Popular Culture Section
Call for Proposals
The Popular Culture (POP) Section invites the submission of abstracts for its 2027 conference, to be held from 18 to 22 July 2027 in São Paulo, Brazil, hosted by the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP) in partnership with the Associação de Apoio à Arte e Comunicação (ARCO).
The deadline for submission is 12 February 2027 at 23:59 UTC.
Download this call for papers as a PDF file
Central theme
The 2027 central theme, Multilateralism, Democracy, Diversity: Communication for a More Just World, is a globally resonant and critically urgent call to action. It centers communication as the pivotal force in navigating three interconnected crises defining our contemporary moment: 1) the fraying of global governance, 2) the erosion of democratic institutions, and 3) the deepening of social fragmentation. By uniting these concepts, the theme invites a comprehensive, interdisciplinary inquiry into how media and technology either perpetuate global injustice or serve as instruments for building equitable systems.
Consult a detailed description of the main theme
This year’s theme closely matches POP’s mission to analyse popular culture as a ‘pivotal arena of struggle for the distribution and deployment of resources for self-understanding and social agency’. Amidst questions of societal justice, democratic participation, pluralism and access to mainstream visibility, popular culture is transformed into a space wherein the status quo and its asymmetries can both be upheld and contested. As a section, POP concerns itself with how texts and contexts of pop-cultural production and consumption challenge, resist and reaffirm dominant global media narratives and advance alternative frameworks for power, identity, and community.
Members of the Popular Culture Section are interested in the (academic) intersections that the study of popular culture evokes. Embracing insights from critical disciplines such as cultural studies, media studies, gender and queer studies, literary studies, and theatre studies, the Section engages with multifarious perspectives and embraces the richness of popular culture as a field of study. It considers popular culture and its analysis a ‘pivotal arena of struggle for the distribution and deployment of resources for self-understanding and social agency’. Consequently, it prioritizes critical and interpretative approaches to popular culture that are less concerned with linear effects or causal models, and more with modes of analysis attuned to contextuality, complexity and contradiction.
POP eagerly invites papers and panel proposals that investigate how popular culture, in all its modes of creation, circulation and contestation contribute to furthering an understanding of the complexities of contemporary media systems in a polarized and interconnected world.
Note: POP is a postgraduate-plus section. This means that we only accept submissions from postgraduate researchers – corresponding to holders of MA degrees and above. This applies also to co-authors (either presenting or non-presenting authors), so submitting authors are asked to make sure that they include only holders (not students) of MA degrees and above.
Topics addressing the central theme
POP is committed to examining the ever-changing nature of the social, political and economic forces that configure communication processes and, specifically, the communicative role of popular culture. We premise the study of popular culture on the observation that our object of analysis, in its many forms, has and continues to offer sites to understand how the relation between structural and subjective agents comes into being, and how institutions and individuals interface with each other. In keeping with IAMCR 2027’s theme, POP invites submission of abstracts and panel proposals that theoretically, methodologically and/or empirically explore the following:
- Marginalised voices in/on popular culture narratives
- Technologies of engagement and listening and/in popular culture
- Popular culture(s), transnational cultural flows & asymmetries
- Popular narratives of social difference & marginalization (e.g. gender; race; ethnicity; class; sexuality; ability)
- Digitization, democratization & pop-cultural technologies
- Diversity in/of celebrity culture, fandom and on/offline communities
- De-colonization and popular media industries
- Ethical perspectives (and sustainability) in popular culture
- Popular culture in/as democratic spaces
- Aesthetics, aestheticization and resistance in popular culture landscapes
- Nation, the national, (trans)nationalism and populism in popular culture
- Neo-global consumer structures/contexts and consumer subjectivities/identities
- Social justice, human rights, equality and inclusion in popular narratives
- Social media and social mediation/mediatization in a de-colonizing landscape
Naturally, abstracts and panel proposals that address themes not mentioned above but relevant to the study of popular culture will also be considered.
Guidelines for abstracts
Abstracts submitted to POP should be between 400 and 600 words in length and contain references to the most important theoretical notions used to develop the study. Abstracts must be submitted through IAMCR's submission system from 9 December 2026 through 12 February 2027 at 23:59 UTC. Abstracts submitted by email will not be considered.
Authors are expected to submit only one (1) abstract, and no more than one (1) abstract can be submitted as first author to POP. Moreover, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the name of the same author(s), either individually (e.g. as 2nd author) or as first author. Please note as well 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. Any such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected.
Proposals are accepted for both single papers and multi-paper sessions (panels). Please note that there are special procedures for submitting multi-paper sessions. You can find the detailed procedures when submitting your abstract online in the abstract submission system.
Evaluation criteria
Abstracts submitted with POP will be evaluated on the basis of:
- Technical merit - which includes the research design’s feasibility
- Readability
- Originality and/or significance
- Use of or contribution to theory
- Depth of knowledge of the research, theory and/or literature related to to the proposed topic as evidenced in the submission
- Relevance to the Section and current trends or controversies in its field
Acceptance of proposals may also be conditioned by programme diversity and balance criteria.
Languages
POP accepts abstract submissions in English only.
Statement on use of AI tools
POP does not encourage or condone the use of generative AI tools to prepare abstracts submitted for consideration for our conferences. IAMCR values originality, integrity, and transparency in academic work, and believes that human-authored contributions best support rigorous and innovative scholarship in media and communication research. Should an author choose to use a generative AI tool in the preparation of an abstract, we require that they include a clear statement within their submission disclosing the tool's use. This statement must specify: (1) the name of any AI tool used; (2) how the tool was used in preparing the abstract, and; (3) the reason for using the tool. Failure to disclose the use of generative AI in accordance with these guidelines may impact the evaluation and acceptance of the submission.
Intention to attend
Each abstract submitted to IAMCR represents a real cost to the Association and contributes to the workload of volunteer reviewers and organisers. As the number of submissions each year far exceeds the available presentation slots, we ask authors to submit only if they genuinely intend to attend and present their work at the conference if accepted.
Deadlines and key dates
The deadline to submit proposals is 12 February 2027, at 23:59 UTC.
Other other key dates to keep in mind. Dates are subject to change.
About the Popular Culture Section
Learn more about the work and scope of the Popular Culture Section
Contact the Section
Chair: Tonny Krijnen, krijnen@eshcc.eur.nl
Vice-chair: Florian Vanlee, Florian.Vanlee@ugent.be
Vice-chair: Yongliang Gao, gaoyongliang@cuc.edu.cn
