Call for Papers: Updated (December 2016) Extended Deadline (January 25,
2017)
Special Issue on Human Rights Memory
Guest Edited by Susana Kaiser, University of San Francisco,
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*Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture*

            The aftermath of dictatorships, genocide, wars, massacres,
forced migrations, environmental destruction, as well as the legacy of
discrimination based on class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual
orientation are problems of pressing concern to scholars working in
critical traditions. The duty to remember human rights abuses and the need
to re-focus on memory at the service of justice occupy central stage of
this special issue.

            Communication and media are interlinked with human rights
conflicts and engaged with memory processes. These processes are evinced in
strategies geared toward keeping records of abuses, encouraging
intervention to stop them, and using memories as tools to search for truth
and justice. This special issue aims to contribute to the body of
literature in what we label “human rights memory” and to narrow the gap in
research about audiences/publics and media production processes. We are
interested in research articles in an array of cultural productions,
ranging from television series to artworks. We welcome submissions which
highlight the processes by which people interact with, interpret,
appropriate, consume, and use these productions, as well as those which
elucidate how creative memory-writing—such as the activities of camera
persons and museum guides—can work in practice. We seek to complement
research centering on textual analysis, authorial intent, and expectations
about the potential effect on audiences/publics and will look for empirical
support in studies that show the concrete impact of these initiatives while
also illustrating their producers’ creativity and commitment to achieve
specific goals.

            The focus is global and multi-disciplinary. We are interested
in innovative methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks that can
contribute to the development of empirically grounded theory. We welcome
submissions analyzing the richness of popular communication in matters of
memory and human rights (civil, political, economic, social, and cultural).
We invite contributions focusing on grassroots and mainstream popular
communication, including traditional formats (theater, film, print,
television, radio), new media (social, digital, screen media, video games,
mobile phones), the arts (photography, exhibits, museums, memorials, public
shrines, music, concerts, performances, fashion, graphic/comic books,
cartoons), sports tournaments, and demonstrations. Topics may also include,
but are not limited to:

• Theoretical and methodological approaches useful for researching human
rights memory audiences/publics and production processes, and especially,
approaches highlighting conflicts between dominant/ hegemonic memories and
those contesting them.

• Audiences/publics’ decoding and use of productions promoting official
memories and/or advancing counter-memory(ies).

• Communication strategies developed by activists that have been effective
tools for educating, broadening the human rights memory public sphere,
generating action, and opening dialogical spaces (local, global,
diasporic).

• Tactics for accessing and impacting heterogeneous publics/audiences, and
for securing resources for production, distribution, and exhibition (e.g.,
funding, technology, know-how).

• Production processes documenting and writing memories of ongoing human
rights violations (e.g. digital witnessing of major current crises).
Production teams’ participation in human rights memory processes, including
the role played by artists, writers, actors, technicians—the “above” and
“below-the-line” crews. Profiles of producers (e.g., filmmakers, musicians,
bloggers, Wikipedians)

*New submission option: Short pieces*

• With the aim of broadening the circulation of relevant knowledge about
human rights memory, we also encourage submissions of shorter pieces
(1,000-2,000 words). These can be personally reflective and discursive, and
may include, without limitation: commentary; book reviews; film reviews;
music & concert reviews; interviews; descriptions of art installations;
analyses of syllabi and/or discussion of epistemologies, and theories and
methodologies to teach these issues.

The new deadline for submissions is January 25, 2017.
Papers should be no longer than 7,000 words (all inclusive)
Papers should be submitted using ScholarOne at
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hppc20/current
Full instructions for authors, including APA 6th Edition style guidelines,
can be found at the same page.
Correspondence and questions about this call for papers can be directed to
Susana Kaiser ([log in to unmask])



-- 
Susana Kaiser, Ph.D.
Associate Professor,
Media Studies and Latin American Studies
Director, Cine Acción at USF
University of San Francisco
Kalmanovitz Hall 147
2130 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA 94117-1080
Tel: 415-422-5141
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
USF Human Rights Film Festival www.usfca.edu/hrff
www.facebook.com/usfhrff