Support public broadcast, support social justice

Just this morning, as I was driving my usual half-hour to UC's campus, I had the pleasure of listening to an NPR broadcast about the history of women's constitutional rights in the United States. In addition to being intrigued and informed by this topic, I was also reminded of just how important it is that we support avenues for public discourse about human rights.

Because of the reliable and thoughtful flow of information that is regularly produced by NPR and other public broadcast outlets, our democracy would suffer without it! Please take a moment to visit 170millionamericans.org to see what you can do to prevent cuts in the federal funding of public broadcasting!

Also, don't forget to submit your proposals to Pop Praxis by February 28th!

Pop Praxis: Social Justice & the Media seeks paper, presentation and workshop submissions for a conference to be held on Friday, April 8^th, 2011 at the University of Cincinnati. Pop culture—television, movies, music, etc.—represents a central site of inquiry for scholars and activists who work toward social justice. This conference provides a space for dialogue about the intersections of pop culture, theory and practice.  We will explore the roles we all can play in the production and thoughtful consumption of culture.

We look forward to reading your proposal regarding pop culture as it relates to feminism, race, disability or queer theory, class, consumption, and all forms of political activism or cultural production.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

Analysis of scripted television (e.g., LOST, Sex & the City, Mad Men)

Analysis of reality television (e.g., The Real L Word, Jersey Shore, anything on Vh1)

The culture and/or activism of social networking (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, myspace, YouTube)

Lady Gaga (e.g., her music, videos, performance, fashion, politics, persona)

Ableism & representations of disability in pop culture (e.g., Weeds, Million Dollar Baby, crip-hop)

Political porn? (e.g., feminist, queer, etc.)

Gender and sexuality in music videos (e.g., Ke$ha, Justin Bieber, Beyoncé)

Indie publishing and production (e.g., zines, blogs, documentaries, podcasts)

Cinema (e.g., The Kids Are All Right, Avatar, Precious, The Blind Side)

Race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, religion, nature, etc. in pop culture

This event will be free and open to the public. Info about accommodations will follow.

Proposal format:

We will accept proposals from undergraduates, graduates and faculty. Presentations will run 15-20 minutes each and can include papers, films or workshops oriented toward practice (activism, media production, performance). Your proposal should be sent as a Word document and include: title, 300-word abstract, description of A/V needs, your contact info, and a bio of no more than 100 words including your university affiliation. Send your submissions and/or questions to poppraxis@gmail.com no later than February 28^th, 2011.