Chicago edition: Roundtable Thursday with journalists and linguists/anthropologists (Professional Divides II)

[Colleen Cotter]

Dear colleagues,
Building on last year's Professional Divides roundtable with anthropologists and San Francisco Bay Area journalists talking about language, news practice, and social justice from their respective professional points of view -- in particular the "i" word ("illegal immigrant") issue -- Sam Z. Spies (Temple U) and I have organized the *Chicago edition*, which takes place Thursday, 10:15 a.m.-12 p.m. (room TBA).

We have five Midwest-based journalists from a range of backgrounds coming (functioning in effect as ethnographic informants). They are:
* Tracy Baim, publisher, Windy City Media Group and co-founder Windy City Times
* Dr. Janice Collins, Journalism Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, media producer and radio host of Theoretical Tea and Company
* Jon Olson, reporter and former copy editor, Wauwatosa (Wis.) NOW (via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
* David Scott, AP Region Editor/Central US
* Jackie Spinner, Journalism Department, Columbia College Chicago (via Washington Post) and co-director of multimedia project Conflict Zone

New this year: Three AAA members will present short reports on their own research (functioning to provide a glimpse into the anthropology mission). Mercedes Douglass (UCLA) will talk about the Re-Generation Initiative engaging young people in conversation about media and democracy in the US; Esther Schely-Newman (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) discusses the role of the media as socializing and self-reflexive dynamic within migrant communities in Israel: and Camelia Suleiman (Michigan State) looks at explicit and implicit language policy in Arabic media in Egypt and Israel. E. Moore Quinn (College of Charleston, SC) will just miss the roundtable (flying back from the field) but has sent slides about the border project involving peace relations and the media in Northern Ireland that she has been involved in.

Bonnie Urciuoli (Hamilton College, NY) and Mark Allan Peterson (Miami University, Ohio) will also participate, highlighting issues identified by the Society for LInguistic Anthropology's Language and Social Justice Committee. Mark, who with Sam, Mercedes and myself has a media background, will speak to the different perspectives of journalism and anthropology as well as his own experiences in Egypt and India.

In addition, one "joint theme" (led by Sam) concerns the ongoing controversy over the Washington, DC, professional football team name, which raises additional questions about representation and the role of media and culture. The other "joint theme" (led by Colleen) pertains to the extent to which changing technology and social media have created fundamental changes in journalism practice and the news narrative.

A lot to pack into two hours, but we are looking forward to this opportunity.

Please attend, ask questions, and join the conversation.

Colleen Cotter and Sam Spies

For more info:
http://media.illiinois.edu/faculty/detail/collins_janice
http://www.jackiespinner.net
http://www.jonolson.biz/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-baim/
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-08/features/ct-prj-0210-tracy-baim-literary-saloon-20130208_1_gay-publications-windy-city-times-gay-press

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Colleen Cotter
Reader in Media Linguistics
Linguistics Department
School of Languages, Linguistics and Film
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS
UK
email: c.m.cotter at qmul.ac.uk