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Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture
Call for Papers

Volume 5, Number 1, March 2008

Community Radio.
Networks, identities and experiences.

Deadline: 1st June 2007


The growing interest in community media research and practice in the last
decade
has been reflected by the increase in academic publications and in the
number
of broadcasting stations. Both scholars and practitioners have emphasized
the
role of community broadcasting as either an alternative or complementary
sector
to public and commercial stations and as a tool for enacting citizenship on
a
daily basis, Œgiving voice to the voiceless¹, empowering marginalised groups
and regenerating communities.

At the same time, technological changes in production processes, a wider
availability of affordable digital technologies and a growing use of
internet
as a platform for broadcasting, have permitted an exponential increase in
the
numbers of web-based broadcasters, communicative tools for communities of
interest and the exchange of content among radio stations across the world,
often linking local issues to wider global social and political concerns.

Nevertheless, the influence of mainstream broadcasters on media policymaking
and
regulation, coupled with the organisational challenges often faced by
community
groups and their representative bodies, have often resulted in legislation
that
still limits the communicative potential of community radio and its
contribution to social change, access, participation and representation in
the
media.

WPCC is looking for original, research-based papers that will contribute to
broaden the theoretical and empirical perspectives in community radio from a
range of disciplinary approaches. Approaches in Media, Communication and
Cultural Studies, as well as in the wider fields of the humanities, social
and
applied sciences.

WPCC welcomes analyses of local, regional and national case studies, and
international comparative research, as well as contributions on
policy-making
and regulation for community radio.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

- Media Theory, Radio Theory and Community Radio;
- Community Radio as a tool for encouraging democratic participation and
activism and access to local public spheres.
- Community Radio as a tool for development and social change; for promoting
and
preserving local identities and local cultures; giving voice to ethnic
minorities, diasporic groups and refugees; and regenerating communities;
- International/National Policy and Regulation of Community Radio;
- Community Radio organization, decisional processes and democratic
structures;
- Audience and reception studies;
- Transnational networks, infrastructures and institutions developing
community
radio practices
- Community radio and media literacy
- University, College, School and Student Radio


Applicants may submit abstracts of approx. 200 words to the Issue¹s Editor
Salvatore Scifo at [log in to unmask]  The deadline for the submission
of
abstracts is Friday 1st June 2007. Submission of articles will be by
Wednesday
31st October 2007.

Further information, as well as previous issues of WPCC, can be downloaded
by
visiting the journal¹s website at:
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-880

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Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (WPCC) is a peer-reviewed
journal, published four times a year in hard copy and PDF format.

WPCC recognises the interdisciplinary nature of the field of Media and
Cultural
Studies, and therefore deliberately encourages diverse methods, contexts and
themes.

Particular interests include, but are not limited to, work related to
Popular
Culture, Media Audiences, Political Economy, Promotional Culture, New Media,
Political communication, Migration and Diasporic Studies.

A major goal of the WPCC is to help develop a de-westernised and
transcultural
sphere that engages both young and established scholars from different parts
of
the world in a critical debate about the relationship between communication,
culture and society in the 21st Century.

WPCC invites contributions from all scholars; particularly those at the
beginning of their careers.

Editor:  Dr Anthony McNicholas

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Previous issues of WPCC can be downloaded, free of charge, from the
addresses
listed below

Volume 4
Number 1 ­ March 2007
Media and Religion
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-1601

Volume 3
Number 3 - October 2006
Narrations/Narrators of Europe
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-1446

Number 2 - July 2006
Islam and the Media
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-1367

Number 1 - March 2006
Media in China
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-1303


Volume 2
Number 2 - December 2005
Mediating Celebrity
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-1197

Special Issue - November 2005
Media and Zimbabwe
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-1123

Number 1 - June 2005
Alternative Media Practices
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-1034

Volume 1
Number 1 - November 2004
Media and Migration
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-881