Welcome to MeCCSA Brighton 2020
8th to 10th January
Media Interactions and Environments
We're delighted to be hosting the annual MeCCSA Conference at the University of Brighton from 8th - 10th January 2020.
Interactions with media are increasingly woven into the textures and cultural politics of our everyday lives. When the spaces of our homes, shops, schools, offices and cities are so intensively mediatised, media become our environment, brought to life through our mundane, personal, professional, creative, commercial and political interactions. What might be the wider implications of these media and cultural experiences and encounters? Whose voices and perspectives are included or excluded, and how are power and agency reconfigured, realigned and reproduced in this complex media landscape? The theme Media Interactions and Environments is designed to address this critical moment in contemporary media culture, and appeal to a broad range of media, communication and cultural studies topics, interests and approaches.
The conference is an annual presentation for the best work across the full range of MeCCSA interests, these themes will be addressed in a range of plenaries, roundtables, panels, screenings and exhibitions during the conference.
Interactions with media are increasingly woven into the textures and cultural politics of our everyday lives. When the spaces of our homes, shops, schools, offices and cities are so intensively mediatised, media become our environment, brought to life through our mundane, personal, professional, creative, commercial and political interactions. What might be the wider implications of these media and cultural experiences and encounters? Whose voices and perspectives are included or excluded, and how are power and agency reconfigured, realigned and reproduced in this complex media landscape? The theme Media Interactions and Environments is designed to address this critical moment in contemporary media culture, and appeal to a broad range of media, communication and cultural studies topics, interests and approaches.
The conference is an annual presentation for the best work across the full range of MeCCSA interests, these themes will be addressed in a range of plenaries, roundtables, panels, screenings and exhibitions during the conference.
Conference Venue |
City Campus
University of Brighton
58 - 67 Grand Parade
Brighton
BN2 0JN
University of Brighton
58 - 67 Grand Parade
Brighton
BN2 0JN
Keynote Speakers
Dr Deborah Gabriel
Dr Deborah Gabriel is a Senior Academic in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University. Her work is focused on embedding social justice and equality into teaching, research and professional practice. Her background is in journalism and strategic communication and she is the Founder and Director of Black British Academics, an influential network of intellectuals and scholar-activists focused on tackling racial inequality in higher education. She also leads on strategic, whole institution approaches to advance race equality at the University as Co-Chair of the Race Equality Steering Group. Dr Gabriel’s two main research areas are concerned with dynamics of race, ethnicity and culture in higher education and pedagogical research centred on decolonising, democratising and diversifying the curriculum, and secondly with the politics of racialised identity and race and representation in media and popular culture.
Dr Deborah Gabriel is a Senior Academic in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University. Her work is focused on embedding social justice and equality into teaching, research and professional practice. Her background is in journalism and strategic communication and she is the Founder and Director of Black British Academics, an influential network of intellectuals and scholar-activists focused on tackling racial inequality in higher education. She also leads on strategic, whole institution approaches to advance race equality at the University as Co-Chair of the Race Equality Steering Group. Dr Gabriel’s two main research areas are concerned with dynamics of race, ethnicity and culture in higher education and pedagogical research centred on decolonising, democratising and diversifying the curriculum, and secondly with the politics of racialised identity and race and representation in media and popular culture.
