[Discussion] CFP: Marxism and Communication Studies (7/15/05; 11/16/05)

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

"Marxism and Communication Studies:  Key Debates and Core Concepts"

Announcing: A one day Marxism and Communication Preconvention Seminar
Conference, National Communication Association meeting 2005
8:30 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005.
Boston, MA

Seminar Leaders: Lee Artz, Purdue University, Calumet; Dana Cloud, 
University of
Texas, Austin; Stephen Macek, North Central College

Seminar Description: The current explosion of critical communication 
scholarship
would be unthinkable without the achievements and insights of classical and
Western Marxist thought. Notions derived from the Marxist tradition 
_"ideology,"
"hegemony," "reification," "commodification," "the dialectic," and
"imperialism"-- are regularly deployed in NCA conference presentations and
journals such as Critical Studies in Media Communication and 
Communication and
Critical/Cultural Studies. They even show up from time to time in 
textbooks on
rhetorical and communication theory. Yet far too often such concepts are 
used in
ways that obscure their Marxist roots and divorce them from any hint of
materialism or recognition of class conflict.

There is, thus, an urgent need for an extend conversation about what 
exactly a
historical materialist view of communication involves, about the central 
debates
within Marxist communication studies and about what distinguishes the 
Marxist
perspective from its various liberal humanist, postmodern and "post-Marxist"
competitors.  Building on last year's enormously successful preconvention
seminar conference, "Looking Back on Marx/Moving Forward with Marxism: 
Marxism
and Communication Studies in the 21st Century", this day-long conference 
will
bring together communication scholars, scholars from other disciplines and
political activists from outside the academy for just such a discussion.

Requirements:  Position papers (10-15 minutes long) are invited on all 
topics
relevant to the preconference's central theme, but we are especially 
interested
in contributions that directly address the following:

1.        Communication and the Dialectic of Historical Materialism;
2.        Communication Practices: Diversity, Identity and Class;
3.        Imperialism: War, the State and the Media;
4.        The Health of the Discipline: A Marxist Assessment

Participants should submit 75-to 200-word proposals by July 15, 2005.
Please include your full contact information.  Proposals should be sent 
by email
to:  Lee Artz, Purdue University Calumet, 219.989.2988,
artz@calumet.purdue.edu; Dana Cloud, University of Texas, Austin, 512.
471.1947, dcloud@mail.utexas.edu; and Stephen Macek, North Central
College, shmacek@noctrl.edu.


Steve Macek, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Speech Communication
North Central College
30 N. Brainard
Naperville, IL 60540-4690
Phone: 630-637-5369
Fax: 630-637-5140

Webpage: http://stephen.macek.faculty.noctrl.edu/
Blog: http://stevemacek.blogspot.com/



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