Researching Media Production in the Global South

This conference explores the particularities involved in researching media production in non-Western sites of production

Details about how to register and attend the conference online will be published in May 2024

Please note: the event time is yet to be confirmed.

The recent increase of media production studies not least in the wake of digital production is bringing with it a more diverse range of research, yet much of this field remains dominated by Western scholarship focusing on media industries in North America and Europe. The empirical data, methodological conventions and theoretical concepts that shape the field are predominantly informed by the practices, processes, and conditions in Western media. The online conference “Studying Media Production in the Global South” aims to start a conversation about the particularities involved in studying non-Western sites of production, further a dialogue between different research cultures and push the boundaries of production research beyond dominant concepts and practices.

We invite submissions of papers that explore the specificities of cultural, political and industrial contexts of media production in the Global South. We are particularly interested in research that aims to advance the field both theoretically and methodologically by exploring the validity and adaptability of Western concepts and methodologies as well as developing alternative approaches.

This includes studies that highlight the influences of local contexts and how they shape production practices in ways that may point not only to differences but to new or alternative ways of thinking about media production. Such ‘localised’ approaches with a focus on sites in the Global South and their rapidly changing production ecologies may further be considered to contribute to de-Westernised or decolonised conceptions of media production.

Paper proposals may focus on media production across different media, different genres and different professional and organisational contexts. They may consider (but are not limited to):

• How local (political, economic and cultural) contexts shape/constrain media production practices
• The appropriation of new developments in digital technologies (including AI and associated technologies)
• The role of platforms in shaping/influencing production practices
• The impact of shifting industrial contexts (e.g. increasing decentralisation or de-centred approaches) and changing media ecologies on media production
• Methodological approaches, context/site-specific challenges and emerging solutions for media production research
• The particularities of labour markets and working conditions
• Cross-cultural and collaborative media production
• The impact of foreign media investment and/or training on local production practices
• The impact of resource constrains on journalism and other production

While we are interested to hear about empirical research projects, we are especially keen to receive submissions that focus on how methodology and theoretical concepts apply in these local contexts and in what way they need to be adapted or further developed.

Please submit abstracts for a 10min online presentation (max 300 words) and a short bio (max 100 words) by 30 March 2024 here. Acceptance and presentation at conference are conditional on submission of an extended abstract of 1500 words by 15 May 2024.

The conference is jointly organised by the Media Industries and Cultural Production Research Group and the Global Communication Research Group at the University of Leeds in partnership with the IAMCR Media Production Analysis Working Group, and Glasgow University Media Group.

Conference convenors: Anna Zoellner, Chris Paterson and Hayes Mabweazara

Contact: <mediaproduction.globalsouth@leeds.ac.uk

The Media Production Analysis Working Group of the IAMCR provides a venue for researchers of media production in various genres and across different media with a focus on multiple technologies, organisational contexts and genres to grasp the internal and external dynamics of media production processes. IAMCR is a worldwide professional organisation in the field of media and communication research. It’s members promote global inclusiveness and excellence within the best traditions of critical scholarship in the field.