normativity, masculinity, femininity, and power dynamics, which, in contexts such as Portugal, marked by sexism, social hierarchies and colonial legacies, interact with notions of race, ethnicity, religion, and nationality.

The five-day School includes lectures, seminars, workshops, a cultural programme, a roundtable, a training session and focus groups. The speakers and trainers will be members of the project team and consultants, as well as journalists, activists, and professionals in the field of sexual violence.

Coordination: Júlia Garraio, Sofia José Santos, Inês Amaral, Rita Basílio Simões, Rita Alcaire

Teaching staff: Alexandre Sousa Carvalho (CES), Ana Rita Brito (AKTO), Ângelo Fernandes (Quebrar o Silêncio), Carla Cerqueira (CICANT, Universidade Lusófona), Daniela Sofia Neto (FEUC), Francisco Azevedo Mendes (Universidade do Minho), Gary Barker (Promundo/ CES), Inês Amaral (FLUC/CES), Isabel Ventura (CEMRI), Karen Boyle (University of Strathclyde), Joana Amaral Cardoso (Público), Júlia Garraio (CES), Maria João Faustino (CES), Marta Araújo (CES), Paula Cosme Pinto, Ricardo Higuera Mellado (Men Talks), Rita Alcaire (CES), Rita Almeida Carvalho (ICS), Rita Basílio Simões (FLUC/CES), Rita Santos (CES), Sérgio Pinto (Universidade Católica Portuguesa), Sílvia Roque (Universidade de Évora, CES), Sofia José Santos (FEUC/CES), Tatiana Moura (CES).

Target audience: researchers and students in the areas of Communication Studies, Journalism, Gender Studies, Cultural Studies and other areas that intersect with the School's themes; activists in the struggle against sexual and gender-based violence; journalists and professionals in the areas of communication; cultural producers, managers, and organisers; the general public interested in these themes.

Working language: Portuguese (and Keynote 1 in English)

Important dates:

• Deadline for applications: 31 July 2024
  
• Announcement of application results: 3 September 2024
  
• Formalisation and payment of registration: until 15 September 2024
  

More information: https://ces.uc.pt/summerwinterschools/?lang=2&id=45184

Email: uncover@ces.uc.pt

Kristiania University College

Multiple Fully Funded PhD Fellowships Available at Kristiania University College in Risk & Crisis, Strategic, Political, Arts, and Health Communication. 

Details: 

Deadline for Application: 31 October

For more information about the positions, click here or contact Prof. Audra Diers-Lawson at audra.diers-lawson@kristiania.no.

University of Groningen, 4-years, fully funded 

The University of Groningen is seeking a PhD candidate for the project “Place and identity in journalism in former Yugoslavia.” This is a 4-year fully-funded interdisciplinary PhD project at the intersection of journalism studies and architecture, in which the PhD candidate will investigate how material place and artefacts shape journalistic identity and work, with a specific focus on former Yugoslavia. 

The PhD candidate will be embedded within the Research Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, at the Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, and will be working under the supervision of Marcel Broersma, Sandra Banjac, and Maja Babic.

Job call and to apply: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/work-with-us/job-opportunities/?details=00347-02S000AUYP&cat=wp

Further information: 

Sandra Banjac, s.banjac@rug.nl

Maja Babic, m.babic@rug.nl

November 14 at 9 am and November 15 at 5 pm 2024

Roskilde University, Denmark

Deadline: August 11, 2024

Hosted by SatiReNet (3-year explorative research network funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark)

Building upon the foundational works of Charb (2015), Brink (2015), Greenberg (2019), and Declercq (2021), who have explored satire as a pre-generic mode, a frame of mind, or a counterpublic practice, our explorative research network endeavours to redefine the nature of satire. We believe satire transcends mere judgment of others and instead seeks to uncover folly within ourselves. Our aim is to delve into the hybrid tensions inherent in satire, including the interplay between outward and inward critique, fiction and truth-telling, play and critique, moral restraints and license, engagement and detachment.

