Race and the Cultural Industries

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A one-day conference organised by the Media Industries Research Centre (MIRC), University of Leeds, in conjunction with the MeCCSA Race Network and the ECREA Media Industries and Cultural Production Temporary Working Group

Wednesday 14th Sept 2011
Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds
Call for Papers

This conference will explore issues of race, the cultural industries and cultural production. Following Greg Dyke’s famous comment that the BBC is ‘hideously white’ there has been an increasing recognition of how non-whites are marginalised in the media – both in terms of participation and portrayal. Indeed, in recent years there have been numerous initiatives launched across the cultural sector that have made efforts to increase and encourage participation from minority communities. Yet tensions remain regarding social and cultural barriers to entry as well as critical issues to do with the representation of non-white groups. The aim of the conference is to go beyond policy debates and think more critically about the media and identity, and the cultural politics of race in the West.

*Race and the Cultural Industries* is an interdisciplinary conference and welcomes papers based on research on all sectors of the media, from news to entertainment, taken from the UK or more international contexts. It seeks to encourage participation from cultural practitioners as well as scholars in order to create a dialogue between research, policy and practice.

We welcome papers in anything related to the topic of race and the cultural industries, amongst which might be the following:

  • Race and the politics of representation
  • The media, multiculturalism and citizenship
  • Cultural policy and subsidising culturally diverse arts
  • The production of Black and Asian popular culture
  • Islamophobia and the reporting/representation of the ‘War on Terror’
  • Institutional racism in the cultural industries
  • Audience development and issues of marketing and distributing culturally diverse arts
  • Diasporic media practice
  • ‘Glass ceilings’ and the politics of quotas and diversity initiatives
  • New media, race and identity

To submit an abstract (300 words) please email a.saha@leeds.ac.uk. Deadline for abstracts is 8th July 2011.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Tanika Gupta, MBE – Playwright and screenwriter
  • Mykaell Riley – Director of Centre for Black Music Research, Ex-Steel Pulse member and black music historian
  • Jason Toynbee – Open University
  • David Hesmondhalgh – University of Leeds
  • Mark Banks – Open University
  • Sarita Malik – Brunel University
  • Ash Sharma – University of East London
  • Sanjay Sharma – Brunel University

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