Call for Papers! Media Studies Graduate Conference 2023

The first year cohort of Concordia University’s Media Studies Masters program invites MA and PhD students to submit presentation proposals for the department’s 2023 graduate conference. This two-day conference will highlight the academic talents of student presenters, as well as the innovative work of many of Concordia’s research labs, to foster a space for learning, networking, and collaboration.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Imagined Bodies.” We believe bodies and embodiment is a generative topic to place at the center of our conference. We see issues of embodiment in the current discourse around artificial intelligence when we ask: what can a body do that a machine cannot? Concerns around bodies are central to today’s politics, as debates swirl about who and what institutions have control over our bodies, and for what ends? Scholars from multiple disciplines challenge the rhetoric around the Anthropocene, asking how geologists can ignore the bodies that were enslaved and marginalized, whose blood is literally etched in the rocks, in order to satisfy the material desires of capitalism. Attendees and speakers will be tasked with investigating their own preconceptions about what a body can be and how our embodied perspectives alter how we view the world.

Applicants are invited to think about the body and embodiment in relationship to the following themes:

● Feminist and queer perspectives

● Critical Technology and Artificial Intelligence Studies

● Age, Aging, and Intergenerationality

● Disability Studies

● Environmental humanities

● Digital media and social media studies

● Decolonial and anticolonial struggles

● Space, place and memory

● Critical race, Indigenous and intersectional perspectives

● Counterpublics and activism

The conference will be held in a mostly in-person, but hybrid, manner over two days from September 15 and 16, 2023 at Concordia University’s downtown Montreal campus.

We encourage a wide range of presentation materials from papers to other creative modes of research. To accommodate all speakers, presentations should be between 10 and 15 minutes, and will include a moderated question period.

How to apply:

To submit your presentation proposal please please fill out THIS FORM in English ou CELUI-CI pour la version française.

You will need the following to complete the application:

● Presentation abstract including a short statement on how your research engages with the conference theme (250 words)

● 3-5 keywords

● Speaker bio (up to 100 words)

The deadline to apply is Wednesday, May 31st at midnight.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at imaginedbodies2023@gmail.com