BEYOND THE MARGINS

May 17-18, 2013 / DePaul University

Beyond the Margins, a graduate student conference hosted by the Media and Cinema Studies program in the College of Communication at DePaul University, invites current graduate students in any discipline to submit proposals focused on the dialectic between the mainstream and the marginal as it occurs within various media. This conference will serve as a forum to bring together graduate students with similar interests to share and discuss his/her work, with the general public welcome in the audience. Panelists are invited to approach the concept of marginality and the media from such critical perspectives as culture and representation, technology and distribution, history and canonization, audiences and journalism, creators and transgression, among other approaches. Each panelist will be given up to 20 minutes to present their paper. Potential topics for papers and panels include, but are not limited to:

- The role of the academy in ‘reclaiming’ neglected media texts

- Case studies of marginalized films, programs, texts, etc.

- The ‘mainstreaming’ of sub-culture

- The phenomenon of ‘cultural currency’ and media products

- Cult audiences

- ‘Trash’ media texts

- The ‘cross-over’ phenomenon and media audiences

- Social media and fandom

- The political economy of marginal media texts

- Advertising and niche audiences

- Marginalization and race, gender and/or sexuality in the media

- Journalism and the formation of ‘the popular’

- Public relations as advocate for marginalized audiences, publics, and or stakeholders

- Public relations as a media advocacy tool

- Marginal media texts and personal identity Proposals should be between 250-300 words, and should also provide a list of three to five keywords related to your subject along with a brief biography. Full panel proposals on a single theme are also welcome, and should include a 250-300 word description of the panel’s larger significance/objectives in addition to each panelist’s individual proposal. Panels must consist of exactly four panelists. Please email your abstract, keywords and biography to Prof. Blair Davis: bdavis47@depaul.edu The deadline for proposals is January 15th. Notification of acceptance will be given by February 1st. The subject line should contain the writer’s last name followed by “Beyond the Margins Abstract.” Please contact Prof. Davis directly if you have any questions or concerns.