We invite cultural and social researchers from all disciplines to submit abstracts for individual presentations on our conference “In the Flow: People, Media, Materialities”. The conference examines the interacting flows of people, materialities, ideas and media technologies.
“In the Flow: People, Media, Materialities” will be held June 15-17 2015 and is the sixth biennial conference on cultural research arranged by the Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS). In our high-tech world, where social and cultural changes are becoming increasingly global, new power structures, social identities and exclusion occur. These phenomena are changing, and all in the constant presence of digital media encroaching on people’s everyday lives, which in turn are transforming the media.
The conference includes a broad range of parallel sessions exploring the flows of people, media and/or materialities in everyday life, within cultural fields, and society at large. The themes explored range from body monitoring to translation, touching on issues such as heritage, search practices and remembering. Several sessions focus on tracking and measuring of flows in personal as well as social and commercial contexts. Abstracts of all parallel sessions can be found on this page. Visit conference homepage here!
Participants are invited to submit abstracts of individual papers for any or both parallel sessions listed below:
Senses and Sentiments in Sport
Inom idrottens fält sätts kroppsliga upplevelser tydligt i fokus. Dessa upplevelser kan vara del av, men även utgöra flöden mellan människor och materialiteter. I mötet mellan människor, djur och materialiteter kommuniceras och förhandlas dessa flöden sinnligt och affektivt.
Upplevelserna kan vara det sociala och kulturella kitt som binder samman en grupp åskådare, ett spelande lag eller en nation. Men de kan också vara det som utesluter och fjärmar. Förutom att ge betydelse åt lokalitet på ett socialt och kulturellt plan, kan idrottens kroppsliga, eller snarare köttsliga, upplevelser ge innebörd över tid på en individuell nivå. De binder samman då med nu och sen.
Denna session fokuserar hur flödet av upplevelser begreppsliggörs, organiseras, förpackas, berättas, medvetandegörs, skapas och återskapas. Här ryms till exempel upplevelserna av favoritlagets med- och motgång från läktarplats, samtidighetens tjusning i direktsändningen på TV, värmen från favorithästens stora kropp, liksom erfarandet av det egna löpsteget och andningens rytm. [Session will be in Swedish]
Exercising, tracking, sharing: self-disciplining, self-surveillance and self-(re)presentation through sports apps and social media
Organiser: Karin S. Lindelöf
Sports and recreational activities constitutes one of the most rapidly growing areas of personal and consumer-oriented “Internet of Things”-technologies. The introduction of smartphone apps and various personal electronic devices measuring e.g. pulse, steps, cadence, speed, distance, and power, has been fast and profound within this area, and is not only an affair for top athletes, but for a growing number of recreational runners, cyclists, etc. From the odd pulse watches and pedometers, this technology is now available in every woman’s and man’s smartphone – and the results are often shared through social media. But how can this phenomenon be analysed in cultural terms? What implications do these new practices have for our everyday lives in relation to health and physical exercising, as well as for identity constructions and self-(re)presentation? How are people actually using these technologies? The session welcomes both theoretical and empirical contributions examining various aspects of this phenomenon. [Session will be in English]
Paper abstracts are welcome until 8 February 2015. Abstracts should be of no more than 150 words, and are submitted via this page.
The conference is held in Norrköping, Sweden, and has two working languages: plenaries and most parallel group sessions will be held in English, but some group sessions are held in Swedish. More information on the program and plenary activities will be presented continuously under the heading In the Making.
