An International Communication Association Pre-conference, American University of Paris, Thursday 26 May 2022, 8am–4pm.
“What difference will it make if we think in images and sound, not just in words?”
Communication research has long been presented in books and journal articles despite the discipline’s interest in the multiple forms in which communication practice takes shape. While scholars examine visual imagery, sound, and performance, for example, our discipline has only begun to push the boundaries of knowledge production in new, more expressive directions that better capture communication’s multimodal condition. This pre-conference brings together established and emerging scholars around the world who embrace expressive culture as foundation in communication research. We see multimodal scholarship as having particular value for engaging with intellectual energies that are not formally organized within institutionalized academia. It holds promise for a more locally and globally inclusive communication field. Our goal is to explore the power and limitations of multimodal scholarship, and to sustain conversations about institutional support, policy, and guidance for multimodal research, teaching, and publishing.
PRESENTERS’ GALLERY
View our presenters’ multimodal projects >>>
PROGRAM
8:00am – 8:10am
Welcoming Remarks
Lisa Henderson (Dean, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University, Canada)
8:10am – 9:25am
Opening Plenary
| Theater of the Everyday Chair: John L. Jackson, Jr. (Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA) Sibusisiwe Gugu Manqele (multidisciplinary artist, South Africa) “Questions” > GALLERY E. Patrick Johnson (Dean, School of Communication, Northwestern University, USA) — “From Field to Stage to Screen: Multimodal Methodologies in the Making of Sweet Tea” > GALLERY Mohan Dutta (Dean’s Chair in Communication, School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University, New Zealand) — “Decolonizing Method as Social Justice: Imagining Modalities as Resistance” > GALLERY |
9:30am – 10:45am
Concurrent Session 1
| Re-Learning: Making Pedagogy Public Chair: Cherian George (Associate Dean, School of Communication and Film, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong) Mary Elizabeth Luka (Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Canada), Annette Markham (Professor, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia), Andrea Merkx (Professor, Pratt Institute, USA) & Laine Rettmer (Assistant Professor, Rhode Island School of Design, USA) — “’On Method’: Building a Community of Practice for Multimodal Scholarly Performance” > GALLERY Allison Trope (Clinical Professor, University of Southern California, USA) & DJ Johnson (Associate Professor of Practice, University of Southern California, USA) — “Your Turn! Exploring Multimodal Pedagogy Through Critical Media Project” > GALLERY Azsaneé Truss (Ph.D. Student, University of Pennsylvania, USA) — “Race and Conspi(racism)” > GALLERY |
| Social Selfhood Chair: John L. Jackson, Jr. (Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA) Brendan McCauley (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) — “Scramble and Scrounge” > GALLERY Rory Bledsoe (Ph.D. Student, University of Colorado Boulder, USA) — “Consensual Voyeurism and Dis-Embodied Data-Interrogating Surveillance Through Multimodal Research” > GALLERY Max Gonen (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) — “Pandemic Loser, Future Winner: A 2020 Report on Consumer (Un)Wellness” > GALLERY |
10:45am – 11:00am
Coffee Break
11:00am – 12:15pm
Concurrent Session 2
| World-Making and Common Cause Chair: Lisa Henderson (Dean, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University, Canada) Meshell Sturgis (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Washington, USA) & Darius Presley (visual artist, USA) — “B(l)ack Talk” > GALLERY Gino Canella (Assistant Professor, Emerson College, USA) — “Documenting Labor and Democratizing Research” > GALLERY Chaz Antoine Barracks (Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, USA) — “Everyday Black Matter: Refusal, Joy and Resistance Through Critical Media Practice” > GALLERY Vappu Susi (Ph.D. Student, Tampere University, Finland) — “Listening to the ‘Noise’ in Biking and Communicating in Traffic” > GALLERY |
| Art, Tech, Performance Chair: Juan Escobar-Lamanna (Ph.D. Student, Western University, Canada) Roopa Vasudevan (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Pennsylvania, USA) — “Refusing Co-optation, Acting on Futurity: New Media Art, Social Practice and Creative Resistance” > GALLERY Darija Medic (Ph.D. Student, University of Colorado Boulder, USA) — “The Terms of Service Fantasy Reader” > GALLERY Michelle Hurtubise (Ph.D. Candidate, Temple University, USA), Jessica Ramirez (multidisciplinary artist, USA) & Julie Keck (filmmaker, USA) — “Indigenous Stories as Medicine, 4th World Filmmakers ‘Doing the Damn Thing’” > GALLERY |
12:15pm – 1:15pm
Lunch
1:15pm – 2:30pm
Concurrent Session 3
| Migration and Media Chair: Cherian George (Associate Dean, School of Communication and Film, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong) Meghanne Barker (Lecturer, Institute of Education, University College London, UK) — “Multimodal Narratives of COVID Among Migrant Communities in London” > GALLERY Atul Anand (Researcher, Jamia Millia Islamia University, India) — “Visible People” > GALLERY Charu Uppal (Lecturer, Swansea University, UK) — “Connecting Communities, Maintaining Identities: Popular Media and Classical Culture” > GALLERY |
| The Practice and Politics of Memory Chair: Sandra Ristovska (Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Boulder, USA) Antoine Heywood (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Pennsylvania, USA) — “What’s Your Favorite Color?” > GALLERY Roxanne Varzi (Professor, University of California Irvine, USA) — “Splinters of a Careless Alphabet” > GALLERY Gordon Coonfield (Associate Professor, Villanova University, USA) — “Kensington Remembers: Multimodal Fieldwork and the Study of Urban Vernacular Memory” > GALLERY |
2:30pm – 2:45 pm
Coffee Break
2:45pm – 4:00pm
Closing Plenary
| Another World is Here Chair: Sandra Ristovska (Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Boulder, USA) Josh Kun (Professor, University of Southern California, USA) — “Togethering” > GALLERY Sharon Sliwinski (Professor, Western University, Canada), Erin MacIndoe Sproule (multimedia artist, Canada) & Andrew Braun (musician and producer, Canada) — “The Guardians of Sleep as Multimodal Research” > GALLERY Aymar Jean Christian (Associate Professor, Northwestern University, USA) — “The Story Behind Hair Story: Reparative Practice in Media Production” > GALLERY |
IMAGE CREDITS: Eric Sucar/University of Pennsylvania; Sandra Ristovska & Nathalie Schulten; Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania; Cherian George; Xinzhi Zhang.