Update: CFP Media and the Arab Spring--The Road Ahead, Keynote Speakers Announced

The conference will feature keynote lectures from: Naomi Sakr (Arab Media Centre, University of Westminster) and Hamid Dabashi (Columbia University). 

Call for Papers

Call for Papers
Media and the Arab Spring – The Road Ahead

Ifrane, Morocco on 11 – 12 June 2014
Hosted by the Communication Studies Program of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane

The wave of protests, revolts, rebellions, and developments commonly referred to as the ‘Arab Spring’ raises serious questions about the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs), popular uprisings, and the political economies of media.  In a region where traditional media have been under strict government control, the Internet and social networks provide a space for youth to articulate their political views and organize their political actions. However, research demonstrates that the dynamics of media and political action go beyond the role that social media played in the unfolding of the events. Research also shows that Arab states are attempting to deter the power of the internet and are engaging in various efforts to contain its influence through regulation and surveillance.

This conference seeks to provide a venue to research related to the intersections of technology, political mobilization, civil society, media policy, and culture. Submissions from all theoretical and methodological perspectives are welcome. We invite scholars working in the fields of media studies, communication studies, and cultural studies to send an abstract of the proposed paper to be presented and/or the planned panel. We seek contributions that analyze the current state of affairs as well as implications for the future.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

1.      Media Coverage of the Arab Spring

2.      Theorizing Media and Social Change

3.      Arab Spring, Gender, and Media

4.      Discourses about Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Arab Media

5.      Digital Activism and Citizen Journalism

6.      Social Media and Political Participation

7.      The intersections between Online Media, Public Sphere, and Democracy

8.      Mediations and Interventions of the Arab Diaspora in the West

9.      Emerging Forms of Community and Alternative Media

10.  State and Global Surveillance, Media Freedom, and Political Power

11.  Journalistic Professionalism and Questions of Ethics

12.  Audience Reception in Changing Media Environments

13.  Implications on Media Policy and Regulation

The two-day conference will take place from June 11-12, 2014 at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. Al Akhawayn University is an independent, public, not-for-profit, coeducational Moroccan university committed to educating future citizen-leaders of Morocco and the world through a globally-oriented, English-language, liberal-arts curriculum based on the American model.

Submissions

You may submit single contributions or panel session proposals. For single contributions, please submit abstracts of approximately 250 words. Presentations will be 15 minutes long. For panel sessions, you may also submit proposals for panel sessions (90 minutes long). Submissions should contain both a panel description of 500 words and abstracts of approximately 250 words for each contribution.

The submission must include the title, the presenter’s name, affiliation, email and postal address, as well as a short biography. 

Please submit your abstracts and proposals as Word files or PDF files to mas.conference2014@gmail.com by 27 January 2014. Review results will be communicated by 17 February 2014.

Registration Fee

Registration and payment for the conference on site. Registration fee including meals for the 2 days of conference: Faculty US$150; Students US$75.

Contact information

k.oumlil@aui.ma or b.zaid@aui.ma

http://mediaandarabspring.blogspot.com/

Communication Studies Program

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane

Conference Organizing Committee

Dr. Kenza Oumlil, Dr. Bouziane Zaid