[Air-l] ACA 2007

[Tyrone Adams, Ph.D.]

*Please repost widely on the Internet, via
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*FRONTIERS OF COMMUNICATION:
Determining Place, Establishing Identity, and Shaping Change*

The American Communication Association's
Annual Conference

October 4-6, 2007

Taos, NM  USA

Defining visions ranging from cowboys riding the open plains to astronauts
exploring outer-space, the word Frontier truly indicates the charting of new
territory.   As professionals we are challenged daily to step out of our
comfort zone and into unknown terrains to analyze audiences, contexts, and
results of communication transactions. For most of us, this provides an
ongoing challenge for growth and learning. According to Karin Dovring,
"Communication must be interpreted against the background in which it is
spoken or printed and that failure to understand it in that light will
result in misunderstanding, misrepresentation, and utter failure."

The American Communication Association (ACA) offers you the opportunity to
share scholarship and exchange ideas at its 2007 Annual Conference held
October 4-6, 2007 on the Southern Methodist University's (SMU) Taos, New
Mexico campus. SMU's campus is located at the old Fort Burgwin, which, for
more than 100 years, lay buried and forgotten. Born of the clash of cultures
in the early days of the New Mexico territory, it gradually decayed under
the weight of other forces changing the face of the North American frontier.
Today, resurrected and restored, Fort Burgwin thrives as a center for
academic discovery. While there are plenty of hotels in Taos, New Mexico,
the campus has casitas for on-site lodging. Since the campus is in the
Carson National Forest, it is a wonderful place for walks and talks. The
town of Taos, has something for everyone. Seated on the high-desert mesa at
the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Taos is rich with art, steeped
in history, and provides visitors with a variety of experiences. Native
American, Spanish, and Anglo cultures are proudly preserved through art and
architecture, music and dance, and food and festivals for all to enjoy
throughout the year. According to one website, " The region's frontier sagas
of romance and history, its big-hearted cowboy quests, and the enduring
mystique of ancient culture have woven themselves deeply into the tapestry
of our collective memory and imaginations."

The ACA conference will begin on the evening of October 3 rd with a
meet-and-greet event, followed by three days filled with intellectual
presentations and discussion. An amazing experience has been planned to
conclude the conference on Saturday evening, Oct. 6th . Student submissions
are welcome. The deadline for submitting papers and panels is May 31, 2007.
Acceptance notices will be sent early in July.

Theme One: Determining Place -Objective and Subjective Contexts

By examining how communication defines circumstance, conditions, factors,
state of affairs, situation, scene, and backgrounds, the populace forms
categories consisting of communities and groups in which to make meaning.
During the first day of the conference, participants will examine such
themes as: How do we construct places or socially shared contexts? How do we
make the places known to others? What role does ecology play in
communication? How do we learn the fabrics of socially shared contexts in
traditional and virtual settings? Do newly created places provide for more
or less expression? Are all contexts virtual in that we perceive them
according to our own templates of reality and how does this impact
communication? How is the substitution of nonhuman for human technology,
transforming our lives into controlled environments and affecting the
selection of communication channels and participants?

Theme Two:   Shaping Change through Communication

Successful action, movements, operations, engagement, power, influence,
happenings, events, and activities are bringing people together to shape
society. During the final day of the conference, participants will focus on
how actions link place and identity to create virtual and electronic
campaigns, many of which have given previously silent people more visibility
to take part in such movements to transform their lives and communities.
Topics such as The Third Force -- how people are coming together via the
Internet to impact social problems -- from Hurricane Katrina to hunger. What
are the social, cultural, and technological factors that facilitate or
hinder people from working with each other from different locations? Do we
need a new "place" to foster collaboration? How do we communicate what we
need and what we can offer across boundaries? How do we create a shared
social context so we can organize and coordinate our actions? In a society
that wants instant, preformed solutions to social issues, how do we find the
language to bind rather than divide us?

Theme Three: Establishing Identities - Exogenous and Indigenous Identities

Through examining the roles of participants, contributors, entrants,
competitors, players, and candidates, the second day focuses on the native
and the innovative roles people play when communicating. Who are we,
traditional people or displaced people in a diasporic world? A networked
world? How do we communicate "we"? Are "we" changing all the time? Are we
empowered to revive or revise who we are? Are we free to choose how to
express who we are? Who will be counted in "we" vs. "them"? How do we
communicate to people that we are (not) one of them? The effects of a
virtual society on multiculturalism: are we more homogenous because of the
Internet or less so?  In a culture that tends to believe deeply that in
general 'bigger is better' how do we humanize a McDonaldized society? Do we
define our society as intracultural or Multicultural? How do we protect and
pass down our oral traditions and ceremony in a fast paced society? Does
technology help or hinder the preservation of storytelling?

Student Submissions

The American Communication Association is open to all participants. Students
are encouraged to submit full-length papers and panel proposals.

SUBMISSION PROCESS:   Please submit papers and panels to Rita Kirk (
rkirk at smu.edu).  All submissions should be submitted electronically.   You
will receive notification that the submission has been received, and again
later when the panels and schedules are posted.

Convention Costs: The convention will cost $150 USD for professionals and
full-time professors and $75 for students.  There will be many "together
events" where drink and food will be served, representing a significant
outlay of this capital.

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Tyrone L. Adams, Ph.D.
Richard D'Aquin Associate Professor of Journalism and Communications
Department of Communication
http://comm.louisiana.edu
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
P.O. Box 43650
Lafayette, LA USA 70504
Direct Phone: 337.482.6077
Facsimile: 337.482.6104
http://www.swampboy.com/

"Got on a dead man's suit and smilin' skull ring.
Lucky graveyard boots and a song to sing."

        --Springsteen
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