Call for Participants

7th Annual International Joint Summer School (2015)

New Media, Global Communication and Local Knowledge

Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China

July 20 - August 3, 2015

Organized by:

The National Centre for Radio and Television Studies, Communication University of China

The Communication and Media Research Institute, University of Westminster

School of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong

School of Communication, Simon Fraser University

Hosted by:

School of Media and Communication, Inner Mongolia Normal University

Introduction

The 7^th Annual International Joint Summer School (IJSS) will be hosted by Inner Mongolia Normal University from July 20^th to August 3^rd 2015 in the historic city of Hohhot, China. Previously held in Beijing, Vancouver and Bangkok, this annual event has become an enriching and empowering platform for young scholars from around the world to advance debates on critical issues in media andcommunication.

Theme: New Media, Global Communication and Local Knowledge

What is new in media and communication is always a matter of comparative social and geographic position. However, in today’s networked society, accelerating innovationsin and applications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) around the world has put ‘new’ at the center of all public and academic discussions of everyday life. New media has become an encompassing concept with the pretense of defining a new era. This discourse is premised on a notion of irreversible technological and even institutional convergence, and driven by mechanisms of innovation and obsolescence. Something new is happening but that does not mean that it is occurring the same way everywhere or for the same ends.

By critiquing the connotations of ‘new media’ with the term ‘new platform’, we can form better interpretations of the blurring communicative differences between the past and the present. This, in turn, destabilizes the linear narrative of teleological convergence, which has long shaped the studies of media history and development. It is fair to say that calling for a non-linear perspective of media studies is not only possible but also necessary.

Despite widely circulated theoretical claims of both political-economic integration and cultural homogenization, experiences of globalization have proven to be far more diverse in their trajectories. Appadurai’s(1990) concept of “asymmetrical interdependence” underlines the dynamics of this historical process in terms of the separate and inconsistent logics underlying the scope and interactions of: finance, technology, ethno/migration,media and ideology. Rather than thinking of the world as an increasingly globalized entity, we are made to recognize inconsistencies, tensions, frictionsor even conflicts, and tasked to account for them.

A powerful example of this is the international expansion of social media platforms such as Facebook and WeChat. Despite the rapid and hegemonic growth of each of these platforms, neither are merely following the techno-deterministic route laid out in the neoliberal imagination of the linear narrative, but are developing through dynamic power relations embedded in particular social-historical contexts. While Facebook is dominanting most Western countries, WeChat’s growth is almost exclusively based in Chinese communities. The “global” expansion of WeChat is therefore limited to countries that are comparatively more connected to China through flows of people andgoods. Simply put, it is hard to draw a unified picture of global media, instigating the need for more research based on comparative analysis and providing theimperative for local knowledge to inform media and communication studies.

From the global to the local, a new challenge is emerging. This demands not only “global cognitive justice” (Boaventurade Sousa Santos, 2006) by “Looking East and Going South” (Zhao Yuezhi, 2010), respect for local cultural tradition and the recognition of local knowledge and interpretative communities, but also a methodological shift to more solid empirical studies of the dynamic communicative practices occurring in particular social and historical spaces.

With the afore-mentioned concerns in mind, this year’s IJSS is bringing together speakers representing a variety of disciplinary backgrounds to address the importance of local knowledge for informing the processes of globalization and recognizing the diversity emerging out of ‘new’ media. This 15-day summer school will be structured as a series of academic activities, ranging from lectures, group work, to conference experience and a field trip in Hohhot. We are now inviting students and scholars who have interest or research experience in this broad area to enroll in our exciting program. Please see below to find the details for application and an interim schedule.

An Interim Schedule (July20 - August 3, 2015) 

Confirmed speakers:

Zhao Y.Z., Simon Fraser University, Communication University of China

Hu Zhengrong, Communication University of China

Anthony Fung, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Xin Xin, University of Westminster

Colin Sparks, Baptist University of Hong Kong

Jesse Hearns-Branaman, National Institute of Development Administration, Thailand

Application: 

Prospective participants are required to have a working capacity in English and a relevant academic background. The application form and other supporting documents (such as a CV, a personal statement, adetailed research proposal or selected publications) should be submitted to ijss2009@qq.com no later than May15^th 2015.It is strongly encouraged that you apply early as acceptance will be made on a first come first served basis.

The IJSS is free of charge but all participants are responsible for their individual travel costs and other relevant expenses.

Important Dates: 

Application Submission Deadline: 15 May 2015

Acceptance Notification Deadline: 1 June 2015

Confirmation of Attendance Deadline: June 16 to July 1 2015

Application Form

If you have any questions or requests, please contact Dr. Ji Deqiang via ijss2009@qq.com。