Call for Papers

Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (WPCC)
Issue 3, Autumn-Winter 2005/06

Media and Celebrity

While all societies have coveted those seen as ‘especially remarkable’
(Alberoni, 1972: 75), the mass media have unleashed previously unavailable
means to the nurturing of stardom. Illustrated by an increasing prominence
in some news outlets, a dominance of sectors of the magazine markets and
in the upsurge of reality TV, celebrity has come to constitute a central
part of the media industries.

The ‘Media and Celebrity’ issue of WPCC takes the viewpoint that there is
a need for scholars of media and cultural studies to understand and
critically examine this trend. The issue aims to bring together a range of
contemporary and historical approaches that will shed light on today’s
fame culture, on a production and consumption level as well as in terms of
wider social analysis.

Areas of interest include:

1.        Analyses of trends/ historical moves in the constitution of a
celebrity culture
2.        The production of stardom: PR, branding and media professionals
3.        The inter-relations between the media, fame culture and politics
4.        Celebrity discourse in journalistic output
5.        Celebrity magazines and reality TV
6.        The consumption of celebrity
7.        Celebrity from a non-Western perspective
8.        The cultural functions of celebrity

Applicants may submit abstracts of no more than 200 words to Sofia
Johansson,
[log in to unmask]
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is Fri the 18th of March.


Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture

Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture (WPCC) is a peer-reviewed
journal, published twice a year in hard copy and PDF format. WPCC
recognises the interdisciplinary nature of the field of Media and Cultural
Studies, and deliberately encourages diverse methods, contexts and themes.
Particular interests include, but are not limited to, work related to
Popular Culture, Media Audiences, Political Economy, Promotional Culture,
New Media, Political Communication, Migration and Diasporic Studies.

A major goal of the WPCC is to help develop a de-westernised and
transcultural sphere that engages both young and established scholars from
different parts of the world in a critical debate about the relationship
between communication, culture and society in the 21st century. WPCC
invites contributions from all scholars; particularly those at the
beginning of their careers.

WPCC is online at http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-880