THEME: COMMUNICATION RESEARCH IN THE ERA OF NEO-GLOBALISATION

Watch the video clip prepared by the hosts presenting the theme

Introduction

IAMCR conferences address many themes defined by our 33 thematic sections and working groups. At the same time, an overarching theme is explored throughout the conference with the aim of generating and exploring multiple perspectives concerning intellectual and empirical developments in media and communication research. This theme is addressed in plenary and special sessions, and in some sessions of the sections and working groups. Not all submissions are required to address this main theme. The main theme for IAMCR 2022, "Communication Research in the Era of Neo-Globalisation: Reorientations, Challenges and Changing Contexts", is concerned with possibilities for rethinking communication research agendas in the post-pandemic world, which has seen dramatic shifts in the way we interact and understand our physical, social, cultural, political and material environments.

Several sub-themes of this central theme have been identified: 

• Reorienting Media and Communication Research in the Era of Neo-Globalisation;
• Artificial Intelligence in Global Communication Contexts; 
• Cultural Identities and Dis-Identities in the Era of Neo-Globalisation; 
• Communication for Sustainability: Climate Change, Environment, and Health; 
• Media Ethics and Principles in the Digital Age; 
• Media, Communication, and the Construction of Global Public Health; 
• Data/Digital Science and Intercultural Communication; 
• Digital Platforms and Public Service: Science, Technology and Sustainability. 

Section and working group themes

Proposals must be submitted to sections and working group and may be centred on an aspect of the main conference theme as it relates to the central concerns of the section or working group, or they may address additional themes identified by the section or working group.

Consult the calls for proposals of IAMCR’s sections and working groups.

Main theme of IAMCR 2022

Communication Research in the Era of Neo-Globalisation: Reorientations, Challenges and Changing Contexts

Two years into the global pandemic of COVID-19, the world is facing unprecedented challenges from a brand-new media and cultural topography in a post-pandemic era of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, including but not limited to issues related to public health, climate change, and sustainability. With more than three decades of cultural, economic, and communication globalisation, we now enter an all-encompassing post-pandemic world of neo-globalisation. In the wake of long waves of colonisation, and establishment of new kinds of economic and cultural hegemony in the second half of the 20th century, the ruptures of the pandemic give rise to the agenda of a what might be called a neo-globalisation dispensation. This turns on trade exchange and intercultural communication, accenting soft power and patterns of interdependent cultural harmony -- reorganizing world orders. In the age of neo-globalisation, international economic, political, and cultural exchanges are based on measures of institutional innovation, disruptive technology, and political empathy.

This contemporary world, and its central tenet of globalisation, poses urgent questions and challenges for media and communications scholars. What are cultural identities and identification processes in this era of neo-globalisation? What are the roles of media and communication in the construction of a global public health community? How do data and digital science shape and influence intercultural communication? What are the essential “Global” media ethics in the digital age? How do we communicate for sustainability? How do we design digital platforms and content and provide public service to better advance science and technology?

Sub-themes

The theme is open for a wide range of ideas dealing with, but not limited to, the following specific sub-themes:

    1. Reorienting Media and Communication Research in the Era of Neo-Globalisation

In the age of neo-globalisation, international economic, political, and cultural exchanges are based on measures of institutional innovation, disruptive technology, and political empathy. Contemporary communication studies emerged in the mid-twentieth century as a hybrid field growing out of art, literary studies, sociology, and other disciplines. The era of neo-globalisation has expanded the boundaries and imagination of media communication research. Therefore, we invite papers and panels that reorient the direction, scope, and possibilities of media and communication research. In this regard, we ask: How should scholars (re)define media and communication research in the neo-globalisation era? What are the impacts of different levels of neo-globalisation on media and communication studies? What are the implications of international economic, political, and cultural exchanges and policies on global media communication research in the era of neo-globalisation?

