Call for Papers! - ANZCA Conference 2023

Ka mua, ka muri: Bridging communication pasts and futures

Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington – 21-24 November 2023 – 

The Māori whakataukī (proverb) “Ka mua, ka muri” centres a Māori perspective on time where the past is in front of us and can be observed and interpreted as we walk back into an uncertain future. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that subjectivity is increasingly experienced within a global entanglement of digitalisation, post-truth politics, ecological crisis and the ongoing rise of the far right. Within this conjuncture, digital technologies and social media help to both foster and combat mis- and disinformation campaigns, communicate public health measures to disparate publics, and provide constant updates about the state of the world. While restrictions on space and movement isolated some, they provoked others to think laterally about the issues of our time. The pandemic has forced us to ask old questions in a new context, particularly about the role that communication has to play in new wars for truth and knowledge. 

Using the “Ka mua, ka muri” whakataukī as a prompt, ANZCA 2023 will reflect on how challenges in recent years can inform our thinking about communication in the future. Attendees are encouraged to interpret the theme as they understand it. Key topic areas include the following:

• Communication in an era of post-truth politics, the impact of mis- and disinformation on political processes such as elections, activism and protest
• Shifts in the social and digital media landscape including the new emergence of platforms (e.g. Mastodon, TikTok, Parlor) and the changing dynamics of established ones (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube)
• Communication in global power dynamics, international communication, public diplomacy, communication for development 
• The implications of automation and AI for communication practices
• The influence of polarization, echo chambers and filter bubbles on journalism, news media and the public sphere
• Gatekeeping and agenda-setting in an era of hybrid media and politics
• Intercultural communication in an age of increased connectivity and global diversity
• Indigenous perspectives on communication challenges, protest communication and activism
• The role of visual media and public media in the context of the proliferation of streaming services and video sharing platforms
• The mediation of war, terror, and violence
• Mediating the climate crisis and communicating scientific research on climate change
• Marketing, public relations and business communication in an increasingly fragmented media landscape
• The ongoing dynamics of change in the cultural industries
• Restructuring of organisational communication after the normalising of working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic
• Emotion, affect, popular culture and populism in communication
• ‘The role of community media in social cohesion and connection, particularly for Indigenous peoples, migrants, LGBTBQI+ communities
• Creative communication about the arts, community projects and social movements 
• ‘Post-pandemic’ public and interpersonal communication on health and wellbeing practices

Abstracts (due 7 July):
Abstracts should be 250 words, accompanied by a 100 word bio for each author. 

Panel Proposals (due 7 July):
For pre-constituted panels of 3-4 speakers – submission must include a panel title, abstract (250-500 words), the names and affiliations for each speaker, an abstract for each speaker (250 words) and a bio for each speaker (100 words).

Full Papers (abstracts due 7 July, full papers due 18 August*):
All full papers submitted will undergo a double-blind peer-review process to assess the suitability for one of two ANZCA conference special issues – in either Communication Research and Practice (CRP) or Media International Australia (MIA). ANZCA no longer publishes conference proceedings, however, the organising committee will issue a formal letter of acceptance to the paper author(s) based on the peer-review. Please eliminate any authorial identifying information from the submitted paper, including from the title page, headers and footers, and document file names. This will ensure blind refereeing, and failure to de-identify a paper may lead to its rejection.

The body of the paper should be double-spaced, and left-aligned or justified. Quotations should be in “double quotation marks” and paragraphs of cited text longer than 40 words should be indented. Please number all pages of your manuscript in the top-right header. The suggested word count is a maximum of 6000 words, including references cited. Papers must be referenced in APA style. Authors selected for either CRP or MIA will be contacted following the conference, with anticipated publication in 2024.

*Please note that if you intend to submit a full paper, you will still need to submit your 250-word abstract and 100-word author bio by 7 July 2023, but you will be able to upload your full paper until 18 August 2023 (11.59pm NZST). 

Note: Eligible full paper submissions will be considered for the annual Grant Noble Award (for the best paper by a postgraduate student) and the Christopher Newell Prize (for the best paper dealing with matters relating to disability and communication, or to questions of equity, diversity and social justice as they pertain to communication). We will be sharing further details about other ANZCA Conference awards in due course, including the Anne Dunn Scholar of the Year Award(co-sponsored by JERAA), so stay tuned!

Eligibility:
You do not need to be a member of ANZCA to submit an abstract, panel proposal, or full paper. If your submission is accepted, you will be asked to register for the conference via our website. There are a range of different registration fees available, depending on career stage/employment, which will be announced soon. You may make more than one submission, but you must complete one form per submission.