Join us in a scholarly exploration of the nature of satire at this international conference! Your contributions will enrich the discourse on satire's pivotal role in challenging misconceptions, communicating complex ideas and shaping our understanding of the world.

Themes for research:

1. Satire and images:

This theme examines the commonly assumed unambiguity of graphic satire, such as cartoon caricatures. Recent years have seen a surge in heated polemics surrounding this presumption, indicating a reliance on quick ethical interpretations of satirical works by both academics and non-academics (Charb, 2015; Brink, 2015; Greenberg, 2019; Phiddian, 2019). Moreover, graphic satire remains vastly understudied compared to its literary and TV counterparts (Gatrell, 2005; Brink, 2021), making this theme both urgent and promising.

2. Satire and performance:

In the digital age, satire has proliferated across various platforms, including social media, posing new challenges in the relationship between performance and audience. This theme explores the evolving dynamics between performance and audience participation in satirical works, with a focus on the ethical and aesthetic complexities arising from the interaction of context, theatricality, and audience interpretation (Fischer-Lichte, 2008; Reilly, 2011; Swift, 2019; Eigtved, 2021).

3. Satire and knowledge:

Both satire and science aim to expose falsehoods and reveal truths. This theme scrutinises the intersections of satire and knowledge, specifically how satire can be utilised to challenge scientific misconceptions and communicate complex ideas (Bore & Reid, 2014; Riesch, 2015; Pinto, Marçal, & Vaz, 2015; Klitgård, 2020; Klitgård, 2021). We aim to uncover the potential risks and benefits of this approach by examining the moral and discursive quandaries associated with using satire to negotiate the ethos of the scientist.

Keynotes: Professor Paul Simpson, University of Liverpool, and Associate Professor Nicholas Holm, Massey University.

Conference format:

A two-day conference in which we aim for approximately 20 presentations in total.

Submission guidelines:

Abstract submissions of 300 words and a short bio of 100 words are invited from researchers, scholars and practitioners exploring the three conference themes. Please upload your material here: https://events.ruc.dk/thecomplexitiesandchallengesofsatireintodayssociety/conference

Submissions may include research papers, case studies, theoretical explorations, or interdisciplinary perspectives.

Authors are encouraged to present innovative approaches, empirical studies, and critical analyses related to the study of satire.

Key dates:

Abstract submission deadline: 11 August 2024. 300 words

Decision notice: Mid-August 2024

Conference dates: 14-15 November 2024 (at 9-17 each day)

Conference venue: Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, Denmark, https://ruc.dk/en/department-communication-and-arts

Signing up for the conference: 1 September 2024

Travel and expenses:

All participants must pay for their own travel and accommodation. 

As Roskilde University Campus is situated in Trekroner, approximately 30 minutes by regional train from Copenhagen, it is safe to book accommodation in Copenhagen.

There will be no registration fee, and lunch, coffee and a conference dinner will be provided for all conference attendants.

Inquiries:

Please contact Associate Professor Ida Klitgård (PI), Roskilde University (idak@ruc.dk) or Associate Professor Michael Eigtved (Co-PI), University of Copenhagen (eigtved@hum.ku.dk).

SatiReNet website: https://ruc.dk/en/forskningsprojekt/satire-research-network

Mention in Nordmedia: https://nordmedianetwork.org/latest/news/new-nordic-initiative-to-advance-satire-research/

References:

Bore, I.-L. K., & G. Reid. (2014). Laughing in the Face of Climate Change? Satire as a Device for Engaging Audiences in Public Debate. Science Communication, 36(4), 454–478.

Brink, D. M. (2015). Anklagesyg venstrefløj misforstår Charlie Hebdo. Information, 20.01.2015.

Brink, D. M. (2021). Frækhedens evangelium. Hovedstrømninger i religionssatirens historie fra det 12. til det 19. århundrede. PhD thesis. Copenhagen: Copenhagen University.

Charb, S. (2015). Lettre aux escrocs de l’islamophobie qui font le jeu des racists. Paris: Les Échappes.

