Call for Candidates - S&WG Head elections 2021

History Section

The History Section (HIS) will be holding online elections for one Chair and one Vice-chair positions, for the term 2021 - 2025.

The elections will be held online from 16 June until 14 September using the SurveyMonkey platform. Individual members and representatives of institutional members who are also registered as members of the HIS Section are eligible to stand for a position and to vote.

Interested candidates must send their name, institutional position, a statement of no more than 500 words and a photograph to elections [at] iamcr.org with a copy to the HIS section's current officers, Nelson Costa Ribeiro (nelson.ribeiro [at] fch.lisboa.ucp.pt) and Gideon Kouts (gkouts [at] orange.fr), no later than 16 May.

All candidates must be current members of IAMCR, and of the HIS section. To verify if you are a member of the HIS section, log in to your IAMCR account and select “My Sections and Working Groups” from the menu.

You can find the election rules at: https://iamcr.org/governance/swg-rules

Read about the History Section

Candidates

For Chair:

For Vice-chair:

Statements

Nelson Ribeiro (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon)

I’m currently the Chair of the History Section and wish to stand for reelection after a first term in which the Section has grown, not only in the number of researchers who participate at IAMCR conferences, but also in the number of projects that have emerged from networking and discussions that have been promoted within the section. This was possible due to the collaboration and hard work of the section’s Vice-Chair, Gideon Kouts, and to the commitment of an increasing number of members who find at the History Section a forum for the discussion of ideas, concepts and methods that interest those who engage in research in communication and media history. If reelected, I wish to continue to promote collaboration among section members and to stimulate networking among our community. 

Thinking forward, I do believe there is more to be done to stimulate collective publications that can make a contribution to the field. In 2021 our first collective book will be coming out, published by the IAMCR Palgrave Series. Those who attended the business meeting in 2019 in Madrid may recall that we were then collecting ideas chapters. We have gone a long way since then and the book, entitled Media and the Dissemination of Fear: Pandemics, Wars and Political Intimidation, is now in production. It is composed of 12 chapters, several of them written by section members. In the near future, I aim to follow up on other ideas from our last business meetings for other publications. The quality of the work presented annually at our Section clearly justifies that we pursue new avenues to give visibility to the papers that are being produced by our community. 

If elected, I will also continue to encourage young scholars to join the History Section, making it more attractive for them to discuss their work within our group. Promoting ties with other international organizations and groups of scholars working in communication history will also be in my agenda.

I’m an Associate Professor in Communication Studies at the Catholic University of Portugal, in Lisbon, and a member of the board of directors at the Research Centre for Communication and Culture (CECC) where I coordinate the research group “Media Narratives and Cultural Memory.” During my academic career, I have organized numerous conferences in different countries, have participated in several research projects and international networks, and have published on different topics dealing mostly with media history. I have been a member of IAMCR for over a decade and it will be an honor to continue serving the Association as Chair of the History Section.

Gideon Kouts (University of Paris 8, France)

After 30 years of membership in the IAMCR and the History section, and following a fruitful and harmonious work in the first term with our Chair, Nelson Ribeiro, I am honored to submit my candidature and offer my services for a second term as Vice-chair of our section. My planned agenda   for the next four years would allow me to   focus on fulfilling the different duties, with the Section Chair, and spend a significant time in the service of our section and Association.

I am Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communications and Head of the Institute of Cultures, Civilizations and Societies at the University of Paris 8. Author and editor of numerous books and articles dealing mainly with the History of Media and Communications in the Jewish societies, History of the European press in the 19th century, Propaganda and National Identity studies.  (One of my books was based exclusively on the papers presented in the History section of IAMCR.)Editor of the International Journal of Jewish Press and Communications Research and the European Journal of Hebrew Studies. I am a member of many professional associations and participated in many important international conferences, often as key speaker, and my participation was mostly concentrated on historical aspects of the press and communications. I have also a rich working experience as a correspondent for international media.

During this term, the History section grew and arrived to unprecedented number of participants in IAMCR Conferences’ sessions (culminating in Madrid). At the initiative of our Chair, our participation in last year’s virtual Conference was very successful and gained a lot of esteem. Recently, we renewed the publication of books based on conferences’ sessions and highlighting our members’ work. The first one on the notion of Fear in communication history is in press. The following dealing with Propaganda and Fake News us under planning.

The History section of IAMCR  was the first established section in any international communication’s scholars’ professional bodies ,dealing exclusively with History ,and served as an example in reproducing such sections and activities , for instance at the ICA (with which I have often collaborated in conferences and publications). Our section should maintain its privileged “founder’s” status and continue to lead the research in the field, exploring new directions and initiating original and innovative activities especially in this complicated period. I would be glad to continue to contribute, as much as I can, to answer this challenge.

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