Call for proposals
These past few years have seen an alarming rise of the far right and xenophobic populism across the world. The examples are many: the post-socialist countries in Eastern Europe; moving Westward toward France, Netherlands , and the U.K.; Narendra Modi’s Hindu Rasthra in India; the election of Donald Trump in the US; the popularity of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil as a serious contender for the presidency; the election of Sebastián Piñera in Chile; and, sadly, the list goes on. This explosion of nationalist, anti-establishment fervor and the subsequent choice of leadership stems from a deep-seated fear of existing in an increasingly global and heterogeneous society. Thus, there are attempts to promote discreet, homogeneous groups with authority and power at the local, national levels and keep the Others divided between demi-citizens and non-citizens. Many such groups are no longer guaranteed certain fundamental rights, depending on their race, class, religion, immigration status, incarceration, and political beliefs. These people include immigrants, Muslims, and the poor—in fact, anyone outside of the dominant ethnicity or the reigning political ideology. Within this context, media continue to play an important role in providing a breadth of information from different angles. Diaspora communities are caught right in the thick of things as they are formed from immigrant, migrant, displaced groups of people.
Based on these realities and the impending elections in Madrid in 2019, IAMCR's Diaspora and Media (DIM) Working Group is seeking papers and panels that address how the rise of far right ideologies impact, create, and shape meanings for and about diaspora communities in the media; how are mediated communication about rights of diaspora communities being dispersed; what strategies of communication are being used to contest truths about diaspora communities; in what ways are diaspora communities facing questions about human dignity and fundamental rights; how are communication technologies easing or complicating existence of diaspora communities; what advantages or disadvantages may be there for diasporas as a result of new communication technologies, Big Data, etc. The DIM CFP has been crafted keeping in mind the 2019 IAMCR Conference theme and CfP, Communication, Technology, and Human Dignity: Disputed Rights, Contested Truths. All theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome.
General guidelines for submission
Submitted abstracts should be between 400 and 500 words in length. Individual papers and panels are possible, but all proposals must be submitted at this site https://iamcr-ocs.org from December 3, 2018 – February 8, 2019. Early submission is strongly encouraged. There are to be no email submissions of abstracts addressed to any Section or Working Group Head.
Languages: Abstracts are welcome in both English and Spanish languages.
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. Please note also that the same abstract or another 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 OCS system, by the relevant Head or by the Conference Programme Reviewer. Authors submitting them risk being removed entirely from the conference programme.
Upon submission of an abstract, you will be asked to confirm that your submission is original and that it has not been previously published in the form presented. You will also be given an opportunity to declare if your submission is currently before another conference for consideration.
Presenters are expected to bring fully developed work to the conference. Prior to the conference, it is expected that a completed paper will be submitted to Section, Working Group, Session Chairs, and/or Discussants.
Enquiries or further information
For English
Working Group Chair:
Dr. Sudeshna Roy
Stephen F. Austin State University
roys@sfasu.edu
For Spanish
Working Group Vice-Chair:
Dr. Sofia Cavalcanti Zanforlin
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ
szanforlin@gmail.com