[Air-L] Call for Chapter Proposals: 'LGBTQs, Media and Culture in Europe'

[Szulc Lukasz]

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
LGBTQs, media and culture in Europe: Situated case studies

Media play a wide spectrum of social and cultural roles for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, which is attested by the growing number of studies on this topic published over the past decades. Both traditional mass media such as film and television and, more recently, digital and social media have been found to play a significant role not only in representing LGBTQs, but also in providing them with materials and spaces for the exploration and expression of identifications as well as engagement in diverse forms of social interaction.

However, the majority of LGBTQ media research focuses on contexts from the US, and to a lesser extent the UK, so its conclusions cannot be simply and unproblematically extended to other contexts. Increasingly, scholars plead for 'provincialized' forms of knowledge, avoiding universalizing statements and stressing the cultural specificity of knowledge and experience. Hence, for this edited collection we would like to invite papers anchored in a variety of geographical locations, examining issues of LGBTQs and media in close relation to their local, national and/or transnational contexts. In particular, we want to explore the specificity and variety of experiences across Europe, including those of transnational and diasporic LGBTQs. What role do media play for LGBTQs in particular historical and cultural settings across Europe? Which information, representations and digital connections do they have access to, and how do they draw upon these in processes of sexual and gender identification?

We are primarily interested in contributions based on qualitative empirical research, exploring cultural processes of meaning production and circulation, and adopting a media-decentred approach, that is, focusing primarily on people and their contextualized experiences with media rather than on the media themselves. We welcome work discussing diverse non-normative sexualities and genders, addressing a wide range of mainstream and alternative mass, digital and social media, including but not limited to film, television, music, the internet, social networking sites and mobile applications.

SUBMISSION DETAILS
* Abstracts of 400 to 500 words should be sent to Alexander Dhoest (alexander.dhoest at uantwerpen.be<mailto:alexander.dhoest at uantwerpen.be>) or Lukasz Szulc (lukasz.szulc at uantwerpen.be<mailto:lukasz.szulc at uantwerpen.be>) by 1 June 2015.
* Notification of acceptance: 15 June 2015.
* Full chapters should be between 6000 and 8000 words, and are due by 1 November 2015.
* Authors will have the opportunity to present and discuss their work in a workshop in Antwerp on 4 December 2015.
* Final versions due: 1 March 2016.

EDITORS
Alexander Dhoest, University of Antwerp, https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/alexander-dhoest/
Lukasz Szulc, University of Antwerp, www.lukaszszulc.com<http://www.lukaszszulc.com>
Bart Eeckhout, University of Antwerp, https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/bart-eeckhout/

    Lukasz Szulc
    University of Antwerp
    Department of Communication Studies
    Media, Policy & Culture

    M. 371 - Stadscampus - Sint-Jacobstraat 2 - B
    2000 Antwerp, BELGIUM
    Tel. +32 (0)3 265 50 34
    www.lukaszszulc.com<http://www.lukaszszulc.com/>
    @LukaszSzulc


-          Szulc, L. (2014) The Geography of LGBTQ Internet Studies. International Journal of Communication 8: 2927-2931.
Available at: http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3333/1261


-          Szulc, L. & Dhoest, A. (2013) The internet and sexual identity formation: Comparing internet use before and after coming out. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research 38(4): 347-365.

Available at: https://www.academia.edu/5004213/The_internet_and_sexual_identity_formation_Comparing_Internet_use_before_and_after_coming_out