Final CFP: M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 'self' issue

[Felicity Meakins]

M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture
http://www.media-culture.org.au

Published by Media and Cultural Studies Centre and the School of English,
Media Studies and Art History, University of Queensland, Australia



Call for Papers - "Self"

The editors are pleased to announce that the feature article for the "Self"
issue of M/C will be authored by Professor Michael Clyne (Director of the
new Research Unit for Multilingualism and Cross-Cultural Communication at
The University of Melbourne), author of Inter-cultural Communication at
Work. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.

The deadline for submissions is 26 August 2002 and the issue release date:
25 September 2002

Please see the CFP below for further details.



Me? "I" am everywhere. Philosophers, social scientists, behavioural
and medical scientists have been investigating the existence and
significance of individual consciousness, self-perception,
self-promotion and other notions of "the self" for centuries.

The 'self' permeates contemporary culture. Through capitalist
individualism and conservative politics 'self' must be considered
first above the needs of the group - "looking after no. 1". In
therapeutic, religious and consumerist discourses of self-improvement,
self-help or self-actualisation, 'self' is obscured; an entity which
needs to be sought and found, changed or accommodated, an entity which
one needs to become "in touch with". Within these permutations "self"
carries the assumption of its own existence, as either a stable,
unchanging entity or as a contextually sensitive and dynamic
identity. Either way, self is individuality - one's own interests.

'Self' is commonly a prefix which expresses an action done to one's
self (self-hatred, self-discipline) or which describes an attribute of
an entity (self-concerned, self-contained). It can also be a suffix,
which carries a level of self-reflexivity (myself, yourself).

The editors of M/C invite submissions of no more than 2000 words on
the subject of "self", and welcome various interpretations of the
term. Possible topics include, but should not be limited to "the first
person era", first person media and Reality TV, 'factual' depictions
of self in various media; notions of "true selves" within
auto/biographical acts such as in writing, personal Webpages or
documentary, the cultural celebration of self-awareness and autonomy,
ideas relating to subjectivity and identity politics, social language
behaviour such as im/politeness and its effects on 'self'; identity
play in different media, the contextual variability and multiplicity
of 'self', conflicting identities - for instance "immigrants against
further immigration" groups.

Issue editors: Felicity Meakins (dacnth-westling at nt-tech.com.au) and Kate
Douglas (jk.douglas at mailbox.uq.edu.au)