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DiscourseNet26: Post-National Discourses: transnational communications, transversal subjectivities and new forms of nativism in globalised societies

Call for Papers

 

DiscourseNet26: 

Post-National Discourses:

transnational communications, transversal subjectivities and new forms of nativism in globalised societies     

 

24-26 March 2021

University of Giessen, Germany

Deadline for abstracts and panel proposals: 10 October 2020

 

Discourse Studies cover a growing field of interdisciplinary research on meaning making practices, communicative activities and symbolic representations. Cultural studies, linguistics, media analysis, geography, and history, among others, highlight the role of texts, pictures and language in the constitution of truth and reality. Actor-oriented disciplines such as political science, sociology, pedagogy, psychology or economics and management studies are interested in the formation of subjectivities, identities and agencies. Focussing on the nexus of Discourses in Post-National Spaces this conference aims to bring different strands from the interdisciplinary field of Discourse Studies into dialogue. 

 

In the last few years, several developments show that the traditional world of nation states with its lingual characteristics, social structures and institutional orders is undergoing a transition period towards a new constellation of powers. Nation states only exist as “imagined communities” but not as institutional “container”-realities. The rise of China is changing traditional self-perceptions in the West, Brexit in UK shows that the nation state can no longer be the main frame of reference, Trumpism takes into question established liberal values, Russia celebrates a comeback as military and fossil power, and migrants from post-colonial Africa are massively moving to Europe. Different forms of nativism (as particular form of nationalism) are reactions to these developments. The emergence of illiberal democracies in Central and Eastern Europe can no longer be perceived as a domestic phenomenon of a particular nation-state. It is rather a challenge for the European unity in diversity. Migration becomes a politicised normality everywhere in the world, the struggle for new technologies opens up global fields of innovation, and the corona virus shows us how densely the world is already connected where singular national responses do not work without affecting the rest of the world. How can Discourse Studies make sense and contribute to reconceptualization of these post-national constellations?

 

Post-National Spaces are located on all levels beyond the nation-state container, they cover global flows on the international level, regional reconfigurations such as Asia, Europe, the Americas as well as local interactions in global cities and peripheral sites. The notion of Post-National Spaces opens up new perspectives on communications, subjectivities, ideologies and institutions in a world that is no longer characterised by clearly defined borders, coherent identities, fixed meanings and traditional social orders. Against this background, Discourse Studies offer tools for the analysis of post-nationally dis-embedded communications since signs, pictures, utterances and gestures are the starting point for any analysis.

 

The study of discourse pertains to various levels of language and society, ranging from everyday face-to-face interaction to societal relations and global communication. In the analysis of, for instance, the media, politics, economy, academia or law, issues of Post-National Spaces are at stake when asking: What communicative constellations emerge in world of loose borders? Who has the capacity to dominate others when clearly defined categories dissolve? How do discourses of nativism influence the post-national constellation? What role plays the local level when national institutions get in crisis? Which forms of legitimation account for dominant kinds of knowledges, subjectivities and institutions?

 

The aim of DiscourseNet 26 conference is to bring together research on Post-National Spaces from theoretical as well as empirical viewpoints. Contributions from all academic disciplines and research topics are welcome.  

 

Submissions of contributions and panels: The languages of the conference are English and German. Abstracts for contributions of no more than 200 words should be submitted by October 10, 2020 to DN26@sowi.uni-giessen.deIf you would like to propose a panel (including 3 to 5 presentations) for the conference, please submit your panel proposal that includes the names, titles and a short abstract for each presentation until October 10, 2020.

 

We are planning DN26 as a physical event. However, we are aware of the impact that the global pandemic may have on our event. We are monitoring the situation and we will flexibly respond to any challenges arising. We will be working towards appropriate solutions once the situation changes and may consider the possibility of an online event. We will regularly post the latest news on our conference homepage (https://discourseanalysis.net/en/DN26/Call) and update the call for papers accordingly. We kindly recommend you everybody to sign up to our website and join our DN26 email group. In this way, you will be immediately informed about any changes to our event.   

 

We offer to a restricted number of participants (7 to 9) a digital option for presenting papers at the DN26. Please submit an abstract. If we accept your abstract, please send us a 10 min. video-presentation five weeks before the conference starts. We will organise a Skype (or other form of Webinar) meeting for a discussion.  

 

Registration fees for the conference: The early-bird rate (80€ including membership fee) will apply until 15 January. The regular rate (100€ including membership fee) must be transferred until 30 January. We will try (but cannot not guarantee yet) to provide (at least) gradual reimbursement of traveling costs for researcher without financial support from home university. 

 

Contact:

Jens.maesse@sowi.uni-giessen.de

 

Organization team and scientific committee:

 

David Adler, University of Oldenburg

Kseniia Semykina, Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Franco Zappettini, University of Liverpool

Verena Fingerling, University of Giessen

Jan Krasni, University of Tyumen

Susanne Weber, University of Marburg 

Gerardo C. Nicoletta, University of Naples

Elena Psyllakou, National Center for Social Research - EKKE

Johannes Beetz, University of Warwick

Magdalena Nowicka-Franczak, University of Lodz

Simon Peters, University of Giessen

Jens Maesse, University of Giessen

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