Gender and Communication: Representation, voice and empowerment in
and through media, film and information and communication technologies
(ICTs)
Beijing 22-23 September, 2014
Call for papers
This conference focuses on the nexus of gender and communication, and the gendered aspects
of communication. Our understandings of sex and gender, and our gendered identities, are
communicated, mediated and performed in different ways, and through different types of
media and communication tools, ranging from school textbooks, mass media, popular culture
and film, to social media and the Internet. There is a long-standing concern among feminists
on how gendered identities (and stereotypes) are constructed, reproduced and consumed
through media products. How gender is constructed and performed in the Web 2.0 age is a
growing field of research that reveals both new possibilities and old constraints. To which
extent do women have access to, and are able to make their voices heard on different media
and communication platforms, for example as journalists, film directors, and bloggers? What
are the gendered patterns of consumption and use of different media, including popular
culture and social networking sites? What role does gender play in the production and use of
new information and communication technologies (ICTs), including Web sites, blogs, social
media, digital games, and mobile phones? What are the hitherto underexplored implications
of gender in ICT4D projects, on-line activism, and NGOs communicative strategies for social
justice?
The conference organisers encourage paper submissions on a wide variety of topics that take
gender as a critical tool of analysis in studies of media, culture, communication and ICTs.
Scholars from different disciplines and research fields, among others gender studies,
communication and media studies, film and culture studies, and development studies are
encouraged to submit papers. The focus of the conference is studies on China and the Nordic
countries, but studies on other regions as well as more general or theoretical papers are also
welcome. The aim is to encourage interdisciplinary, intercultural and comparative discussions
and exchanges on gender and communication. The conference is the 5th in the series of SinoNordic Gender and Women’s Studies conferences that began in 2002 with the aim to connect
scholars from China and the Nordic countries working on similar issues. (For information on
previous conferences see below).
Papers are welcome on a wide range of topics, examples listed but not confined to the topics
below:
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Gender and communication theories and methodologies
Globalizing gender studies in communication
Media/popular culture and gender representations
Gender and journalism
Gender and information and communication technologies (ICTs)
Gender and development communication
Gender and communication in activism and NGO work
Gender and political communication
Gender and education
Gender and communication through arts, performance and film
Confirmed keynote speakers:
Cai Yiping, Executive Committee member of Develop Alternatives with Women for a New
Era (DAWN) and member of UNWomen Asia Pacific Civil Society Advisory Group, China.
Professor Monica Djerf-Pierre, Department of Journalism, Media and Communication,
Gothenburg University, Sweden
Professor Sunera Thobani, Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, The
University of British Columbia, Canada
Additional keynotes awaiting confirmation
Organisers/hosts: The Institute of Journalism and Communication, Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing, and the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund
University, Lund
Series convenors: The Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), the University of
Copenhagen and the Nordic Centre, Fudan University, Shanghai
Organizing committee: Bu Wei (CASS), Marina Svensson (Lund University), Cecilia
Milwertz (NIAS), Barbara Schulte (Lund University).
Time: September 22-23, 2014
Place: Beijing
Submission of abstract: Abstract submission of 300 words in English to
marina.svensson@ace.lu.se and in Chinese to buwei@public3.bta.net.cn by 15 April, 2014.
Notification of acceptance by 15 May. Full paper submission by 1 September.
Economic support: The organizers are currently applying for funding and hope to provide
accommodation for all participants (further information to follow). There is no conference
fee.
The Sino-Nordic Women and Gender Studies Conferences Series
The Sino-Nordic Women and Gender Studies conferences are organised by the Nordic
Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen, and the Nordic Centre, Fudan University, Shanghai,
alternately in collaboration with a Chinese and a Nordic university every three years. The first
conference was held in Shanghai 2002, titled “Re-Negotiating the Politics of the Public and
the Private - Gender and Politics in China and the Nordic Countries”; the second in Malmö,
Sweden, in 2005 titled “Gender and Human Rights in China and the Nordic Countries”; the
third titled “Gender at the Interface of the Global and the Local: perspectives from China and
the Nordic Countries” in Kunming, Yunnan 2008; and the fourth titled “Travelling Theories
within the Context of Globalisation. Transnational Feminism and Knowledge Production” in
Aalborg, Denmark in 2011.
Thus far one monograph has been published in English as a result of a conference, namely
Pauline Stoltz, Marina Svensson, Sun Zhongxin, Qi Wang eds. Gender Equality, Citizenship
and Human Rights: Controversies and Challenges in China and the Nordic Countries,
Routledge, 2010.