Boundaries!

CALL FOR PAPERS

Beyond Boundaries:

Media, Culture and Identity in Europe

2-3 October 2009, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey

What is Europe according to its others? An essence, an origin, a center? Or is it nothingness, a void or chiasm? Where is Europe? In diasporic or migrant spaces? How is Europe different from the West? Can an identity be made European? Could it be Eurocentric or Euro-chiasmic? Can one leave one’s cultural frame to take on another? Can one transnationalize and/or regionalize a national identity or vice versa? Can the European Union create a single entity or a grand signifier of Europe out of multiple differences? What is the role of communication, media, and culture in such exchanges, transformations, processes and practices? Can we account for the similarities, proximities, and relations or should we focus on the differences, cleavages, and tensions?

This conference aims to explore the questions above and how such questions surface in media and cultural texts, ranging from everyday practices to media representations. The papers may deal with various meanings of Europe and its relation to non-European cultures, and how these are experienced or altered at the level of media, culture, and identity. Possible paper topics are:

Eurocentrism and its alternatives

Transnationalism and nationalisms

Global, regional, and local media and culture

Diasporic and migrant culture and identities

Gender equality and cultural diversity

Tactics and strategies of dialogue between cultures

Symbolic representations of Europe in various cultural practices

Theories of European cinema, media and culture

Challenges for European cinema, media, and cultural studies

European communication studies and strategies

The EU policies on media, communication, and culture

Confirmed Keynote Speakers (alphabetically listed):

Emine Bozkurt ( Member of the European Parliament for the PvdA ), member of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee ; member of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality ; member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Turkey ; substitute member of the Culture and Education Committee ; Vice-Chair of the Diversity and Integration Network for the Socialist Group .

Prof. Angela McRobbie (University of London, Goldsmiths College, Media and Communications) author of Be Creative: Making a Living in the New Culture Industries, forthcoming (2010); Feminist Cultural Studies:  Essays on Post-Feminist Aesthetics , Literature and Popular Culture, forthcoming (2010); The Aftermath of Feminism : Gender, Culture and Social Change (2008); The Uses of Cultural Studies (2005); In the Culture Society (1999); British Fashion Design (1998).

Prof. Kevin Robins (Based in Istanbul and a visiting fellow at Goldsmiths College, University of London) author of Times of the Technoculture: From the Information Society to the Virtual Life (1999); Into the Image: Culture and Politics in the Field of Vision (1996); Spaces of Identity: Global Media, Electronic Landscapes and Cultural Boundaries (co-author, 1995).

Prof. William Uricchio (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Comparative Media Studies), author of We Europeans?: Media, Representations, Identities (2009); Media Cultures (2006); Media, Technology, Convergence (1997); Reframing Culture: the Case of the Vitagraph Quality Films (1993, co-author).

Other speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Please send a 300-word abstract with the name and institutional affiliation of the speaker (mailing address & email address) to emcs@bahcesehir.edu.tr

Deadline for abstracts: June 15, 2009.  

Deadline for acceptance information: June 29, 2009.

Deadline for submitting the completed papers: September 20, 2009.

Deadline for papers for conference proceedings: October 18, 2009.

 

Organizing Committee  

• Prof. Haluk Gürgen (Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey)
• Prof. Dieter Mersch (University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany)
• Prof. Winfried Gerling (University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany)
• Assoc. Prof. Süheyla Schroeder (Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey; visiting fellow at University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany)
• Assoc. Prof. Savas Arslan (Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey)
• Assist. Prof. Defne Karaosmanoglu (Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey)
• Assist. Prof. Christine Hanke (University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; visiting fellow at Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey)  

The conference is organized by an EU funded project, “European Media and Cultural Studies and Media Awareness,” jointly run by Bahcesehir University (Istanbul, Turkey), University of Potsdam (Potsdam, Germany) and University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (Potsdam, Germany).

Please note: There is no fee for the conference registration.

The language of the conference is English.

If you have further questions about the conference, please do not hesitate to contact us. E-Mail: Aysegul Kesirli (conference assistant) Phone: +90 (212) 381 0764