First announcement of the international conference „Communication between domination and emancipation“

The international conference „Communication between domination and emancipation“

Banja Luka College of Communications Kappa Phi, June 4–5, 2016

 

It is a pleasure to invite you to the international communication conference Communication between domination and emancipation. The conference will be organized by the Banja Luka College of Communications Kappa Phi and will take place in Banja Luka on June 4–5, 2016.

Conference theme
The general theme of the conference is communication between domination and emancipation.

Communication can be viewed, analyzed and conceived of as a form of domination. Communicative domination can be operationalized as control, persuasion, propaganda or influence, as well as other forms of strategic communication. At macrosocial levels, domination can also be viewed as hegemony.

Communicative emancipation, on the other hand, has to do with the liberating potential of communication. The liberating potential of communication can be embodied in knowledge, truth, empathy, education, ritual and, at macrosocial levels, in democracy.

These are vast areas of human experience and of corresponding communication research. Thus the concept of communication at the opposite ends of the spectrum sometimes may seem as having few discernible common features. The goal of the conference is to explore the various aspects of the concept as well as to probe the middle ground and offer research that will shed more light on the most defining feature of humanity, community and society.

In this context, language and other communication media are especially important because they may often reflect various communicative intents or contain specific features that can be identified and related to different communicative intents, i.e., “dominational” or “emancipatory”, for example, in communication analysis.

Especially interesting and potentially valuable research would also be welcome in the area of identifying relationships of certain forms of domination or emancipation with forms and content of communication, at various communication levels, from interpersonal to mediated communication.

The question of relationship between communication and democracy being perennial, here it would be interesting to explore the potential of either dominational or emancipatory communication in bettering democracy.

The main theme can be further explored within the following areas or topics:

Communication media, interpersonal communication, small group communication, speech communication, mass media, social media, organizational communication, journalism, public relations, political communication, communication and democracy, deliberative communication, mediatization, violent communication, conflict resolution, peace making, transcultural/transethnic communication, educational communication, dialogic communication, democratic communication, philosophy of communication, language and discourse.

Important Dates
Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 15, 2015
Notification of acceptance of abstracts: February 15, 2016
Optional deadline for final paper submission: May 15, 2016 (for those who want their papers accessible at the conference site)

Conference details, submission guidelines and other information to follow.

We look forward to seeing you at the conference.