Professor Jussi Parikka
Jussi Parikka is a Professor in Technological Culture & Aesthetics at the Winchester School of Art and Visiting Researcher at FAMU at the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague. At FAMU, he is the project leader for Operational Images (2019-2023, funded by the Czech Science Foundation).His main areas of interest are materiality of media culture, archaeologies of science, technology and art and questions of cultural theory and environmental humanities. He is also the author of various books on media, archaeology, digital culture and technical media, including the award winning Insect Media: An Archaeology of Animals and Technology and What is Media Archaeology (2012) as well as A Geology of Media (2015). He is currently finishing a co-authored book on labs in media and humanities (with Darren Wershler and Lori Emerson) and co-editing the book Photography off the Scale (with Tomas Dvorak)
Jussi Parikka is a Professor in Technological Culture & Aesthetics at the Winchester School of Art and Visiting Researcher at FAMU at the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague. At FAMU, he is the project leader for Operational Images (2019-2023, funded by the Czech Science Foundation).His main areas of interest are materiality of media culture, archaeologies of science, technology and art and questions of cultural theory and environmental humanities. He is also the author of various books on media, archaeology, digital culture and technical media, including the award winning Insect Media: An Archaeology of Animals and Technology and What is Media Archaeology (2012) as well as A Geology of Media (2015). He is currently finishing a co-authored book on labs in media and humanities (with Darren Wershler and Lori Emerson) and co-editing the book Photography off the Scale (with Tomas Dvorak)
Professor Sarah Kember
Sarah Kember is Professor of New Technologies of Communication at Goldsmiths, University of London and Director of Goldsmiths Press. Her work incorporates new media, photography and feminist cultural approaches to science and technology. Publications include a novel The Optical Effects of Lightning (Wild Wolf Publishing, 2011) and short stories ‘The Mysterious Case of Mr Charles D. Levy’ (Ether Books, 2010) and ‘An open letter on the subject of life on Mars’ (Nomorepotlucks, 28, 2013). Experimental work includes an edited open access electronic book entitled Astrobiology and the Search for Life on Mars (Open Humanities Press, 2011) and ‘Media, Mars and Metamorphosis’ (Culture Machine, 11, 2010). A co-edited open access volume Whose Book is it Anyway? A view from elsewhere on publishing, copyright and creativity was published with Open Book Publishers in 2019. Recent monographs include Furious. Technological Feminism and Digital Futures (Pluto Press 2019, co-authored with Caroline Bassett and Kate O’Riordan); iMedia. The gendering of objects, environments and smart materials (Palgrave, 2016) and Life After New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process (The MIT Press, 2012, co-authored with Joanna Zylinska).
Sarah Kember is Professor of New Technologies of Communication at Goldsmiths, University of London and Director of Goldsmiths Press. Her work incorporates new media, photography and feminist cultural approaches to science and technology. Publications include a novel The Optical Effects of Lightning (Wild Wolf Publishing, 2011) and short stories ‘The Mysterious Case of Mr Charles D. Levy’ (Ether Books, 2010) and ‘An open letter on the subject of life on Mars’ (Nomorepotlucks, 28, 2013). Experimental work includes an edited open access electronic book entitled Astrobiology and the Search for Life on Mars (Open Humanities Press, 2011) and ‘Media, Mars and Metamorphosis’ (Culture Machine, 11, 2010). A co-edited open access volume Whose Book is it Anyway? A view from elsewhere on publishing, copyright and creativity was published with Open Book Publishers in 2019. Recent monographs include Furious. Technological Feminism and Digital Futures (Pluto Press 2019, co-authored with Caroline Bassett and Kate O’Riordan); iMedia. The gendering of objects, environments and smart materials (Palgrave, 2016) and Life After New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process (The MIT Press, 2012, co-authored with Joanna Zylinska).
Professor Trine Syvertsen
Trine Syvertsen is a Professor in the Department of Media & Communication at the University of Oslo. Her work is focused on media history, media policy, television and digital media. Trine is currently Chairwoman of the Board at Oslo Metropolitan University and has acted as Dean (2007 -14) and Dean of Research (2002-6) in the Faculty of Humanities. She has published extensively on public service broadcasting and has been involved in the collaborative project Media Companies and the Public Interest
Trine Syvertsen is a Professor in the Department of Media & Communication at the University of Oslo. Her work is focused on media history, media policy, television and digital media. Trine is currently Chairwoman of the Board at Oslo Metropolitan University and has acted as Dean (2007 -14) and Dean of Research (2002-6) in the Faculty of Humanities. She has published extensively on public service broadcasting and has been involved in the collaborative project Media Companies and the Public Interest
