"Globalization, Americanization and Contemporary Popular Culture"

Istanbul, Turkey, May 20-22, 2004

The University of Bahçeþehir, in collaboration with
Richmond, the American International University in London, announce the
2nd Annual "Media and Cultural Studies"
ConferenceThis year, the theme of the "Media and Cultural Studies" conference will
be Globalization, Americanization and Contemporary Popular Culture. The
conference will be held at the Goethe Institute, located in central
Istanbul. The organizers invite paper proposals addressing any aspect of
the conference theme. Papers from a wide variety of disciplines (Media
Studies, Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Political Economy,
American Studies, Urban Studies, History, Anthropology, etc.), and of
varying methodologies, are welcome. Possible topics include, but are not
limited to:

-- the global and the local in popular culture

-- non-American and/or non-Western influences on global culture

-- new directions in the cultural imperialism debate

-- postmodern culture & hyper-reality

-- popular culture after ?9-11?

-- electronic communications and transnational networks in contemporary
popular culture

-- methodological approaches to the study of popular culture

-- the role of economics in globalization/Americanization

-- local, regional, national and/or transnational efforts to regulate the
spread of globalization/Americanization

In addition to paper presentations, there will be a number of keynote
speeches by internationally recognized scholars. Details on the speakers,
and the titles of their talks, will be posted on the conference website at
a future date.

There will be a conference registration fee of 50 Euros. Graduate students
and participants from institutions located in low-income and
lower-middle-income economies are eligible for a reduced conference fee.
See WorldBank for a list
of low-income and lower-middle-income economies. A list of hotels, located
in close proximity to the conference location and with specially
negotiated prices, will also be posted to the conference website.

Abstracts should be 500 words in length, and should give some indication
as to the theoretical grounding of the paper. The deadline for abstracts
is February 15, 2004. Notification of acceptance/rejection will be no
later than March 6, 2004.

Submissions must contain the following information: (1) name, (2)
title/position, (3) institutional affiliation, (4) email, telephone and
postal address, (5) abstract. Abstracts should be sent in main body of the
email (NOT as attachments) to BOTH of the following:

Süheyla Kýrca Schroeder (skirca@bahcesehir.edu.tr)

Christian Christensen (cochristensen@yahoo.com)

Conference Organizers:

Süheyla Kýrca Schroeder, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Communication

University of Bahçeþehir, Istanbul.

Christian Christensen, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Communication

University of Bahçeþehir, Istanbul

Alex Seago, Ph.D.

Professor & Department Chair

Dept. of Humanities & Social Sciences

Richmond, The American International University in London

This conference is made possible through generous support from the
following:

·The Goethe Institute, Istanbul

·The Consulate General of Sweden in Istanbul

·The British Council, Istanbul