Crossroads in Cultural Studies 2012 - Paris

I spent the first week of July 2012 in Paris and at the 'Crossroads in Cultural Studies'-Conference of the ACS and presented my paper 'How do mediatized interpretations of `traumatic‘ events emerge in the periphery – The example of 9/11'.

While I called the paper 'The Emergence of Cultural Traumata in Center and Periphery – The Example of 9/11' in my abstract it felt like the final content of it was not fitting this working title and I tried to focus on the depiction of the terrorism and how journalists in Austria - the periphery region in my study - worked on the topic of 9/11 during the last 10 years.

It was great to meet and talk with Irena Carpentier Reifova, who I had a short, but nice talk with about the role of individuals during the formation of remembered versions of the past. It was both good feedback and validation of problems that are currently wandering around in my mind.

Further it was great to see Seong bin Hwang again, who I had met last year on the IAMCR in Istanbul.

I was very glad that we presented in the same panel and had the chance to talk for a bit. His work on the medial representations of the anti-atom movement post Fukujima was very interesting. 

Further great food for thought included the panel 'Media Studies and Communication Sciences - Intellectual Dialogues Transgressing a Banal Conflict' where it once more became clear to me that I’m a sociologist and will always stay one, even when my topics may be about media or history or politics.

And the panel ‘Beyond the Sociology of tastes: Power and Postlegitimacy’ led to me reflecting Bourdieu once more. Definitly have the need to talk with several other researchers about this, but I was indeed moved…

And here a few links regarding the conference and the paper:

Conference HP: Crossroads 2012

Original abstract can be found in: Crossroads in Cultural Studies – Book of Abstracts (2012), p. 333

My presentation: Crossroads Presentation as PDF

(proceedings/paper available on demand)

Discourse, Communication, Conversation in Loughborough

During March 2012 I was in Lougbourgh and presented my paper '9/11 and the Realignment of Narratives after Cultural Traumata' at the DDC conference and visited the quite excellent methods and methodology workshop by Emily Keightley,Cristian Tileagă, and Michael Pickering.

Sadly there was not enough time for discussion at the presentation and because of a very tight program I did not get to discuss as much about my work as I hoped to, but I had the honor to meet several very interesting PhD candidates - Canada, Italy, Spain, Germany - and we had very good discussions. 

And I realized that several theoretical implications I had about my work have to be reevaluated,... Paris and the Crossroads conference may give me the opportunity to do so... 

Conference HP: official DCC Homepage

Original abstract can be found in: Discourse, Communication, Conversation - Book of Abstracts (2012), p. 71

My presentation: DCC Presentation as PDF

(proceedings/paper available on demand)

Alcalá de Henares - 1st international conference on graphic novels

November 2011 - I present for the first time on one of my major hobbies - COMIC BOOKS! In the beautiful University in Alcalá de Henares I was inveted to talk about cultural trauma and it's representation in Marvel's Avengers comic book series.


Nice people, a small town just outside of Madrid and interesting presentations made my two day trip to Spain a real joy!


But a sociologist amongst linguists? I felt slightly out of place, even if the local organizers, the audience and my fellow presenters welcomed me with open arms.


Abstract:

Marvel’s 'The Avengers: Earth mightiest heroes' books are the number one franchise in today’s world of comic books . But their rise in popularity was accompanied by a massive shift in tone. Marvel’s Avengers did not only face cosmic or supernatural menaces anymore, but the iconic superheroes had to deal with a wide array of the cultural and social problems that can be associated with the crisis of the still young 21st century - crisis experienced especially in the occidental society, whose master narrative is challenged by those events (e.g.: Langenbacher/Shain 2010; Alexander et al 2004). The topics covered in the saga of earth mightiest heroes cover a broad range:  Touching terrorism, civil liberties, natural disasters, and wars led because of faith. And this trend will continue in the 2011 Avenger’s storyline 'Fear itself', as writer Matt Fraction said that it will be a tale 'relatable to where we are today and something that speaks to the world we live in. There is a shadow of anxiousness and anger, reason and discourse have taken a backseat to mob hysteria.'


The Author would argue that the ongoing saga of the superheroes is strongly embedded in the master narrative of the western society and the struggles experienced within it. Therefor the question has to be asked, if the ongoing comic book saga of earth mightiest heroes may be seen as a carrier for the development of cultural trauma, as the term was described by the sociologist Jeffrey C. Alexander.


The aim of the work in progress study is to find out how the overarching storylines presented in the main line of the Avengers Books  relate to the real world crisis experienced since 2004 and try to determine if the saga of the Avengers can be identify as a carrier for the manifestation of cultural traumta in the collective identity of the occidental society.  

Conference HP: 1st international conference on graphic novels

My presentation: Avengers and Cultural Traumta Presentation as PDF

(proceedings/paper available on demand)