Call for Abstracts: Memory, Mind & Media Special Issue
"Communicating Memory Matters in Networked Environments"
Special Guest Editors: Christine Lohmeier (University of
Salzburg, Austria) & Christian Pentzold (Leipzig University,
Germany)
Memory is a communicative affair. Throughout history, a
growing diversity of symbols and genres of communication have
shaped how we come to remember and forget the past. Indeed,
memory comes to matter when it is communicated: people connect
to a collective past, return to personal reminiscences, and
revive bygone moments but also impair, inhibit, or prevent
memories by way of communication. It is the prime mode through
which the past is enacted in the present. Unsurprisingly, the
majority of studies into the practice of lived remembering
operate with a notion of communicative memory, often in
conjunction with the kindred concept of cultural memory.
The special issue of Memory, Mind & Media will interrogate the
current forms of communicative memory making. It starts from
the idea that while communication is at the heart of
commemoration processes, it has recently been sidelined by a
focus on (media) technologies. These rapidly changing material
environments attracted much scholarly attention around
questions of living digital archives, virtual memory places,
and media archaeology. Yet the actual communicative exchanges
that happen on the cognitive level, in the often
machine-mediated interactions between people, and the social
realm at-large have received considerably less interest.
The special issue invites contributions that address the ways
in which data, services, and platforms enable communicative
remembering across the scale from micro-level mental
operations to macro-level societal processes. We assume that
transforming media will leave their mark on how we engage with
the past, interact with others, employ artifacts and
documents, and thus construct memories. We also believe that
memory making within and through these technologies means
inclusion of some people and groups and exclusion of others.
Reconsidering how communicative remembering has changed and
how it is done today will also allow us to scrutinize some
standard distinctions on which the field is built. Hence,
dichotomies such as communicative memory versus cultural
memory, personal versus family versus public memory, cognitive
memory versus social memory seem in need of re-thinking and
renewal when considered from the point of digitally networked
communication. With its focus on the active side of
remembrance, the special issue aims at a tenet of memory
studies yet it promises to also reach out to connate
disciplines which share this interest, like cognitive science
and psychology, science and technology studies, communication,
political science, anthropology, and sociology.
Papers could address but are not limited to the following themes:
* conceptualization of memory work in times of networked
media environments
* processes of inclusion and exclusion in acts of
communicative remembering
* the formation of new memory collectives
* the impact of digital communication on remembering and
forgetting in-between the individual and the collective level
* continuities and changes in communicative remembering and
forgetting within complex networked communication
* the activities and positions of (new) memory agents in
networked environments
* collaborative memory and communication among families,
couples, small and large groups
Timeline and procedure
500 to 700 word abstracts should be sent to
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
<mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> by October 3,
2022. The abstract should articulate: 1) the issue or research
question to be discussed, 2) the methodological or critical
framework used, and 3) the expected findings or conclusions.
Feel free to consult with the Special Issue Editors about your
article ideas and potential angles or approaches.
Decisions will be communicated to the authors by November 15,
2022. Invited paper submissions will be due May 2, 2023 and
will be submitted directly to the submission site for Memory,
Mind & Media: https://secure-web.cisco.com/1ODtKiEdC_eLSwxy5F4hFaV1CndEFQM4bBY94xFcdh1TSNYmaqQhtlqbtLXZMTmkRUmKuS7WiKjrmBrPZPchLMv-mxEwy1aFNTNMIbOJju8snYpPht_IBzoxl8TvGRBby0caLOrPhtVJpz1zRDBA1U0MM9nB6l3f8iaAk3TKocdrKfXi_mnkvB9D88YoUnwPZbw_RNxuI7Spgo-5hC2Ufd8HqTTnpz4rVMGz0kfx3v7jH5nAoeHz8JxgMSNSSdbiDM6SwFInHrNI3mYM3Fp8JI-F_W5QZqsI619b_u4ZQxqV_MIDBDUBxs_uCaZn4SnVHcG0fEcdTKgHnqivfJJrPpgB5TOz_gz5hUOKxyBdtrxkLw27ieHkhQptva3-toBH2i5Sj1N6pyppaNtFARxHXgFqQ5X20r74SX8Nd03Zhw-Ao3l3QQLO5PAnKRZNOVfumiTpEh_xKrOI-muQPJegSnQ/https%3A%2F%2Fmc.manuscriptcentral.com%2Fmmm
<https://secure-web.cisco.com/1ODtKiEdC_eLSwxy5F4hFaV1CndEFQM4bBY94xFcdh1TSNYmaqQhtlqbtLXZMTmkRUmKuS7WiKjrmBrPZPchLMv-mxEwy1aFNTNMIbOJju8snYpPht_IBzoxl8TvGRBby0caLOrPhtVJpz1zRDBA1U0MM9nB6l3f8iaAk3TKocdrKfXi_mnkvB9D88YoUnwPZbw_RNxuI7Spgo-5hC2Ufd8HqTTnpz4rVMGz0kfx3v7jH5nAoeHz8JxgMSNSSdbiDM6SwFInHrNI3mYM3Fp8JI-F_W5QZqsI619b_u4ZQxqV_MIDBDUBxs_uCaZn4SnVHcG0fEcdTKgHnqivfJJrPpgB5TOz_gz5hUOKxyBdtrxkLw27ieHkhQptva3-toBH2i5Sj1N6pyppaNtFARxHXgFqQ5X20r74SX8Nd03Zhw-Ao3l3QQLO5PAnKRZNOVfumiTpEh_xKrOI-muQPJegSnQ/https%3A%2F%2Fmc.manuscriptcentral.com%2Fmmm> where they will undergo
peer review following the usual procedures of Memory, Mind &
Media. The invitation to submit a full article does not
guarantee acceptance into the special issue. The special issue
is scheduled for publication in early 2024.
No publication fees will be required.
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