History Section - Call for Proposals 2023

The History Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) invites proposals for IAMCR 2023, to be held in Lyon, France, from 9 to 13 July (Lyon23) with an Online Conference Papers (OCP23) component from 26 June to 5 July.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 9 February 2023 at 23h59 UTC.

See the CfPs of all sections and working groups >

Conference themes

IAMCR conferences have a main conference theme that is explored from multiple perspectives throughout the conference in plenaries and other moments, including the programmes of the thematic sections and working groups. Additionally, each section and working group also defines some of its own themes, which are described in their individual calls for proposals. Proposals for contributions to the conference are submitted to the sections and working groups and may focus on an aspect of the main conference theme as it relates to the concerns of the section or working group, or address a theme identified by the section or working group.

Main theme – Inhabiting the planet: Challenges for media, communication and beyond

The main theme for IAMCR 2023, “Inhabiting the planet: Challenges for media, communication and beyond”, is concerned with possibilities for rethinking communication research agendas at a time when the irreversible effects of climate change is compounded by stark geopolitical, sociocultural and religious tensions in human communities. At this juncture, urgent reflection and research is needed on how we can hope to flourish today and in the future, and also how media and communication tools and environments can be positive forces and spaces for change.

Five sub-themes of this central theme have been identified: Humanity and progress; democracy; media, information and communication; cities and territories; and environmental accountability. 

Consult a detailed description of the main theme and its sub-themes


The History Section (HIS) invites submissions of individual research papers, and panels for the IAMCR 2023 Conference. This year’s theme is “Inhabiting the planet - Challenges for media, communication and beyond”. Therefore, the Section especially welcomes proposals dealing with the history of environmental communication and the history of technology. Some of the topics that may be addressed are:

  • Media and the environment, including the representation of environmental issues on journalism and the media;
  • Media and the mediation of risk;  
  • Histories of activist communication;
  • Technologies and promises of human progress;
  • Uses of big data in different historical settings; 
  • Histories of digital media and technologies;
  • Media and democracy; 
  • Media and populism;
  • Media and national building;
  • Histories of globalization; 
  • Media, propaganda and disinformation;

Papers and panels dealing with other historical dimensions of media and communication research are also welcomed, including but not limited to the following topics:

  • Histories of international/global communication 
  • Soft power and the media
  • Media and war
  • Media and colonialism 
  • Media representations of minorities and unprivileged social groups
  • Media in/and crisis
  • National and international histories of the press, broadcasting, film and digital media
  • History of professional and citizen journalism (including alternative types of journalism)
  • History of health communication
  • Communicating pandemics and other health threats in different historical contexts
  • Media in post-colonial contexts
  • Hate speech against groups and individuals
  • Promoting and contesting strategic narratives
  • National identities and the media (including how the media are used by the State and other political actors to promote nationalism and separatism)
  • Collective memory of political, social and cultural transformations and events
  • Media and collective memory 
  • Media archaeology
  • Media and communication research and digital archives
  • Biographical research of media executives, producers and journalists
  • Methodologies for research in communication history
  • History of communication theory
  • “New” histories of the field 
  • Media histories from the Global South

Contributing to the conference: Lyon23 and OCP23

There will be two ways of joining IAMCR2023: 

  1. If you are not able to or don’t want to join the face-to-face conference in Lyon but do want to submit an online-only paper, submit your abstract to OCP23 only. If accepted, you’ll later submit your full paper to the online platform, which will be open for discussion from 26 June to 5 July. 

  2. If you do want to join the face-to-face event event, submit your abstract to Lyon23 and OCP23. If accepted you’ll submit your paper to the online platform and present it at the face-to-face conference.

Guidelines for abstracts

Abstracts should have between 300 and 500 words and must be submitted online here. Abstracts submitted by email will not be accepted. 

The deadline to submit abstracts is 9 February 2022 at 23h59 UTC.

It is expected that authors will submit only one (1) abstract. However, under no circumstances should an author submit more than two abstracts as a single author or as the lead author of a co-authored paper and no author will submit more than one abstract to the History Section. The same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to more than one section or working group. Any such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected.

Proposals for panels can only be submitted to Lyon23 and OCP23. Panel submissions must include an abstract for each paper submitted here and a description & supplemental information submitted via this form on the conference website

See important dates and deadlines to keep in mind

Languages

The History Section accepts paper and panel proposals submitted either in English, Spanish or French. 

For further information about the History Section, its themes, submissions, and panels please contact the Section Chair, Nelson Ribeiro (nelson.ribeiro [at] ucp.pt)


Sciences po Lyon          IAMCR

in partnership with:

Congres Lyon 1     Only Lyon

with the support of:

Universite Lumiere      Jean Moulin      Elico logo