[csaa-forum] CFP: Symposium (4-5 December, 2017) - Digital Stereotypes (Queer, Indigenous, Migrant, Refugee)

[Rob Cover]

Dear colleagues, some of us who work in areas of digital media,
representation, queer studies, migration studies, sociology and Indigenous
studies may be interested in the below small, intimate symposium being held
in December in Perth.


Short, informal proposals needed 30 October; there will be publication
opportunities arising from this event.


More info, see below or download the CFP as a PDF from:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m75i0j2wrz8j12d/CFP%20-%20Digital%20Stereotypes%20Symposium%204-5%20December.pdf?dl=0



Cheers,

Rob :)


==============


*Symposium Invitation: *

*Minority Stereotypes in Digital Culture*

*The University of Western Australia;   4-5 December 2017.*


*Stereotypes* have been—and continue to be—the most common and recognised
form of visual representation of minorities (especially Indigenous, gender
and sexually-diverse persons, and ethnic/migrant minorities) in film,
television, advertising and online media.   Stereotypes are a common
‘byte’  of visual communication that link a visual representation of an
identity group with a set of—usually narrow and
non-representative—attributes, behaviours, tastes and expectations into an
easily-recognisable package. Although stereotypes develop and change over
time, their restrictive identity information remain in circulation and are
very difficult to get rid of; indeed, critiquing them often puts them into
further circulation.



*Vulnerability and Wellbeing:   *Minorities in general are particularly
vulnerable to stereotyping which can impact by affecting the ability of
members of minority groups to participate as genuine, complex and diverse
subjects in social, labour, community, neighbourhood of family relations;
they create pressures on younger persons to conform to narrow stereotypes
in order to participate as coherent subjects, adding stresses that have
negative physiological and mental health consequences; and they reduce the
capabilities of minority groups to seek positive inclusion and full
acceptance.  Stereotypes can also be a weapon of harassment and
cyberbullying and are often deployed as an impediment to progressive
political change.  Indeed, the contemporary inequitable distribution of
vulnerability rests significantly on the continued circulation and
believability of minority visual stereotypes.



*Digital stereotypes today:  *Although since the 1990s digital, online,
networked and mobile media has often been celebrated as a site of potential
diversity in representation, much online activity arguably reproduces and
re-circulates stereotypes.  *Search engines* depend on algorithms which, in
the case of minorities, can produce stereotyped *commonality* rather
than *diversity
of image*; *Public relations and marketing* rely on easily-recognisable
images, often pulled from stock image databases using searchable tags which
link an identity with a ‘visual expectation’; *Minority media and health
communication* rely on recognisability, which can sometimes be
stereotypical rather than outreaching; *Self-representation* such as in
social networking can sometimes also encourage the reliance on visual
stereotypes to communicate quickly, rather than the slower activity of
demonstrating complexity and diversity.



*Symposium December 2017 **– The Digital Stereotypes Collaboration team
invite proposals for presentations which address any aspect of Minorities,
Media and Stereotypes.  We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary
postgraduate and early-career research where questions around stereotypes,
visual or digital images might intersect with that work in productive
ways.  Some intersections might include:*

- Gender- and sexually-diverse representations, lgbtiq+ communities

- Indigenous persons and communities

- Migrants, temporary migrants, international students, refugees and asylum
seekers

- Political, social, health and educational implications of stereotypes

- Digital practices, media practitioners

- …Any other areas that are of some relevant to stereotypes, visual images,
vulnerabilities.

*Media practitioners, service providers, public relations professionals,
digital media experts and community advocates are very welcome to
participate.   *



*About the symposium*

- Will be held on the University of Western Australia campus, 4-5 December.

- For those attending TASA in Perth, the symposium is held the week
following the TASA conference.

- Lunch will be provided at no cost on both days.

- Selected papers may be invited for publication in an anthology or special
issue.



*How to submit a proposal*

*P*lease send a 150-300 word abstract  plus a short 20-50 word bio to the
Digital Stereotypes Collaboration team at *digital.stereotypes at gmail.com*
<digital.stereotypes at gmail.com>  by *Monday 30 October*. (Rob or Kirsty
will respond by Friday 3 November).



____________________________________________

Rob Cover
Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences

The University of Western Australia
Crawley WA 6009

+61 8 6488 4305 wk
0437 902 967 sms

r <robcover at gmail.com>ob.cover at uwa.edu.au
Profile:          http://www.uwa.edu.au/people/rob.cover
____________________________________________
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.cdu.edu.au/pipermail/csaa-forum/attachments/20171008/52cea510/attachment.html