Declercq, D. (2021). Satire, Comedy and Mental Health. United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing.

Eigtved, M. (2021). PÅ! Begivenhedskultur fra selfie til scenekunst. Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur.

Fischer-Lichte, E. (2008). The Transformative Power of Theatre. London: Routledge.

Gatrell, V. (2005). City of Laughter. Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-century London. London: Atlantic Books.

Greenberg, J. (2019). The Cambridge Introduction to Satire. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Klitgård, I. (2020). ’Critical Parents Against Plaster’: The MMR vaccination drama as satirical parody. MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research, 36(68), 4-24.

Klitgård, I. (2021). ’Ignorance is strength’: Representing COVID-19 Facebook experts in Danish textual news satire. Journalistica, 15(1), 165-184.

Phiddian, R. (2019). Satire and the Public Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pinto, B., D. Marçal & S.G. Vaz. (2015). Communicating through humour: A project of stand-up comedy about science. Public Understanding of Science, 24(7), 776–793.

Reilly, I. (2011). Amusing Ourselves to Death? Social Media, Political Satire, and the 2011 Election. Canadian Journal of Communication, 36(3), 503-511.

Riesch, H. (2015). Why did the proton cross the road? Humour and science communication. Public Understanding of Science, 24(7), 768–775.

Swift, E. (2019). Practical Spectating: An Exploration of the Multiple Roles of the Intermedial Performance Audience. International Journal of Performance Art and Digital Media, 5(2), 66-183.

November 21, 2024

ENTER Museum Solothurn

Deadline: September 6, 2024

For the fourth meeting of Media History | CH, the research network for media historians and media scholars, curators, and archivists in Switzerland, we call again for contributions that exemplify the variety of historical sources used for doing media history.  

Written sources, photographs, and other still images, as well as audiovisual materials are at the core of historical media research. This one-day workshop aims to gather and discuss sources used in research projects in Swiss universities or dealing with Swiss media to share methodological insights, provide practical tools, and discuss difficulties related to archival access and preservation. More specifically, each participant is invited to: 

“Bring” her/his source, if possible, in its original material dimension

Explain and discuss the source in elevator pitch style (max. 5’) 

Make clear which are the stories that can be told thanks to the source

We invite scholars, archivists, and curators to submit a 100-word abstract with the source they want to discuss and addressing the 3 points mentioned above. The abstracts should be sent to gabriele.balbi@usi.ch by 6 September 2024 and notifications of acceptance will be sent out by 27 September 2024. 

The one-day workshop will be structured as follows:  

11.30 am: Get together and lunch (not included) 

12.30 pm – 2pm: ENTER Museum Visit 

2.00 – 2.30 pm: Coffee Break  

2.30 – 4.00 pm: Presentations and discussions of sources  

4.00 – 4.30 pm: Business meeting of Mediahistory.ch  

4.30 – 5.00 pm: Coffee Break  

5.00 – 7.00 pm: Media Biographies

From 7.00 pm: Aperitif 

This is a free-fee events and two coffee breaks and the aperitif will be offered by us (lunch is excluded).   

For more info: https://mediahistory.ch/158-2/

Full text submission period: September 1 to October 31, 2024

This thematic section of Revista Comunicando aims to explore how AI is contributing to the redefinition of media and information literacy competencies and how citizens, educators and professionals can prepare for these changes. 

https://revistacomunicando.sopcom.pt/index.php/comunicando/announcement/view/16 

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission is looking for three different researcher profiles to join the newly launched Centre for Advanced Studies project on Virtual Worlds & Society. 

Virtual Worlds are set to play a central role in Europe industry and society in the future. This project will embrace a multidisciplinary perspective, and dive into the impacts on individuals and society, to support future policy interventions. 

Read our vacancies here:

1 - Researcher in Digital Transformation: https://lnkd.in/dzfCMxie 

2 - Researcher in Social Communication: https://lnkd.in/drekKdcf 

3 - Researcher in Digital Anthropology: https://lnkd.in/dEWm_JXd 

All positions are based in the beautiful Ispra, nearby Milan, Italy 

The deadline for applications is *16 July*

October 25th 2024

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona (Spain). In Person.

