International Standing Working Group on Medialization and Empowerment (German Historical Institute London) (Web)

Venue: London
Time: 20.-22.01.2022
Proposals by: 14.05.2021

This conference is the culmination of a three-year project examining the networks, interconnections and dependencies of women’s rights and the media throughout the long-twentieth century. Focusing on the history of feminism(s) as a lens into changing practices and ideas of women’s emancipation, this conference calls on participants to reconsider the role of the media in shaping, constituting and directing discussions and attitudes towards gender roles and women’s rights internationally. How has the printed press, television and radio advanced or hindered women’s emancipation historically and in a global context? How have feminists used the media to create counter-spaces for advocating, discussing and debating women’s issues? And what are the limits or ambivalences of discussions of women’s rights in the media?

In asking these questions, the organizers draw on the concept of medialization, a term that refers both to the way spaces of communication have become increasingly dense and interlinked over time, and also to the increasing pressure for other social sectors to conform to the conditions imposed by the media. Using this framework, the conference asks what medialization has meant for women’s emancipation in the past: in what ways did the media set the agenda for debates of women’s rights? And what space was there for activists to influence or shape these discussions?

The organizers invite applications from interested scholars working in history and on historically-focused projects in sociology, anthropology, media and cultural studies, and gender studies to attend a two-day conference exploring the connections between the media and the history of feminism in a global context. The organizers particularly welcome applications from PhD candidates and Early Career Academics. Read more and source … (Web).