ICA26 Preconference: African and Global Media Representations of Africa

Call for Papers

Date: June 3, 2026 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm)

Venue: University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

Format: In-person

Mainstream media coverage of Africa, both within the continent and beyond, has long been shaped by recurring tropes and systemic imbalances. The global flow of information remains asymmetrical, with representations of Africa frequently filtered through external lenses of crisis, catastrophe, and exceptionalism. Within African media systems themselves, enduring colonial legacies and external dependencies continue to shape editorial priorities and institutional structures.

Across the global media landscape, Africa is too often engaged as an object of representation rather than a site of meaning-making. This preconference seeks to foreground research that critically examines how Africa is narrated, imagined, and negotiated in mediated discourse, both within the continent and beyond, while remaining attentive to the complex interplay between history, power, and voice in these processes.

Rather than exclusively rehearsing familiar critiques of distortion or erasure, we are interested in contributions that trace the shifting vocabularies, institutional logics, and material infrastructures that underwrite contemporary portrayals of Africa. We invite work that interrogates representational practices not simply as reflections of ideology or intent, but as embedded in circulatory textual, economic and affective systems that give shape to both visibility and silence.

We particularly encourage submissions that build from African locations, intellectual traditions, and professional practice whether by decentring Euro-American analytical frameworks, offering fresh theoretical insights, or attending to the generative tensions between local and transnational knowledge systems.

Please submit an abstract of 800-1000 words (excluding references), clearly outlining the research question, theoretical framework, methodology, and relevance to the pre-conference theme. Abstracts should be submitted by 15 February 2026 through this form.

For any questions related to this pre-conference, you can contact the organisers at africamediaconference@gmail.com.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

Comparative analyses of African media portrayals in domestic and global outlets
Shifts in media representations of Africa in the digital and algorithmic age
Case studies of African media challenging dominant global narratives
The role of diaspora media in shaping perceptions of Africa
Visual cultures and mediated aesthetics of “Africanness”
Representations of gender, conflict, migration, or environment in coverage of Africa
Coverage of African elections, crises, or cultural events in transnational news flows
Emerging African media theories, methodologies, and epistemologies
Intersections between media development aid and representational politics
Critiques of "Africa Rising", Afro-pessimism, and other framing devices
Representations of Africa in entertainment media (film, series, games, etc.)

This pre-conference is supported by the Global Communication and Social Change, Journalism Studies and Visual Communication Studies Divisions of the International Communication Association (ICA).

Publication Plans

A selection of papers accepted to the post-conference will be published in a peer-reviewed journal Special Issue. More details about publication plans will be provided to the authors of accepted extended abstracts.

Key dates

Abstract submission deadline: February 15, 2026

Notification of accepted abstracts: March 15, 2026

Last day to Register: April 30, 2026

Submission of full papers for Special Issue: July 15, 2026

Conference Fees

There are no registration fees to attend this conference. Participants whose extended abstract is accepted will receive a link to register for the event.