Collective identities (such as national identities) are an object of continuous process, negotiation and redefinition (in the field of private as well as in the field of public discourses – like media narratives).
Nowadays, Media play a crucial role giving meaning to current ideas and diffusing perceptive images of the ongoing social reality (through concrete symbolical forms). Thus, the sociological study of identities needs to observe the (mass and social) media narratives and the social representations (images and arguments) which are reproduced by them creating a “feeling of community”. This “feeling of community” is important because it determines the constitution and the symbolization of significant social links (the foundation of “being together” in any society). Common symbols (such as the national ones) are converted to a part of everyday life for the audiences, bridging distances in time and space and reporting “reality” in the sphere of everyday perception.
In times of globalization and of social and economic uncertainty (due to the economic crisis, the refugee and migration problems, the construction of supranational entities or the deconstruction of the existing socialist systems etc.), the contemporary societies redefine world borders and identities. Two centuries after the creation of the so called “romantic nations” (among which modern Greece), how the contemporary media reflect nations and the world? Are “national” identities still important or solidarities among people follow different (such as religious, technological or simply “monetary”) inspirations of “being together” (of “belonging” to a specific community)? How the contemporary “identities” are shaped and how are they “reported” by the contemporary media?
This volume intends to investigate ongoing media (either electronic or digital) narratives describing the contemporary meaning of “significant” identities (such as national identities for instance); references can be made to any shaping of identity given as considerable by current “news” and “narrations” (concerning either modern Greece or Europe and the World). It invites research approaches on definitions of identities in the postmodern society, especially in the media discourse. How national (but also religious and other) proclamations of “being together” are disseminated by different media and which are the main criteria used by the contemporary societies in order to justify present separations due to different identities?
Proposals should be made in English according to the SOCIAL COHESION AND DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL instructions (https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/SCAD); research works on Contemporary Identities in the Media Narratives should be original and not exceed 6,000 words including endnotes and references along with a short CV including affiliation, recent publications and current mailing address. Notes must figure at the end of the text together with the Bibliographical References (not a Bibliography in general) in Harvard System.
Interested parties should send their papers not later than June 30th 2021 to the Special Issue Editor, Prof. Christiana Constantopoulou, cconstantopoulou@gmail.com
