Popular Culture and World Politics: Practices of Production and Consumption University of Bristol, UK Monday 13 July 2009 Call for submissions We welcome submissions for this one-day workshop on any aspect of the relationship(s) between popular culture and politics, from the local to the global level, and especially encourage submissions concerned with: * interpreting popular cultural practices * the politics of mass-produced popular culture * the politics of consumption * audience interpretations of popular culture * new media / interactivity / 'audiences' as producers In addition to conventional paper presentations, we are also keen to find new and more informal ways of providing feedback on research and of engaging with academic debates about the politics of popular culture. Possible panel formats include: * informal sessions specifically oriented towards receiving input on 'early works in progress' (projects that are in the initial stages of conception/research design and data collection) * poster sessions * short film screenings / Q&A sessions with film-maker(s) * presentations by workers in popular cultural industries * 'conversations' plenary sessions Proposals can be submitted as conventional abstracts (100-200 words) or, for those who wish to present 'early works in progress', an email containing a brief outline of the proposed research, and specifying any aspects of the research design/process for which input is particularly sought. We encourage those who have prepared posters on relevant topics for other conferences to send us these for display during the workshop, even if they are unable to attend in person. We invite academic and other film-makers to submit short films (5-15 minutes) that they feel are relevant to the themes of the workshop. Finally, we also welcome suggestions for issues/themes/questions surrounding research into the politics of popular culture, to be discussed in the plenary sessions involving all workshop participants. Topics might be empirical, theoretical or methodological in nature, or might focus on (for example) the connection between scholarship and activism or the teaching of politics through popular culture. The deadline for all submissions is Friday 29 May 2009. To submit a proposal and/or for more information, please email [log in to unmask] ---------------------- Nathan Farrell Department of Politics University of Bristol 10 Priory Road Bristol, BS8 1TU email: [log in to unmask]