[csaa-forum] CFP: Satirical Discourse in Troubled Times

[Kevin Howley]

*Call For Papers: Satirical Discourse in Troubled Times*



The Fourteenth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry

May 16-19, 2018

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (USA)



Session Organizer:



Kevin Howley

Professor of Media Studies

Department of Communication

DePauw University

khowley at depauw.edu



On July 4, 1852, the former slave and abolitionist leader Frederick
Douglass, thought to be alive and well by the current occupant of the White
House, famously proclaimed: “At a time like this, scorching irony, not
convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the
nation’s ear, I would, today, pour forth a stream, a fiery stream of biting
ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.”
Douglass’s recognition of the value and importance of pointed satire in
troubled times is deeply relevant to the current historical moment. From
climate change and the rise of authoritarianism to austerity politics and
the criminalization of dissent, these are most assuredly troubled times.



Drawing on classic and contemporary scholarship that examines the
discursive power of political dissent in the satiric register, this session
seeks to address the following questions: What role does satire play in
such vexed and perilous times as these? Do we laugh to keep from crying?
More critically, are we, as cultural critic Neil Postman famously put it,
merely “amusing ourselves to death”? Or is satire a potent, if somewhat
underappreciated, resource for resistance, resilience, and renewal in the
wake of the ascent of anti-democratic forces; the deepening of social,
political and economic inequalities; and the wholesale destruction of our
fragile ecosystem? In correspondence with this year’s conference theme,
Qualitative Inquiry in Troubled Times, this session examines the form,
function, and political efficacy of satirical discourse in contemporary
culture.



Theoretical and empirical papers employing qualitative methodologies may
include, but are not limited to, the following lines of inquiry:



* Satire as creative resistance



* Political mobilization within and through satire



* Satirical discourse and digital culture



* Satirizing neoliberalism

* Political satire in national, international, and transnational contexts



* Limits and possibilities of racial satire



* Assessing the efficacy of political satire



* Form and content in satirical discourse



* Satirical interventions in public policy



* Historical perspectives on political satire



Send 300-word abstracts, a short biographical statement, and contact
information to the session organizer no later than *October 1, 2017*
<*khowley at depauw.edu
<khowley at depauw.edu>*>.



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