Vol. 9, No. 1, November 2007

Calls for Papers

THE CONTESTED TERRAIN OF CONSUMPTION STUDIES
Consumer Studies Mini-Conference
Thursday, July 31st 2008   Boston College, Boston

The Consumer Studies Research Network (CSRN) is sponsoring a one-day mini-conference on “The Contested Terrain of Consumption Studies,” to be held at Boston College, immediately prior to the American Sociological Association (ASA) annual meeting in Boston. 

Building on the momentum of our highly successful mini-conference in August 2007 in New York City, the 2008 conference seeks to engage critical and polemical differences within the field of consumption studies.  These include debates between scholars working within normative and interpretive traditions, between those joined to the fields of marketing research and anti-branding activism, between cultural populists and critical theorists, between economists and ecologists, to name only a few.  In short, this conference will showcase some of the many contrasting views on the field of consumption, through a series of thematic panels and keynote talks specifically planned to highlight these concerns. We invite papers on any topic related to consumption studies; papers can be theoretical, empirical or polemical works.  The conference encourages (but does not specifically require) authors to consider their works in the context of some of the following areas:

  • consumerism and social identity: consumer narcissism or postmodern multiplicity?
  • mass affluence: the democracy of leisure or the McDonaldization of culture?
  • ecology and environmentalism: saving the planet or blocking growth?
  • consumption and women: the cooptation of feminism or empowerment by other means?
  • simple living and voluntary simplicity: responsible consumption or elite taste?
  • anti-brand activism: a new social movement or a fleeting subculture?
  • globalization of consumer culture: cultural imperialism or hybridization?
  • advertising professions: perpetuating wasteful consumption or creative outlet?
  •  

Proposals are especially welcome from advanced graduate students and junior faculty, and should be submitted by email (as a PDF or Word document). Include the full information of at least one author, the title of the paper to be presented, and an abstract of no more than 500 words.  Proposals should be sent to info@contestedconsumption.info

Deadline: March 1, 2008. Space is limited. Proposals will be reviewed by the conference organizing committee of the Consumer Studies Research Network, which includes both professors and graduate students.  Notification of acceptance will occur by April 1 2008. 

More information on Conference events will be forthcoming on the Conference website: www.contestedconsumption.info.


Consumer Culture Theory Conference 2008
Suffolk University, Boston MA, USA  June 19-22, 2008
Co-chairs: Anders Bengtsson and Giana Eckhardt, Suffolk University

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Don Slater, Reader of Sociology, London School of Economics
Panelists including: Henry Jenkins, Media Studies, MIT and Juliet Schor, Sociology, Boston College

Best papers to appear in a special issue of Consumption, Markets and Culture
Consumer.

Culture Theory is a research approach addressing the dynamic relationships between consumer actions, the marketplace, and cultural meanings. The theme of this conference is to enhance integration and connections within the consumer culture research community. These connections transcend geographical and disciplinary borders. The conference location in Boston provides an accessible setting, facilitating integration and connection. The goal is to stimulate dialogue and critical thinking.
 
Submit your work through the conference website www.suffolk.edu/cct no later than January 15, 2008. Conference details such as program, hotels etc. will be posted on the conference website by March 14, 2008.


Twenty First Century Teenager: Media Representation, Theory and Policy
A conference hosted by the Association for Research in Popular Fictions
10th-12th July, 2008 Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds

TV drama, young adult fiction, music, art, citizenship agenda, documentary, photography, journalism, pedagogy, youth culture, social exclusion, child poverty, curriculum and literacy, sub-culture, new media, disability, teen audiences, magazines/comics, juvenile delinquency, beauty and lifestyle, pop and politics, internet cultures, texting and social ritual, teen nights and street culture, ASBOs and Hoodies, comparative studies.

Please send an abstract of 200-300 words by December 15th 2007 to Nickianne Moody, Convenor ARPF, MCCA, Liverpool John Moores University, Dean Walters Building, St James Road, Liverpool L1 7BR E-mail N.A.Moody@ljm.ac.uk Fax 0151 6431980

>>> back to Consumers, Comodities & Consumption, Vol. 9(1) November 2007.