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*VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY* * FACULTY OF HUMANITIES* * CENTER FOR CULTURAL STUDIES* *3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE* * INTERDISCIPLINARY CULTURAL GROUP RESEARCH:* * Youth Subcultures, Worldviews and Lifestyles* *5-6 May, 2017, **Kaunas, Lithuania* Contemporary society consists of various cultural groups. Research of these groups in real and virtual spaces allows understanding how and why these groups form, exist and dissolve; what is their influence on contemporary society? Youth subcultures allow young people to express themselves in unique ways and can be seen as creative laboratories that are designed for creation of culture. Research of subcultures allow a deeper look at the processes of how new cultural and artistic ideas emerge and spread among contemporary youth and into society. Furthermore members of subcultures express themselves and communicate with each other not only in the “real” spaces such as streets, bars, concerts and festivals, but also in “virtual” space: social networks (like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others), blogs, websites and etc. With this expansion of technologies, researchers should be concerned not only with traditional fieldwork, but also with new technologies and the tools they offer to further their scholarly pursuit. Therefore, this conference aims to bring together scholars from diverse disciplines to share their achievements in applying not only traditional research methods, but also computer tools in their work. The conference welcomes both empirical and theoretical contributions from various disciplines, as well as interdisciplinary approaches towards the study on youth subcultures. Of particular interest are those that combine perspectives and methods drawn from all social sciences and humanities on present and newly emerging approaches towards conceptions, expressions and representations, as well as research methods, issues and problems, and some directions in studies of this phenomenon. Researchers, using digital tools for collecting, analysing or displaying data are invited to share their expertise. We invite scholars from diverse disciplines to contribute to studies of the role and expressions of the phenomenon of subcultures, in this way enriching its academic understandings. Early career researchers and students are encouraged to participate. We expect individual paper proposals as well as panel proposals with three to four presentations. We invite papers and panels including but not limited to the following topics: 1. Theoretical and methodological approaches to youth subcultures: • Fieldwork within youth subcultures; • Methodological implications, challenges and issues. 2. Youth subcultures and digital humanities: • New methodology and research tools related to computer science and humanities or social sciences (virtual ethnography, data mining, data scraping, data modelling, etc.); • Computer applications to cultural and social sciences; • Culture research through signs using computer; • Digital arts and new media; • Digital games and device applications applied to humanities research. 3. Diversity within subcultures: • Diversity of youth subcultures; • Development of youth subcultures; • Aspects of local and global in subcultures. 4. Worldviews and activities of subcultures in real and/or virtual space: • Identity of members of subcultures; • Images and symbols of subcultures; • Traditionalism, nationalism and politics in subcultures; • Gender in subcultures; • Spirituality, religion and subcultures; • Culturally relevant spaces and places within the context of subcultures; • Cultural heritage in subcultures; • Festivals, rituals and performance in subcultures; • Ageing in subculture. 5. Subcultures and society: • Influence of consumerism, globalization and the mass media on subcultures; • Influence of subcultures on the society; • Subcultures in popular culture and media. The time allotted per paper will be 15 minutes for a paper + 5 minutes for the discussion. Please fill the form at https://goo.gl/forms/iSdCJGOFNBIinrYS2 Abstract submission deadline: March 17, 2017. Notification of acceptance: April 3, 2017. Participation fee 50 Euros (for students 25 Euros); Travel and accommodation to attend the Conference will be at the attendee’s expense. Conference website: http://ktc.vdu.lt/ Organizers: Center for Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Vytautas Magnus University.