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URL: http://pages.cmns.sfu.ca/40years/*

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CALL FOR PAPERS
Communication and Global Power Shifts *
*An International Conference in Celebration of the
40th Anniversary of the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Vancouver, Canada, June 6-8, 2013*

The volatile and chaotic nature of the current global system and the
central role of ‘communicative capital’ in the constitution of the
crisis-ridden global order bring new urgency to efforts to critically
analyze enduring issues and new dynamics in global communications. A
critical perspective requires that we look beyond dominant ‘power shift’
discourses, which focus primarily on the changing ‘balance of power’ among
states, to consider other emerging power shifts, from the global workforce
to transnational capital and from established institutions and entrenched
power structures to networked individuals and ‘multitudes.’ The ongoing
restructuring of the global political economy is at once challenging and
accentuating existing forms of domination.

[CALL FOR PAPERS] This multifaceted topic invites interdisciplinary and
multidimensional analysis, from the perspectives of political economy and
policy, critical cultural analysis, and technology and society studies. The
most promising lines of inquiry will involve projects that address
political economy and cultural politics as they intersect critical
categories such as empire, class, nation, race, and gender. Relevant topics
include but are not limited to:
Historical and theoretical analysis of communication and global power shifts
Continuities and changes in the dynamics of global communications, with
specific attention to South-South and/or intra-regional communication and
cultural flows
Foreclosures and opportunities for a more just global communication order
in areas such as Internet governance regimes, social movement media, and
communication rights
Continuing relevance of the ‘audience commodity’ to current debates about
digital labor power and struggles
Decolonization of the foundations of knowledge-power and engagement with
alternative epistemologies
Constraints, challenges and opportunities in communication for ecological
sustainability

Please submit paper proposals of 250 words to cmn...@sfu.ca by February 1,
2013. Include a short biography (75 words).