August 20, 2018

Call For Papers: Surveillance, Social Media, and Identity--Closes August 30, 2018


Call for Papers
Surveillance, Social Media, & Identity 

24th - 25th October 2018 

De Montfort University, Clephan Building, Bonners Lane, Leicester

SUBMIT: 250-word abstract to mdcevent@dmu.ac.uk by 30th August 2018 with name/title/affiliation 

SEND FULL PAPERS: 6,000-8,000 words to mdcevent@dmu.ac.uk by 8th October 2018 (peer reviewed material will be considered for IJMD, see below)

REGISTER: Conference is free, with lunch provided, but register at Eventbrite link - 
(See below for suggested content, and confirmed panel keynotes and speakers from the Media Discourse Centre)
+++ MEDIA DISCOURSE CENTRE +++
Journal Launch: IJMD, 2019, International Journal of Media Discourse
Queries re. Journal, write to: mdcjournal@dmu.ac.uk

Surveillance, Social Media, & Identity

Attitudes to the growth and use of Social Media have evolved, from broadly positive conceptions of their role as instruments/sites of democratic exchange, to less favourable assessments that identify their part in the reproduction of an inequitable and fractious social order. In recent years, greater emphasis has been placed on the Faustian bargain that the ‘consumer-citizen’ (Needham, 2003; Clarke and Newman, 2007) has been forced to strike with the ‘platform capitalists’ (Srnicek, 2016) who control access to this domain of sociability, and more attention has been devoted to the role of the state in monitoring online behaviour (Trottier, 2015). This observation should not suggest that ‘new’ media forms are solely responsible for the destruction of privacy, the repression of dissent, or the enlargement of individual egos, because technological developments throughout history can be subjected to the same kind of critical analysis. 

One of the key questions is, therefore, the particular role of social media in both facilitating and regulating expressions of human agency, as people attempt to build networks of like-minded individuals, establish forms of intimacy, and intervene in political controversies. The promotion of the ‘self’ as a cultured, capable, autonomous and yet connected being, requires the careful maintenance of online profiles and the constant revision of ‘status’. In addition, those driven by the goal of professional attainment try to draw attention to their ‘marketable’ skills and abilities. Yet, if the price of entry to this new sphere of influence is self-exposure, then these selves are composed of elements that are, in part, specifically chosen in anticipation of the scrutiny that they will receive (not only from the ‘weak ties’ established between fair-weather Facebook friends, but from intelligence agencies and corporate power).

This conference examines the ways in which mediated identity is constructed and monitored, which can encompass the circulation of communal identity, the reproduction of gendered personas, and the role of state and corporate formations in the segmentation of individuals through their political allegiance and ‘lifestyle’ choices. It also engages with recent revelations that describe the attempted manipulation of opinion and electoral preferences, and the rise of forms of surveillance designed to pre-empt the supposed ‘radicalisation’ of disaffected groups. 

Papers may include, but need not be confined, to the following:
Workplace surveillance and forms of resistance
Corporate surveillance of the consumer-citizen
Self-promotion in the digital ‘marketplace’
Histories of surveillance
Counter-surveillance and political consciousness
Protest events and policing
‘Securitisation’ and public insecurity
The contested identity of the ‘refugee’
Feminist identities and politics 
Collective identities and ‘cultural’ resistance
Online rumour and state intervention

Confirmed speakers from the Media Discourse Centre (panel keynotes in italics):
Electronic Music Collectives (Zoe Armour)
‘Breaking’ Cambridge Analytica (Alice Gibbs)
Surveillance and political identity (Ben Harbisher)
Greece & Cyprus: Political Agency, Identity and Gender (Nayia Kamenou)
Online Feminist Identities (Claire Sedgwick)
Iraq: Gender and Online Identity (Ahmed Bahiya)
UK: Child sexual abuse, surveillance, control (Jason Lee)
Identity Process Theory (Rusi Jaspal)
Brazil: Collective identity and resistance (Fernanda Amaral)
China: Misinformation and mistrust: rumours on Chinese social media (Yu Sui)
Italy: Autonomy, Surveillance and Power (Marco Checci)
Sociopolitical digital heritage in Israel-Palestine (Gil Pasternak)
Spain: Leftism, Nationalism and Identity (Stuart Price)
Identity, Class and Intergenerational Change (Gurvinder Aujla-Sidhu)
UK R10 Studio: Surveillance, Re-appropriated Post War Technologies and Evotronics (Paul Mazzitelli)

JOURNAL INFORMATION - IJMD to launch in 2019:
Journal Launch: IJMD, 2019, International Journal of Media Discourse

Brief overview: The IJMD is devoted to the peer-reviewed, open-access publication of critically-informed research, focussed on the role of discourse in the material/symbolic constitution of the contemporary social order. This goal does not mean that a specific methodological or political position is preferred, nor should it suggest that the Journal is restricted to the analysis of political, as opposed to cultural events. Media Discourse is understood, therefore, as a broad category of ‘value-laden’ practices, animated and circulated by institutions, platforms, workers, ‘publics’ and other formations, rather than as a distinct mode of communication that subjects other social forces to its own agenda.
IJMD also maintains (as the title suggests!) a decidedly International focus, inviting contributions from academics who consider themselves part, not only of a ‘global’ academy, but of a wider political and social constituency. This trans-national group is composed of citizens, journalists, academics, activists, and any others whose primary concern is the pursuit of social justice. A serious engagement with the challenges of the current period must take into account the various manifestations of sociopolitical activity, based on an understanding of class, gender, ethnicity, and other forms of subaltern identity. In other words, IJMD encourages the submission of research that interrogates the iniquities and myths perpetuated by the cheerleaders of patriarchal capitalism, as well as the resistive practices of those subjected to its power.

In sum, IJMD provides an interdisciplinary forum for the generation of new insights into the contested production of public meaning. The Editors are particularly interested in the intersection between empirical and theoretical work, in which an author is able to suggest advances within (or beyond) a particular field, tradition or mode of enquiry, by offering evidence from interviews, participant observation, social media surveys, data analysis, or other forms of enquiry. This does not, however, preclude the submission of material (such as an extended essay) that tries to advance academic thought by engaging with contemporary developments in theory.

(Editors: Ruth Sanz Sabido, CCCU; Ben Harbisher, DMU; Stuart Price, DMU)

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