An international, cross-disciplinary conference, Images of Social Life invites contributions to a matrix of visual strategies in film, video, still photography and multi media used to formulate, conduct and disseminate social research. Contributions dealing visually with all aspects of social life - intimate scenes of personal life, subjectivity formation, domestic organisation, urban life, work, community, biography, place, migration and global processes – particularly those linking different degrees of magnification, scope and scale are strongly encouraged. Themes that cross-cut the usual tensions between the micro and the macro, individual lives and bigger social processes, the global and the local, the general and the particular, the theoretical and the empirical, and connect small landscapes with bigger processes are particularly welcome. Creating a matrix across disciplines, research fields, methodologies, and forms of social analysis, we will see what different visual strategies can achieve by moving in different directions and operating at different levels.

On past experience we expect this conference to attract scholars from the US and all over Europe from a broad range of disciplinary bases including Cultural and Media Studies, Geography, History, English, Architecture and Urban Planning, Politics, Psychology, Art and Design, Anthropology, Sociology and Social Policy. It is intended for those who work with images - whether making their own or using those of other people, in film, video, still photography and multi-media - in understanding social life. It is also for those who would like to develop their visual literacy as researchers and teachers and learn basic skills in the photography and video workshops. Abstracts are due by February 15th 2003.

Registration:
IVSA members £80 ($125)
Non-IVSA members £120 ($190)
Student IVSA members £26 ($40)

Non-IVSA student members £48 ($75)Non-IVSA members fees include a one year membership of IVSA and two free issues of Visual Studies, edited by IVSA and published by Taylor & Francis. Fees payable in British £s to Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Southampton.

Scholars and practitioners working in media studies, geography, history, literature, architecture and urban planning, politics, psychology, art and design, anthropology, sociology, education and social policy are invited to submit proposals for individual papers, thematic sessions and media screenings that explore the visual dimensions of social life. Conference presentations can focus on any form of social life - intimate relations, subjectivity formation, domestic organisation, urban life, work, community, biography, place, migration, networks, global institutions, social change, state politics, etc. Presentations that can help to bridge persistent dualities of social analysis - such as micro and macro contexts, individual lives and social structure, global and local phenomena, theoretical and empirical approaches, the general and the particular - are encouraged.

Proposals for papers, sessions, and media screenings should be sent as an e-mail attachment in Microsoft Word format, or by postal mail. If submitting by mail, send two copies of the abstract/session theme and include a copy on a diskette or CD in Microsoft Word format. Proposals should not exceed 200 words.