    2. Artificial Intelligence in Global Communication Contexts

The explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and its application in recent years have made it a dominant productive force of social development. In many countries around the world, AI plays a critical role in public governance, facilitating effective response to the pandemic, and public health. Meanwhile, concerned researchers have called for a code of ethics for AI developments, applications, and research, generating discussion and debate about boundaries and limitations. We are interested in papers and panels that focus on the use of artificial intelligence in communication and media research, media framing and public perceptions of AI, and the existing and possible future impacts of it in global communication contexts. 

    3. Cultural Identities and Dis-Identities in the Era of Neo-Globalisation

The unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 has precipitated a new era of globalisation. Cultural identities continue to be created, proliferated, and contested by global media and communication. More frequent and immersed online presence and interactions beyond geographical limits shape cultural identity and identification processes in gradual and crucial ways. #BlackLivesMatter, #StopAsianHate, and the global #MeToo movements all showcase the significance of today’s (social) media agenda and how cultural identities transcend beyond national borders. At the same time, media and communication scholars have called for the need to re-evaluate the enduring significance of nation-states, entangled in cosmopolitan conditions of cultures and identities. Against this backdrop, we are interested in papers and panels on cultural identity construction and changes in the context of neo-globalisation. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: What is the role of domestic political forces in the shaping of cultural identity and identification now? How to situate global media and communication research in the context of globalisation with the continuing centrality of nation-states? How do social media activate cultural identity and identification of marginalized groups in a world of global interconnectedness? 

    4. Communication for Sustainability: Climate Change, Environment, and Health

In recent years, no-globalization has taken risk societies (Ulrich Beck) to the precipice of profound challenges. The flooding in North China, Western European, and Australia, wildfires around the globe, oil spill in Southern California – natural and man-made disasters pose threats to the well-being of human beings, wildlife, as well as the shared environment in which we live. Media and communication scholars respond to issues related to sustainability, including but not limited to climate change, environment, and public health and explore possibilities of facilitating sustainable development through communication. We welcome papers and panels discussing strategies, effects, and concerns related to communication for sustainability from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives, such as journalism studies, public communications, and corporate communications.

    5. Media Ethics and Principles in the Digital Age

Principles and standards for the practice of media and communication in an era of neo-globalisation are not static but ever-changing. Emerging issues of information (in)equality, gender, and race in the digital age highlight the need for continuing development and (re)consideration of global media ethics surrounding all aspects of media production, circulation, and consumption. We welcome papers and panels on a wide range of issues within this area, such as discrimination in digital media, the manifestation of populism in social media, and the predominant control of global media in the hands of a minority of Western countries.

    6. Media, Communication, and the Construction of Global Public Health 

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of building and enhancing a global public health system, making it even more urgent to examine the role of media and communication in the construction of a global public health community, how its presence and power may lead to the mobilization of societal action that creates and improves the conditions for public health, and how certain media practices may hinder progress toward effectively building a global public health community. To this end, we invite papers and panels that seek to address the current status of global health disparity and governance, the role of media in responding to global health risks, and the different ways in which media and communication research can contribute to public health globally.

    7. Data/Digital Science and Intercultural Communication

The enormous growth in user data on global media platforms provides researchers with opportunities to investigate the processes of cultural generation in the digital space, providing new ideas for theoretical innovation in intercultural communication research. New media technologies and data/digital science can enable people with different cultural backgrounds to express their cultural identities or impede them from doing so. The development of digital science creates possibilities of examining intercultural communication practices through large-scale data of social interactions among different groups of people. We welcome papers and panels that analyse and report online interactive behaviours in the digital “transnational community” to examine the processes of intercultural communication in the digital age of neo-globalisation.

    8. Digital Platforms and Public Service: Science, Technology and Sustainability 

Digital platforms are increasingly used for public service promotion, environmental engagement, science education, and crisis and risk communication, providing unique and interactive opportunities to the public sector to promote its policies and activities, to the scientists to share cutting-edge findings, and to environmental activists to advocate for their sustainability initiatives. How these messages can be delivered effectively through digital platforms, however, needs further investigation. We welcome papers and panels that examine the content and delivery of messages for science, technology, sustainability, and public service on different digital platforms as well as the intended and unintended effects of these communication efforts.