Conference: Regime-Critical Media and Arab Diaspora: Challenges and Opportunities post-Arab Spring
The conference is hosted by the project Mediatized diaspora (MEDIASP): Contentious Politics among Arab Media Users in Europe, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
After the Arab Spring, political developments in the Arab countries have varied from sustained civil war in Syria and Yemen to fragile political democracy in Tunisia; from successive regime changes in Egypt to regime maintenance in Bahrain; and from ongoing uprisings in Sudan to “successful” pressure against the regime to resign in Algeria. These developments have a direct impact on the conditions for regime-critical and politically mobilized media and for Arab diasporas living outside the Arab world. Regime-critical media have faced new restrictions and challenges in the Middle Eastern and North African countries post-Arab Spring, letting several media to move to other countries. Likewise, the situation of political activists either still living in the Middle East or in diaspora has greatly changed and their contributions have taken on a new significance.
The overall questions are: how do regime-critical media produced for the Middle Eastern or North-African audiences meet new challenges and opportunities? How do Middle Eastern and North-African diaspora groups mobilize politically and engage in transnational political activities? How does the audiences’ use of regime-critical media influences political action formation in diaspora?
See the Conference program here (PDF)
Registration
Registration is required but there is no registration fee. The conference does not cover travel or accommodation costs for participants.
Deadline for registration is 31 August.
Professor Naomi Sakr, Westminster School of Media and Communication, UK. Naomi Sakr is Professor of Media Policy and a former Director of the CAMRI Arab Media Centre.
Professor Myria Georgiou, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. Myria Georgiou is Professor of Media and Communications at the Department of Media and Communications.
Associate professor Tourya Guaaybess, Humanities and Social Sciences-Nancy, University of Lorraine, France. Her research focus on international communication, journalism and Arab media.
Professor Carola Richter, Institute for Media and Communication Studies. The Free University of Berlin, Germany. Her research focus on media, migration and political transformation.
The conference will take place at Copenhagen University, South Campus, Karen Blixens Vej 8, 2300 Copenhagen S. Below are some suggestions for accommodation near the university:
- Hotel Copenhagen: 850 m from conference location.
- Radisson Blu: Walking distance to conference location (850 m).
- DanHostel Copenhagen City: Walking distance (1,6 km) from conference location.
- Cabinn Metro: 7 min walking from metro station Ørestad (metro direct to conference location).
- Cabinn City Hotel: Walking distance from conference location (2,0 km)
- WakeUp Copenhagen Bernstorffsgade: Walking distance from conference location (2,0 km)
- Generator Hostel: Centrally located in walking distance (600 m) from Kongens Nytorv metro (metro direct to conference location).
- WakeUp Copenhagen Carsten Niebuhrs Gade: Walking distance (2,5 km) from conference location.
- Hotel Jørgensen: Very central and next to Nørreport Station (metro direct to conference location).
- Hotel Windsor: Very central and next to Nørreport Station (metro direct to conference location).
- Ibsens Hotel: Very central and next to Nørreport Station (metro direct to conference location).
- Hotel Bethel: Centrally located and right by the habour (Nyhavn) in walking distance (500 m) from Kongens Nytorv Station (metro direct to conference location).
The conference will take place in building 4A, ground floor, room 69 (4A.0.69).
From the airport you take the metro to Christianshavn (direction: Vanløse). There you change to the metro towards Vestamager and get off at Islands Brygge.
Bus to the University from Copenhagen Central Station: Bus line 5C (to Amagerfælledvej, then walk 1 km) - or walk from the Central Station (2,3 km). See this map for busses.
We invite conference papers that examine the regime-critical media produced both in and outside the Middle East, and/or how media practices of Middle Eastern and North-African political activists in diaspora contribute to political transformation. The conference aims at exploring and discussing the potentially wide variations in regime-critical media and the Arab diasporas’ practices of using them. Both theoretical and empirical contributions are welcome.
The conference welcomes papers on any of the following – or allied – topics or themes:
Regime-critical media in the Middle East and North African countries
- The history (and developments) of Arab critical media
- Politicization of critical media after the 2011 Arab Spring
- Social media in light of political repression
- Critical media coverage of social movements
- Critical media censorship and ownership
- The performing of conflict by critical media
- Violence and affective media events
- Audio-visual modalities of critical media
- Art, creativity, alternative features of critical media
- Virtual mobility and glocality of critical media
- The legal framework of Arab media
- The future of Arab critical media
Political activism and media users of regime-critical media
- Media practices in the diaspora
- Media and migrationhood
- Practices of citizen journalism
- Political activism in digital media
- Cyber activism post-Arab Spring
- Transnational media practice
- Mediatized negotiations and contestations of current developments
- Connective and collective action formations
- Electronic armies (committees) on social media
Abstract submission
The deadline for submitting proposals for individual papers is May 15. Please submit a title and abstract of about 250 words, in addition to your name, institutional affiliation and contact information.
Please send your abstracts or any enquiries to mediasp@hum.ku.dk
A selection of accepted papers will be published in a special issue in Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research in April 2020 (Volume 13, Issue 1).
Key dates
- 20 March 2019 – Call for papers is announced
- 15 May 2019 – Deadline for submitting abstracts
- 22 May 2019 – Notification of accepted abstracts
- 19 August 2019 – Deadline for registration
- 1 September 2019 – Deadline for full paper submission, 7500 words
- 5-6 September 2019 – The conference takes place in Copenhagen
- 6 October 2019 – Deadline for paper submission after revisions
- 3 November 2019 – Peer reviewer’s feedback will be send to author
- 1 December 2019 – Deadline for submission of final paper
For more information about the conference, please contact the organizing committee at mediasp@hum.ku.dk.
The organizing committee consists of:
- Dr. Ehab Galal
- PhD-fellow Zenia Yonus
- Dr. Thomas Fibiger
- Dr. Mostafa Shehata
