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Call for Papers
"Between Bable and 'Earth City': Barriers of Intercultural
and International Communication"
International Conference
Network Intercultural and International Communication
Institute of Media and Communication Science, Technische
Universität Ilmenau
Ilmenau (Germany)
30 October - 1 November 2008
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In 1956, Benjamin Lee Whorf published his influential book
on the relationship between language and thinking. According
to Whorf, the diversity of language, or more precisely:
different grammars, lead to "different views of the world".
On the other hand, Marshall McLuhan caused a furore at about
the same time (1962) by stating that the electronic
interdependence changes the world into a global village,
into a virtual, barrier-free "simultaneous field". However,
following McLuhan, Europeans cannot imagine Earth City. They
have remained in old cities too long to appreciate new
horizons, created by new media. In any case, "Earth City"
will certainly remain an artefact even on the internet
although this technology is seen as an approximation of
McLuhan's ideas also by European apologists of the global
village.
In spite of growing global integration, the world by no
means becomes a virtual community in which cognitive
distances shrink to the scope of traditional communities.
Despite - or because - of globalization, the world's
structure will not resemble a "simultaneous field" but
remain a sphere prone to conflict and containing
multifaceted "barriers" (Fred E. Jandt). These barriers
aggravate, retard and disturb intercultural and
international (media) communication - but conceivably will
be of use for it, too (sometimes). In view of this
background, current political, economic and cultural
barriers of intercultural and international communication
are to be analysed during the conference. Furthermore,
concepts of how to overcome such obstacles shall be
discussed. The conference contributes to locating more
precisely - theoretically and empirically - the functions of
mediated communication in the emergence of a "world society"
somewhere between "Babel" - the symbol of communicative
("Babylonian") barriers - and "Earth City".
Topics of presentations may include
- the imbalance and relations of dominance in international
communication,
- routines and disturbances in trans-border crisis and
conflict communication,
- (dysfunctional) influences of international Public
Relations on nations and cultures,
- the complex and often contradictory development of
transnational and transcultural spheres of communication,
- factors of success in intercultural dialogue.
Submission and Selection
Please send your proposal for a presentation of 20 minutes
(max.) to Dr Liane Rothenberger before August 11th, 2008.
Your proposal should contain 8.000 characters max. (incl.
blank spaces). The proposal must relate the paper to the
conference topic and elaborate on the subject's relevance
and originality.
Please provide your proposal with a cover sheet comprising
the paper title as well as the names and addresses of the
submitters. By handing in the submission, you give your
consent to presenting your lecture at the conference.
The submissions will be reviewed in an anonymous peer-review
system taking into account criteria such as originality,
relevance, distinctiveness and conciseness of the issue,
theoretical foundation as well as adequateness of research
methods. The general fit with the conference topic will also
be considered. You will be informed about acceptance or
rejection of your proposal until September 8th, 2008.
Organisation and Contacts
The Network Intercultural and International Communication
organises the conference in cooperation with the Institute
of Media and Communication Science, TU Ilmenau. Participants
of the programme committee of the conference are: Michael
Brüggemann (Bremen), Oliver Hahn (Iserlohn), Thomas
Hanitzsch (Zurich), Andreas Hepp (Bremen), Gabriele
Melischek (Vienna), Barbara Pfetsch (Hohenheim), Barbara
Thomaß (Bochum), Hartmut Wessler (Mannheim) as well as
Nicola Döring, Martin Löffelholz, Andreas Will, Jens Wolling
and Frauke Zeller (Ilmenau). The conference language will be
German; however, papers in English are welcome, and we
strongly encourage submissions of non-German scholars.
Travel and accommodation expenses cannot be reimbursed. If a
conference fee is necessary, it will be calculated as low as
possible.
Contact:
Dr Liane Rothenberger
Technische Universität Ilmenau
Institut für Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
D-98694 Ilmenau
Phone: +49 (0)3677 69-4669
Fax: +49 (0)3677 69-4695
Email: [email protected]
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http://interphil.polylog.org
Intercultural Philosophy Calendar:
http://cal.polylog.org
