Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction
COUCH STONE SYMPOSIUM 2016
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Vancouver Island Conference Centre
April 21-23 (Thursday pm to Saturday)
Diversities of Social Engagement:
Where Dialogue Happens
Call for Papers
The way we engage in the world is changing: the way we communicate with one another, how we present ourselves to the world, how we experience our differences. We invite you to join us in a very special liminal space – a finite space (our island) for a finite time to talk about infinite ideas and make sense of the changes we are seeing and the impetus behind those changes. We view these changes as evident in diverse narratives about our world that come from many directions. Social media, digital identities, the enormous growth in image production brought on by technological change, the growth of surveillance and our awareness of and resistance to it, all contribute to the diverse ways in which we engage with each other. And they require an understanding of how dialogue can continue within such diversity. Please join us to share and explore narratives and images about these changes and how they are recreating space for interaction. Beyond these ideas we hope to engage you in exploring the ease with which such narratives are now shared.
For this conference we welcome submissions with a focus on how changes have impacted the narratives and/or images associated with contemporary issues. We are especially interested in stories, narratives, and images that have been impacted directly by our new plugged-in world. The topics are many but we are particularly interested in – but not restricted to – portrayals related to contemporary topics such as indigenous peoples, climate change, and science, terrorism and justice.
Submission Deadline: November 20, 2015
Submit your abstract for proposed conference papers (400-600 words, Microsoft Word or PDF) to Couch Stone 2016 couchstone2016@gmail.com. Please include a cover page with the paper’s title, name and role (faculty or student) of all authors with affiliation and contact information. Notifications of acceptance will occur during December.
Detailed information about hotel accommodation, conference registration, student travel stipends, and the planned conference program are forthcoming. Please direct other inquiries to Elizabeth McLin at Vancouver Island University (Elizabeth.mclin@viu.ca)
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