Latinos and Latinas and Media in the United States A Call for Proposals Deadline for submissions: June 15, 2008 Latino Studies invites proposals for a special issue on Latinos and Latinas and the media in the United States. This special issue will explore contemporary issues affecting how Latinos/as are portrayed in both the news and entertainment media, how various news and entertainment media are responding to the new demographics, effects of those portrayals, Latinos as consumers and producers of media. Successful proposal writers will be invited to submit papers for discussion at a conference/workshop to be held at the John Jay College/City University of New York in January 2009. The following are some of the assumptions guiding this call: 1) Mainstream news and entertainment media has shaped how Latina/os are viewed in the U.S., both by others, as well as by Latina/os themselves. 2) Media aimed at Latina/os ? some of it Spanish-language-- in the form of television, radio, film, periodicals, the Internet, has also affected how Latina/os in the U.S. are viewed. The aim of the proposed conference/workshop is to examine the above assumptions and other related political and cultural issues from a variety of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. Among the questions to be addressed are: * To what extent does today?s media include fair and accurate portrayals of Latina/os? * How do those portrayals influence Latino/as? self image? * How do mainstream media portrayals today influence the historical consciousness of the nation? * How do Latina/o producers of news and entertainment influence the products? * What is the effect of Latina/o bloggers on the overall consciousness of Latina/os and/or of the mainstream? * How do media representations of Latina/os influence how Latin Americans in other countries perceive Latina/os in the US? What are consequences of those representations for immigration, etc.? * What are the political and policy implications for a) Latina/o communities, and/or b) for the nation, of current media portrayals of Latina/os? Submission Deadline: June 15, 2008 Please send proposals no longer than 5 pages addressing any of the above issues by June 15, 2008, by email attachment to: Suzanne Oboler, Editor, LATINO STUDIES Professor, Dept of Latin American and Latina/o Studies John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY 445 West 59th Street, room 1554N New York, NY 10019 Phone: (212) 237-8751 Fax: (212) 484-1113 Email: [log in to unmask] Sent by Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, Ph.D. Assoc. Professor, School of Journalism University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station, A1000 Austin, TX 78712 [log in to unmask] Also, Director, U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project http://www.lib.utexas.edu/exhibits/ww2latinos/