Dear GCSC Division Members,
ICA22 is over, and we are all very much looking forward to the 2023 conference to be held in Toronto (Canada). Here is the first newsletter of the new “conference” year, which comes to you from the new leadership of the division.
Chris Paterson (University of Leeds) is serving the division in his second year as Chair and Saba Bebawi (University of Technology Sydney) is serving the division in her second year as Vice-Chair and Conference Planner. The division thanks Dani Madrid-Morales for his two years of service that got us communicating through a pandemic and two online/hybrid conferences and for increasing the division’s membership numbers. Thanks for everything, Dani!
The division welcomed the new officers at the annual officer meeting in Paris including incoming secretary, Lea Hellmueller (City, U of London), incoming Internationalization Liaison, Rachel van der Merwe (University of Groningen), and incoming Student and Early Career Scholars Representative, Michael Dokyum Kim (University of Miami).
*******GCSC seeks Vice-Chair Nominations*******
Most of you will know that ICA divisions encourage active participants to consider taking on roles in division management. Our division is currently seeking its next leader, in the form of the vice chair who will take over from Saba Bebawi next year, when she moves to the role of chair. The vice chair is the planner for the division’s conference activities for two years, and this is a challenging, but very rewarding role. The commitment to the division is for four years, with the last two years in the role of chair. Division members with experience of association service and a desire to shape the direction of our field are encouraged to apply. Feel free to direct any questions to Chris (c.paterson@leeds.ac.uk) or Saba (Saba.Bebawi@uts.edu.au).
The election will be held online starting on September 1, 2022.
Expressions of interest should be sent by July 22nd to the division’s chair, Chris Paterson (c.paterson@leeds.ac.uk). Anyone who wishes to be on the ballot must provide a candidate statement, limited to one paragraph with 2,000 characters (approximately 300 words).
Candidates must be members of ICA Global Communication and Social Change Division and should be ICA members for the duration of their tenure.
******* ICA22 Conference Updates *******
From the chair: Thank you division members for a fantastic first in person conference since 2019! We had loads of wonderful feedback, especially on our pre and post conferences, our very well attended student/early career session, and our popular and delightfully sunny Seine cruise reception with the ICC division. It was super to see everyone, and I encourage you to spread the word about ICA’s best division, and bring us lots of new members, paper submissions, and paper reviewers for next year!
To summarize, at ICA22, our division had 20 sessions, 8 posters, and 5 pre-formed panels on topics such as Disinformation in the Global South, International Research Collaborations, and COVID-19. For all GCSC members who registered, video recordings will be available for another 5 weeks. They can be found on the same conference platform
As noted in our business meeting, the chair will present suggested changes to our division bylaws to members via an online link which we will circulate next week. Please email Chris (C.Paterson@leeds.ac.uk) with any concerns about the proposal, by the deadline we specify in that message. A final proposal for the changes, incorporating any feedback from members, will be sent to ICA for advice and comment in July and then submitted in August for inclusion in the upcoming ICA election.
******* ICA22 Award Updates *******
Top faculty paper: “Does Context Matter? Opportunities and Challenges for Migration NGOs in Two Neighboring Countries” by D. Dimitrova (Iowa State U) & E. Ozdora Aksak (Bilkent U).
Runner up faculty paper: "Venezuelan refugees in Brazil, communication rights and digital inequalities in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic" by A. Alencar, (Erasmus U Rotterdam), J. Camargo (Federal U of Roraima) & D. Cogo (ESPM - São Paulo)
Top student paper: "Social Media for Community Organizing: Saving Oconomowoc Dispatch" by R. Italiano & F.A. Ramirez (Louisiana State U)
Runner up student paper: Social Inequality and News Media Repertoires in Seven MENA Countries – R. Leuppert (Hochschule fur Musik Theater und Medien Hannover), I. Allagui (Northwestern U. - Qatar) & C. Klimmt (Hochschule fur Musik Theater und Medien Hannover)
African Journalism Studies Award: "From Connective Action to Collective Action: The Role of Sudanese Professionals Association in Sudan’s 2019 Revolution" by H. A. Guta (Qatar U)
We would like to thank all the reviewers who contributed their time to reading, commenting, and evaluating a record number of submissions this year.