Deadline: July 15, 2024

GAME group - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Our conference proposal is grounded in the work of David Morley, emphasizing the importance of paying attention to the materialities and contexts of mobile communications in relation to our everyday, always situated life: "context is no 'optional extra' which we might study at the end of the analytic process but rather, is best seen as a 'starting point' which has determining effects on both production and consumption" (2017, 2). In a recent book, Morley, along with Annette Hill, Maren Hartmann, and Magnus Andersson, introduces the concept of "mobile socialities" as a generative concept to reclaim the anthropological tradition of cultural and media reception studies and incorporate them into mobilities, reflecting on people in motion and the role of mobile media in everyday life.

The paradigm of mobilities has opened up the field of social sciences to explore the role of movement in the constitution and functioning of institutions and social practices in recent decades (Urry, 2007): the constant flow of people, objects, money, communications, and ideas. These are physical or imaginary movements that also involve complex combinations of networks, relationships, technologies, and systems, not limited to fixed spaces.

This mobility paradigm is defined as a non-media-centric approach and suggests moving away from solely identifying communicative processes and practices with the phenomenon of media and technologies. From this perspective, mobile communications allow experiencing everyday life as a continuum that problematizes the fragmentation of the public and private, production and reproduction, as well as the division between spaces and territories. The relational aspect is crucial and necessary to emphasize in a current climate and migration crisis: what happens in one place affects another, and people's experiences of life, their relationship with ideas, imaginaries and objects are very different, intersectional, interdependent, changing and dynamic.

The aim of the conference is to contextualize mobilities and think about them in connection with socialities, representations, and discourses of popular culture, a central element of our contemporary societies, and the sense of belonging that these mobile communications enhance in communities, territories, cultures and traditions.

We invite participants to explore mobilities in relation to the following general themes:

• Socialities, Migrations, and Geographies of Mobility
  
• Imaginaries and Representations of Mobility
  
• Everyday Life and Mobile Communications
  
• Mobilities, Belonging and Identities
  
• Power and Mobility/Immobility
  
• Consumption, Mobilities and Domestication
  
• Media Industries, Regulation and Mobilities
  

Keynotes confirmed: 

• Dr. Annette Hill (Jönköping University)
  
• Dr. David Morley (Goldsmiths University)
  

We invite abstracts of 400-500 words, highlighting the paper's focus and contribution to the theme. Please, include a brief (100-word) author bio along with the abstract using these template. 

Anticipated timeline: 

Abstracts and bios due: July 15, 2024

Acceptance sent: Mid-August 2024

Contributions can be in Catalan/Spanish and English

Conference site: https://symposium.uoc.edu/112598/section/49126/2nd-cultural-studies-conference-mobilities-in-context-popular-culture-communications-and-socialitie.html

For inquiries, more information and submission of abstracts/bios please contact GAME at game@uoc.edu

Edited volume by Olga Kourelou and Philip E. Phillis

Deadline: September 30, 2024

Greek cinema has been defined primarily on national terms with discussions revolving around questions of ‘Greekness’ and what Greek films reveal about the national character and culture. Therefore, the idea of transnational Greek cinema may at first sound like an oxymoron. Yet, as Maria Chalkou has argued, what is perhaps the most distinguished characteristic of Greek cinema today is the ‘renegotiation and redefinition of the national through the transnational’ (2020). Indeed, since the 2000s and especially after 2010 and the international success of the films of the so-called ‘Greek Weird Wave’, Greek film culture has been characterised by an increasing openness – what Lydia Papadimitriou has described as ‘extroversion’ (2018). On the one hand, this is the result of the intensification of co-production activity and the distribution and consumption of Greek films beyond their national borders. On the other, this is evident in the thematic preoccupations of an ever-larger number of films that take a more fluid approach towards the national by focusing on the multicultural make-up of Greek society and by bringing to the fore the subjectivities of ethnic ‘others’, questioning thus nationalist myths of purity, authenticity and containment.

