[Air-L] CFP: Whose voice?: Global Populisms, Media and Political Institutions in Uncertain Times

jayson harsin jaysonharsin at yahoo.com
Wed Aug 6 03:05:07 PDT 2014


Hello, this CFP may be of possible interest to some of you on the list.
best wishes,
Jayson

Whose voice?: Global Populisms, Media and Political Institutions in Uncertain Times

Populars: “A resurgence of populism in Europe”; the “economic populism” of Latin 
America; “a populist, business-minded Hindu nationalist...at once 
India's most popular and most divisive politician”; “populist notions of culture that frame homosexuality as an ‘un-African’, alien behaviour 
foisted on the continent by western imperialists”; “a populist feminist 
movement was ignited this spring when Rush Limbaugh's vitriol more than 
backfired” as well as “what was known in Latin America as ‘popular 
feminism’”; #bringbackourgirls and #notyourrescueproject; Taksim and 
Tahir; the Pirate Party and the Tea Party; the French National Front, 
and the Zanzibar Civic Union Front.  This list is only a partial survey of the numerous 
social and political movements that have been described as giving voice 
to the needs and desires of ‘the people’ over the past decade. What is 
at stake in the noisy return of ‘the people’ to contemporary social and 
political debates? What are the languages and media that these popular 
movements use to communicate? 

This two-day colloquium will provide a forum in which scholars are able to 
share research on the role that media and communication technology are 
playing in contemporary populist movements. Not very long ago, it was thought that the populist movements of the twentieth century, organized around charismatic 
leaders and the actions of undifferentiated masses, had been displaced 
by the rise of networked media and communication platforms that allowed 
for open access. Yet, the events of the past decade have witnessed the 
rise of political movements that echo traditional forms of populism 
while incorporating the non-hierarchical characteristics of networked 
communication media. The goal of this colloquium is to bring together 
research that explores the changing relationship between populism and 
popular democratic movements globally as well as the contemporary 
significance of ‘the popular’ more broadly as a category of analysis in 
critical communication and media studies scholarship. To this end, this 
meeting hopes to bring together scholars whose work draws upon the 
traditions of cultural studies and critical theory in order to make 
sense of the relationship between the people, media and political institutions in the contemporary moment.

This colloquium calls upon scholars to present material that engages with the following questions:

*What is the role that communication and media play in the formation of these new populist movements as well as in attempts to contain or preempt them? 

*What is the relationship between these movements and established or emergent forms of political organization and institutionalization?

*How do these movements intersect with processes of economic globalization, the politics of gender and sexuality, as well as ethnic, religious, caste, 
tribal or other social formations and modes of collective identification?

We are seeking contributions from scholars based in Communication and 
Media Studies or any other related field interested in discussing a 
variety of movements, contexts and communication practices.

Please send 300-word proposals to theglobalpopular at gmail.combefore September 1st, 2014. Presentations will be 20 minutes in length, there will be an opportunity to circulate beforehand where possible. 
The conference will be held at Baruch College, City University of New 
York, New York City, with support from the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences on October 24-25, 2014. The conference is organized by Jayson 
Harsin (Baruch College) and Mark Hayward (York University).


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