Islam and Media Working Group – Call for Papers

Grupo de trabajo El Islam y los medios de comunicación

Islam and Media Working Group of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) invites submissions of abstracts for papers and panel proposals for the IAMCR 2017 conference to be held in Cartagena, Colombia, 16-20 July 2017.

The deadline to submit abstracts 9 February 2017. Proposals for consideration by Islam and Media Working Group must be submitted via the IAMCR Open Conference System (OCS) at http://iamcr-ocs.org

The theme of the 2017 conference is Transforming Culture, Politics & Communication: New media, new territories, and new discourses.

Islam and Media Call for Papers

The current times are, no doubt, testing times for the mass media all over the world. Everywhere, “media are being transformed by complex and often unpredictable dynamics and trends.” Among the most vulnerable to transformation are media of developing and emerging democracies, including those of the Muslim world.
In the context of the Muslim world, communication and the mass media have received much scrutiny as the environment in which they have been operating remained highly susceptible to change and transformation. Often engulfed in varying level of controversies, extending from simple and legitimate political opposition activities, to downright civil and cross-country wars, the role and content of mass media of the Muslim and Arab regions have experienced change and transformation.

As a result, traditional and new media became more politicized than what was earlier described as media for “mobilization and entertainment” (Rugh, 2004). As the region subscribed to new media in the age of technological innovations, new tools of opposition, expression of opinion and demonstration are being adopted, and a larger sector of the public is becoming politically active and socially involved. Given the outcome of the political and social transformation of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, a large section of the population in the Muslim world  has witnessed fervent political engagement by the masses. Off-shore traditional media beaming via satellite, social media like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, and energized local print and electronic media  have brought more active Muslim and Arab public who promise to transform political action into new horizons.

On the other hand, these same technological advances in media, have cultivated for Islam and Muslims, negative images of anarchy and destruction. Fed by destructive activities of such groups like ISIS with its Arabic equivalent of “Daesh”, the image of Muslims in, particularly, the west has grown to be negatively construed, and developed Islamophobia as a persistent phenomenon in the west. Such negative perceptions have resulted in actions and behaviors that demeaned innocent and helpless Muslim victims of the same maverick groups, and, in some cases, legitimized, or threaten to legitimize, state actions against Muslims.

Given the above analysis, Islam and Media Group invites submissions that critically engage with these issues. In addition, the group welcomes papers and panel proposals addressing the following more general themes that fit in the general call for papers and are relevant to the group:

1. Social media and social and political transformation in the Muslim World
2. The Digital divide and the characterization of Muslims
3. Social media and Western public perceptions of Muslims and Islam
4. The politics of New media and revival of Islamic culture
5. Islamophobia as a threat to  Islamic moderation
6. Understanding and/ or misunderstanding of cultural tenets of Islam and Muslims
   Use of social networks and digital media in the Islamic context
7. Cases of Islamic modern political revivalism
8. Challenges facing Islamic culture in the digital age
9. Trends of cooperation and coexistence between Islamic culture and global cultures.
10. Tolerance, justice, equality, freedom of expression and rationality  as fundamental pillars of Islamic culture and intercultural communication
11. An Islamic perspective of  communication models
12. Communication and Islam: a historical analysis
13. Islamic ethics and ethics of global journalism
14. Islamic ethics and ethics of global journalism
15. New media coverage of international political alliances against ISIS
16. New media discourses in the Muslim world and legitimacy of political systems
17. New media, cultural heritage and political identity in the Muslim world
18. Future of culture, politics and  traditional media in the Muslim world
19. Different, uses, gratifications,  discourses of new media in Muslim and non-Muslim world
20. New media, dominance of English language and cultural threats in the Muslim world.

Islam and Media Group welcomes interdisciplinary scholarly works that relate political, social and cultural dimensions in the analysis of cultural transformation of media and communication in the context of the Islamic world, and that apply multi- methodological approaches in the analysis. The group welcomes theoretical, interdisciplinary works that deal with the above mentioned controversial issues. All papers should be based on sound and comprehensive theoretical background. Historical and comparative researches and papers are highly appreciated.

Languages

This Working Group accepts abstract submissions and presentations in English only.

Submission information

Islam and Media Group invites proposals for papers bearing on the above or related issues by submitting an abstract.

Papers:

Abstracts should include title, main question or research problem, theoretical framework, method(s) used, and the expected empirical outcomes, if applicable.  Abstracts will be evaluated by a double blind review on the basis of: (1) theoretical contribution, (2) significance of the work, (3) methods, (4) quality of writing, (4) paper organization, (5) literature review, and (6) relevance of submitted  work to Islam and Media Group and to the overall theme of the conference.

Panels:

Proposals for panels of 90 minutes are also welcome. A panel proposal must have 4 to 5 papers and include:

a. The panel title, names of the panelists and titles of their papers.
b. A panel chair and a discussant should also be mentioned.
c. An abstract for each paper should include title author(s) and institutional affiliation.
d. The panel proposal will be reviewed and will be accepted, accepted with minor change, accepted with major change or rejected.
e. Guidelines for Abstracts
f. Abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words in length.

Guidelines

Based ion IAMCR guidelines, in most cases only one (1) abstract is to be submitted per person for consideration by the conference. However, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the name of the same applicant, either individually or as part of any group of authors. Please note also that the same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to other Sections or Working Groups of the Association, after an initial submission. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be automatically rejected by the Open Conference System, by the relevant Head or by the Conference program reviewer. Such applicants risk being removed entirely from the conference program.

Upon submission of an abstract, you will be asked to confirm that your submission is original and that it has not been previously published in the form presented. You will also be given an opportunity to declare if your submission is currently before another conference for consideration.

This working group accepts abstracts in English only, to facilitate the international peer review process. In addition, this working group will arrange for presentations in English only.

All abstract submissions must be made via IAMCR’s OCS at http://iamcr-ocs.org. No email submissions of abstracts addressed to any Section or Working Group Head are to be accepted.

For further information, please consult the conference website or contact the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) by email at:  cartagena2017(at)iamcr.org

General IAMCR Conference Call >>>

Key dates >>>

Islam and Media Working Group

Chair:

Dr. Mahmoud M. Galander
Associate Professor,
Head, Department of Mass Communication, Qatar University
galander747(at)gmail.com
galander(at)qu.edu.qa
mahmoudgalander(at)yahoo.com

Vice-Chairs:

Dr. Mohamed Kirat
Professor of Communication,
Department of Mass Communication, Qatar University
mkirat(at)qu.edu.qa

Dr. Bushra H Rahman
Associate Professor of Journalism
Institute of Communication Studies
University of the Punjab, Pakistan.
bushrajk(at)gmail.com

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