******* Announcing the Best Book Award *******
This year’s winner is Lone Sorensen, with "Populist Communication: Ideology, Performance, Mediation" published by Palgrave Macmillan.
The runner up is David Park, with "Media Reform and the Climate Emergency: Rethinking Communication in the Struggle for a Sustainable Future" published by University of Michigan Press.
Sorensen's book was commended by judges as "very strong", "exceptionally timely", with an "engaging" style. Park's book was deemed "rigorous", "very clear", and social justice oriented.
The committee noted that this was an especially challenging task given seven nominations which were all of a very high quality. With these two awards the division hopes to signal to scholars of global communication and social change the global threat posed both by political populism and climate change, the respective areas these books explore. The judges also wished to add to special commendation for award winner Lone Sorensen in recognition that it rare for an early career scholar to win such an award from within a field of established scholars.
The judging panel consisted of former award winners: Dr. Patrick Murphy, Klein College of Media & Communication, Temple U; Dr. Julia Sonnevend, The New School for Social Research, and Prof. Herman Wasserman, Centre for Film and Media Studies, U of Cape Town.
We would like to thank all the reviewers and judging panel for their time and expertise.
******* Announcing the Winner of the Best Dissertation Award *******
The Division is happy to announce that the winner of the 2022 Global Communication and Social Change Best Dissertation Award is Ryan Stoldt for “Imagining the World: Personalization Algorithms and Global Media Flows on Netflix” (defended at The U of Iowa, 2021). The committee noted that Stoldt’s work is “highly relevant to the study of global communication” and scores very high on the “strength of the evidence, soundness of methodology and quality of writing”.
The Dissertation Award Committee also decided to award the runner-up prize ex-aequo to the works of Miao Lu, “Deep Ploughing: A Mobile Phone Company’s Technology Translation Between China and Ghana” (Chinese U of Hong Kong), and Rachel van der Merwe, “We Are Not South African: Decolonizing National Identity in a Post-Apartheid State” (U of Colorado Boulder). The committee noted that Lu’s work excels in “originality and detail”, while van der Merwe’s dissertation was praised for being “a delightful piece of writing” that “theorizes from South Africa in the era of digital media.”
The Best Dissertation Award committee consisted of Prof. Radhika Gajjala, Bowling Green State U, Dr. Leah Komen, Daystar U, and Dr. Prashanth Bhat, Eastern Connecticut State U, and was chaired the Division’s Secretary, Dr. Dani Madrid-Morales, The U of Sheffield.
******* Pre- and Post-Conference Ideas for ICA23 *******
The 2023 ICA conference is currently planned as a hybrid event. The details of how this hybridity is going to work is yet to be ironed out, but we are very excited to see that the new ICA leadership is keen on using this new format to engage with a more diverse body of scholars. One such way might be through local conference hubs, which already took place during ICA22 in several underrepresented countries.
As we begin to think about ICA23, we would like to remind all our members about the possibility of organizing pre- or post-conferences. The calendar for such proposals will be posted on the ICA website later in the summer. If you have an idea that you’d like to float with the division leadership, feel free to reach out to our Vice.Chair, Saba Bebawi (saba.bebawi@uts.edu.au).
******* Social Media *******
Last year the GCSC division re-launched its Twitter account (@gcsc2020). We also have a Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ICAGCSC). Make sure to follow us and help us grow our following by sharing this information with colleagues and students. If you have any information that you’d like our help with distributing (CfP, job announcements, new books, personal successes…), please send us a message on either platform and we will gladly share the news or you can share your news directly via email or social media and tag us on twitter @gcsc2020.
This is all we had for you this time around. If there is something you would like to see featured in future newsletters, feel free to contact the Secretary of the division, Lea Hellmueller, lea.hellmueller@city.ac.uk.
We will be back in a couple of months with more information about ICA23, the new Call for Papers, and any new announcements you want us to share.
ICA Global Communication/Social Change Division
Chris Paterson (University of Leeds), Chair
Saba Bebawi (University of Technology Sydney), Vice-Chair
Lea Hellmueller (City, University of London), Secretary
Rachel van der Merwe (University of Groningen), Internationalization Liaison
Michael Dokyum Kim (University of Miami), Student and Early Career Scholars Representative