The Political Economy (POE) Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) invites the submission of proposals for papers and panels for IAMCR 2024, which will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 30 June to 4 July 2024.
The deadline for submission is 7 February 2024, at 23h59 UTC.
See the CfPs of all sections and working groups
Theme
IAMCR conferences address many diverse topics defined by our 33 thematic sections and working groups. We also propose a single central theme to be explored throughout the conference with the aim of generating and exploring multiple perspectives. This is accomplished through plenary and special sessions, as well as in some of the sessions of the sections and working groups.
The central theme for 2024 focuses on "Whiria te tāngata / Weaving people together: Communicative projects of decolonising, engaging, and listening" - which draws upon a Maori proverb about the strength that comes through common purpose.
Consult a detailed description of the main theme
The IAMCR Political Economy Section hopes you will agree the conference themes are highly topical under current political/economic (and ecological) conditions. We therefore invite papers and panel proposals that investigate the central conference theme from a political-economic perspective. We are interested in submissions that critically interrogate the power relations that underpin the structure and direction of current global transformations and evolutions, which are driven, amplified, and complicated by media, communication, and technologies. Furthermore, in engaging with the conference theme on the sociopolitical debate on the digitalization of society and the technological transformation of nature, we also welcome papers that critically examine the role of the political economy of communication tradition within the broader field of these emerging and pressing issues or those that suggest new ways forward for this tradition of scholarship.
We therefore encourage participants to critically examine the ways that governments, corporations, institutions (or other structures and social formation) impede or facilitate peoples’ mediated struggles for human dignity, survival, and a common future. In what political-economic logics, ideological structures, and social imaginaries are people reshaping or adapting to the environment? In what ways, and in what directions, are people struggling for equities and sustainability? What are the obscured communicative practices or emergent alternatives in a digitized world? And what opportunities do media, technology, or digital platforms provide to extend or resist these forces?
In addition to and /or in articulation with the conference sub-themes, the Political Economy Section also welcomes submissions on:
- Political economy of:
- digital broadcasting, telecommunications, social media and mobile communications
- audiences journalism
- AI, AR/VR, Big Data,and surveillance
- the media and climate change/Anthropocene
- cultural industries, cultural economy, and cultural diversityy
- urban ecosystem and its relationship to rural and surrounding territories
- Critiques of media/communication informed by:
- feminist political economic
- critical race theory
- intersectionality
- critical disability studies
- queer theories
- Relationship between media and finance capital:
- Media, capital, and financialization of corporate media
- Communication/mediation of markets and finance
- Labor, social movements, and activism:
- Civil society, participatory democracy, media activism
- Cultural and creative labor in the context of digitization and global capitalism
- Communication experiences of the social media activism around the world
- Work, labor, and value
- Academic freedom and labor in the context of the corporatization of education
- Policy and laws; democracy and citizenship
- Media/communication politics, policy, laws, and regulation
- Media, citizenship, cultural rights and democracy
- Free trade agreements, copyright and communication, and cultural policies
- Spatialities/temporalities and capital
- Continuities and crises (financial, ecological, moral, others)
- Global capital and media power spatialities/temporalities
- Digital transition of sSmart city and sustainable cities
- Political economy of urban ecosystem and its relationship to rural and surrounding territoriesRethinking the economy
- Moral economies, gift economies, public goods, and free culture/free economics
- De-commodification, de-growth, de-marketization, or de-convergence in communication
Guidelines for abstracts
Abstracts are requested for papers to be presented in person at the conference in Christchurch. Abstracts submitted to the Political Economy Section should have between 300 and 500 words and must be submitted online here. Abstracts submitted by email will not be accepted.
The deadline to submit abstracts is 7 February 2024, at 23.59 UTC.
It is expected that each person will submit only one (1) abstract. However, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the name of the same author, either individually or as part of any group of authors. The same abstract, or a version with minor variations in title or content, must not be submitted to more than one section or working group. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected by the abstract submission system, by the Head of the section or working group or by the Conference Programme Reviewer. Authors submitting the same work to multiple sections or working groups risk being removed entirely from the conference programme.
Proposals are accepted for both single papers and for panels with several papers (in which you propose multiple papers that address a single theme). Please note that there are special procedures for submitting panel proposals.
See important dates and deadlines to keep in mind
Submitted abstracts will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- General coherence and relevance to the political economy section
- Evidence of theoretical/ methodological rigor
- Empirical or conceptual originality which extends/provokes debate about the field of political economy
- Gives voice to subaltern/under-represented groups/countries, or facilitates resistance/praxis
Languages
The Political Economy Section accepts abstracts in will review abstracts in English, French and Spanish but generally encourages the membership and participants to submit and present their papers in English.
See resources for IAMCR conference preparation and participation
For further information about the Political Economy Section, its themes, submissions, and panels please contact:
Co-Chairs
Ben Birkinbine
birkinbineb@uwosh.edu
Gabriela Martínez
gmartine@uoregon.edu
Vice Chairs
Mandy Tröger
mandytroeger.phd@gmail.com
Yu Hong
hong1@zju.edu.cn
Micky Lee
plee@suffolk.edu
