International Communication in the Post-Covid-19 Era: New Dynamics from the Global South

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Update: This was initially planned as a hybrid pre-conference. On 16 May Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Suzhou, host of the pre-conference, announced that due to a recent outbreak of COVID 19 in the city the conference will be online only.

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Date and time

Saturday, 9 July 2022 | 09:00 – 16:00 Suzhou time| 01h00 – 0800 UTC|

Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for international communication. Among others, intensified geopolitical struggles, deepening platformization, and widening digital divide are capturing scholarly attention across the globe, particularly with regard to the notion of the Global South. Two trending topics are emerging through the lens of the Global South. On the one hand, the pandemic challenges the leading position of the Global North and serves as an opportunity to renew a historic ideal of building the new information and communication order in the 21st century. Countries from the Global South may also benefit from the global stagnation to reorient their developmental path and adjust their international relationships. On the other hand, they also bear the brunt of the pandemic in terms of economic downturn, social instability, and digital disconnection. With these circumstances in mind, international communication from the Global South also encapsulates both global and local dimensions, which deserve comprehensive examination from both scholars and practitioners. Compared to other countries from the Global South, China is an important example in terms of its efforts in combating the COVID-19 domestically and internationally, sustaining political legitimacy and social stability, revitalizing economic strength, and being actively involved in the changing order of international geopolitics. This themed pre-conference will bring international communication from the Global South into the focus and take China as an example to explore the dynamics of international communication within and beyond the Global South.

Offering an open and inclusive platform, this event welcomes original submissions from scholars with different national, geographic, ethnic, gender, and academic backgrounds to explore the new dynamics from the Global South in the arena of international communication against the background of the global Covid-19 pandemic. New global and local dimensions of international communication will be discussed.

Topics for prospective submissions:

New perspectives in theorizing international communication in the Post-Covid-19 Era
The changing geopolitics of international communication caused by the Covid-19 pandemic
A global pandemic, digital divide, and the Global South
Digitization, platformization, and automation in international communication
Social media-driven international communication in and from the Global South
Global South and revitalization of the legacies of NWICO in the Post-Covid-19 Era
South-South communication and its impacts on international communication
Homogeneity and heterogeneity of international communication in and from the Global South
China and its changing roles in international communication
The complex impact of platform companies in the Global South

Submission guidelines

Individual paper abstracts with 300-500 English words should be submitted to jideqiang [at] cuc.edu.cn (Deqiang Ji) no later than April 1. Notification of acceptance will be made on April 10. A selection of high-quality papers is planned to be published as a special issue in the Journal of Transcultural Communication (De Gruyter) in 2023.

Location

The pre-conference will be held in hybrid mode, online and, for participants from mainland China, at the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Suzhou, China.

Registration and participation

The conference will be open to on-site and online participation. Details on registration modalities to follow. There will be no registration charges.

Organisers

International Communication Section, IAMCR: The antecedents of the International Communication Section of IAMCR go back to 1968, when the IAMCR Executive Committee, during its meeting in Ljubljana, decided to found a new section named ‘International Understanding’. It was formalised as a Section at the Warsaw conference in 1978. At present, the International Communication Section is one of the largest sections of the association. At the INC Section, we are proud of our diversity and the truly international character that motivates us. We encourage national, inter-regional, and international studies that have to do with all subjects of communication, including journalism, political communication, globalization, and other inter-cultural forms of expression.

The Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) at the Communication University of China (CUC) is a leading national research and education organization in China. Rooted in CUC’s almost 70 years’ history of media education and research, ICS, with more than forty faculty and staff, is pioneering in a range of research and postgraduate education fields including communication theories, international communication, intelligent communication, information literacy, public opinion, audience analysis, gender communication, intercultural communication, regional and national communication. ICS is also running several international academic programs such as the International Doctoral Program of Communication Studies, International Master of International Communication for Developing Countries, etc.

The Journal of Transcultural Communication (JTC) provides a transdisciplinary platform for the publication of original research into theories and practices of transcultural communication in an increasingly globalized, networked human society. Built upon the prosperous analyses of the complex relationship between culture and communication, JTC encourages original submissions reflecting theoretical approaches in intercultural communication, integrating diverse perspectives in communication between cultures, and transcending hegemonic views of global cultures.

Convenors

Karen Arriaza Ibarra – UCM, Madrid; Chair, International Communication Section of IAMCR
Deqiang Ji – CUC, Beijing; Vice-Chair, International Communication Section of IAMCR
Kateryna Kasianenko – QUT, Queensland; Vice-Chair, International Communication Section of IAMCR
Jidong Li – Vice Dean, Institute of Communication Studies of Communication University of China
Fei Jiang – Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Transcultural Communication (De Gruyter)

Contact email

For enquiries, please email jideqiang [at] cuc.edu.cn (Deqiang Ji)