[Air-L] Media & Politics Group Annual Conference. Theme: Media, Persuasion and Human Rights

[Andy]

Colleagues,
I'm delighted to announce that the Political Studies Association Media &
Politics Group Annual Conference will be held this November at Bangor
University in  N.Wales, hosted by Bangor University's network for Media &
Persuasive Communication.
We welcome papers on any aspect of Media and Politics, or on this year’s
conference theme of Media, Persuasion and Human Rights. While human rights
may appear inalienable in international law and covenants, in fact they are
sites of contestation, conflict and redefinition, variably implemented
across the globe. Reflecting our theme, our key note speakers include Prof.
Jon Silverman (University of Bedfordshire) who is currently working on the
influence of the media's reporting of war crimes trials in West Africa on
civil society.​
*Conference Date: *Mon. 10th  -  Tues. 11th Nov. 2014
*Website: *
http://www.bangor.ac.uk/creative_industries/media-persuasion/index.php.en
*Email: *mediapoliticsconference at bangor.ac.uk
 We seek papers on any of the following themes.
1.   *Media and Politics* - any aspect.
2.   *Media, Persuasion* *and Human Rights*, including:
a) *Mediating Norms.* Jeremy Bentham once called human rights ‘nonsense
upon stilts’. What is the philosophical status of human rights and how are
deontic norms complicated, challenged and threatened by current
geo-political events and their mediation? Are liberal social aspirations
being redefined and eroded? Did they ever exist? What betterment do we have
to aim for today?
b) *Communicating Trade-offs.* When governments balance rights against each
other (eg trading-off the right to privacy or freedom from torture in
exchange for national security), how do the media respond? How does the
complexity of decision-making and trade-offs get communicated? What are
decision-makers’ insights on balancing and communicating rights?
c) *Contestation and Articulation*. What human rights are privileged by,
and contested through, the media? How have these changed over time? How do
articulatory struggles play out across the media, and via what persuasive
‘actants’, including NGOs, investigative journalists, the public, lawyers,
companies, corporations, governments, and international governance bodies?
d) *Media Forms*. How does the struggle over articulation vary across
different media forms and genres? How do minority media and the rise of
mass self-broadcasting enable perverted viewing and production (eg torture
porn, tour of duty war mementos), and with what implications for the
normalization of abnormal situations (too taboo for mass view), and for the
social enactment of human rights?
e) *New Media, New Rights?* What novel opportunities and challenges do new
media technologies present for human rights that intrinsically rely on the
media, such as the right to privacy and freedom of speech?
f) *Mobilisation*. In what ways do media inform and mobilise the public
regarding their human rights? This may range from the practices of bearing
witness (eg sousveillant communication); to the generation of empathy,
intimacy, and a new solidarity through media forms that invoke engagement,
identification and pleasure (eg Twitter, film, reality TV, comedy, music)?
g) *Gender*. Is there such as thing as 'gendered' human rights? How does
gender impact and influence mediated construction of human rights around
the globe?  How has the media engaged in the representation of gendered and
sexualised human rights abuses (for example mass rape, comfort women, sex
trafficking and enforced prostitution)?
h) *Cultural Imperialism?* What are non-western insights on human rights
liberal discourse, and how are these dealt with in various national and
trans-national institutions ranging from satellite TV to the International
Criminal Court?
We encourage diverse responses to the theme, but are especially interested
in interdisciplinary responses, not least from policy-makers, activists,
philosophers, information-management specialists, computer scientists,
journalists, security analysts, and those with expertise in law or politics.

*Abstract submission*
All proposals should include the following: title and name, institutional
affiliation and address, and email address; together with, a paper title,
an abstract of not more than 300 words, an indication of which theme(s) you
are addressing, and up to five key words about your paper. Please also
indicate whether or not you are a postgraduate student.
Please indicate which section you wish your proposal to be considered under:
1.  10-15 minute panel presentation;
2.  Practice-based work (15 mins - comprising showing of practice-based
piece (or an extract) plus any accompanying discussion/context).
Abstracts should be sent *by 1**st** July* to
mediapoliticsconference at bangor.ac.uk .
All abstracts will undergo peer review and decisions on papers will be
given within 3 weeks of the submission deadline.

*Postgraduates & James Thomas Memorial Prize*
Postgraduate students are invited to submit a full paper that will be
entered into the James Thomas Memorial Prize. This annual award is
presented to the most outstanding paper by a postgraduate student at the
Media and Politics Group Annual Conference. While abstracts must be
submitted by 1st July, full papers must be submitted by 1 October 2014, to
allow time for them to be reviewed by the MPG conveners.
We look forward to welcoming you to Bangor University.

With all best wishes,
Andy


Senior Lecturer for School of Creative Studies and Media
Director of Media and Persuasive Communication (MPC) network
Bangor University
College Road
Bangor

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