This edited volume invites chapter proposals that will open up discussions of Greek cinema and film culture beyond the national through a consideration of its transnational dimensions. The scope of the book is historical in that we are interested in mapping out Greek cinema’s transnationalism diachronically. While scholars have rightly pointed out the recent outwardness of Greek cinema, Greek film culture has always been transnational. This was especially the case in the post-war era, when production and exhibition practices, as Dimitris Eleftheriotis has demonstrated (2001, 2006), were of a hybrid character, involving cultural exchanges with both the West and the East. However, the transnationalism of this period of Greek cinema, and of others, remains under-researched and this gap in our knowledge is something this book aims to fill. We welcome contributions adopting different methodologies in their analysis, from empirical to text-based. The goal of this publication is to explore at what levels the transnational manifests itself in Greek cinema, whether this is in terms of production, distribution, exhibition, creative personnel, content, or form, as well as to what effect, looking specifically at the politics and ideological implications within transnational flows. For, as Rosalind Galt reminds us, ‘the transnational is always political because it demands that we think about the relationships of cinema and geopolitics through, between, and beyond the state’ (2016).

Topics may include but are not limited to:

•  Transnational modes of production, distribution and exhibition from early Greek cinema to today
  
•  Co-productions
  
•  Auterism and cosmopolitanism
  
•  Genre flows, remakes and remixes
  
•  Transnational cinephilia
  
•  Transnational actors and stars
  
•  Migration (representations of migrants, refugees and ethnic ‘others’; migrant and diasporic filmmakers; borders and border-crossing)
  
•  Queer transnationalism
  
•  Greek locations in international filmmaking, and film tourism
  
•  Reception of Greek films abroad (festivals, audiences, exhibition practices, critical reception)
  
•  Transnational readings of the so-called ‘new’ and ‘old Greek cinema’
  
•  Language, dubbing, subtitling
  

--

The edited volume is under consideration with Edinburgh University Press.

Please send a title, 300 word abstract and a short biography in a single file to transnationalgreekcinema@gmail.com by 30th September 2024. The final chapters should be around 6000-8000 words and submitted to the editors by the end of May 2025. No payment from authors will be required.

September 24, 10.00-13.30

Café Kava Bar Gaj (tbc, close to the Faculty of Social Sciences)

 ECREA Audience and Reception Studies Section

We invite you to join us for an engaging and insightful discussion panel organized by the ECREA Audience and Reception Studies Section. This event is an opportunity to exchange knowledge, gain tips and tricks, and get inspired on how to keep audience studies relevant in today's educational landscape.

We will organize the discussion in two sessions:

In the first session Teaching Audiences, we will map out how audience studies are taught at different institutions, in different countries in terms of content, class activities and assignments, and reading materials. Some of the questions we will address are: What are approaches to the structure of the audience studies and audience research courses? What are the key concepts, theories and messages we want students to take with them? How do we structure the syllabus and focus our lectures - historically, by research methods, by “type of audiences”, etc.?

 In the second session Audience Perspective in Curricula and Other Courses, we will further delve into audience studies and audience research to address the various challenges identified previously and to discuss ideas and practices on how to keep the key questions and concerns of audience centric research and studies relevant to university degrees concerned with media, culture and communications. Some of the questions we will address are: What is the relevance of audience research and studies in different degree programs? How do the audience perspectives fit into courses related to users, digital citizenship, literacy, and technology?

Join us to discuss the contemporary challenges and the future of audience studies within media and communication degrees. Share your experiences and insights, and learn from others in the field.

There is no fee. To participate, please fill out the form by 15th July 2024. 

Email access: form 

Web access: form

As spaces are limited, participants will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. We will notify all applicants about the selection process by 30th July 2024.

We look forward to your contribution to this important discussion!

Panel organizers: David Mathieu, Jelena Kleut, Maria José Brites, Ranjana Das, Sonia Livingstone, Tereza Pavlickova, Vivi Theodoropoulou