SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

Communication and Global Power Shifts

An International Conference in Celebration of the
40^th Anniversary of the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University

Vancouver, Canada, June 6-8, 2013

The volatile and chaotic nature of the current global system and the central role of ‘communicative capital’ in the constitution of the crisis-ridden global order bring new urgency to efforts to critically analyze enduring issues and new dynamics in global communications. A critical perspective requires that we look beyond dominant ‘power shift’ discourses, which focus primarily on the changing ‘balance of power’ among states, to consider other emerging power shifts, from the global workforce to transnational capital and from established institutions and entrenched power structures to networked individuals and ‘multitudes.’ The ongoing restructuring of the global political economy is at once challenging and accentuating existing forms of domination.

 

Call for Papers: This multifaceted topic invites interdisciplinary and multidimensional analysis, from the perspectives of political economy and policy, critical cultural analysis, and technology and society studies. The most promising lines of inquiry will involve projects that address political economy and cultural politics as they intersect critical categories such as empire, class, nation, race, and gender. Relevant topics include but are not limited to:

 

• Historical and theoretical analysis of communication and global power shifts
• Continuities and changes in the dynamics of global communications, with specific attention to South-South and/or intra-regional communication and cultural flows
• Foreclosures and opportunities for a more just global communication order in areas such as Internet governance regimes, social movement media, and communication rights
• Continuing relevance of the ‘audience commodity’ to current debates about digital labor power and struggles
• Decolonization of the foundations of knowledge-power and engagement with alternative epistemologies
• Constraints, challenges and opportunities in communication for ecological sustainability

 

Please submit paper proposals of 250 words to [email protected] by February 1, 2013. Include a short biography (75 words).