Covering Syria: Politics and Communication in Times of War and Revolution
February 25, 2020
SOAS, University of London
This workshop aims at bringing together academics and postgraduate researchers working on Syria, media and political communication. We are particularly interested in the following questions:
- How Syrian opposition media are rethinking their strategies for covering a country that is still fragmented and occupied but mostly dominated by the Assad regime? How Syrian journalists and cultural activists continue to document the conflict in exile? How gender relations were impacted by this new media environment?
- Which forms of archival work is possible to preserve the memory of past engagements?
- How did international media organisations document the conflict and what narratives did they disseminate? What does a context of post-truth and the increasing circulation of fake news mean for Syrian and international media actors?
- How have the Syrian regime and its allies been communicating since their self-declared victory over opposition forces?
We welcome contributions on these themes, or on similar topics, from scholars from various disciplines such as media studies, political science, international relations, anthropology, cultural studies or intellectual history. Some of the sessions of the workshop will be chaired by Dr Dina Matar (SOAS) and Pr Salwa Ismail (SOAS).
The workshop will be a full-day event organised at SOAS on Tuesday 25 February. Each presenter will send her paper in advance to the group, present it and receive comments from the other participants. Applications from Research Master students are welcome as well. The format of the contributions can take various forms: from articles-length papers (5,000-10,000 words), to thesis chapters or proposals.
To participate, please send a 200-300 words abstract and a short bio to: Adelie_Chevee@soas.ac.uk and gh142@soas.ac.uk by February 9, 2020.
At the moment we are unable to confirm if we can reimburse travel expenses, but please mention in your application if do not have alternative funding to cover these costs.