Call for Papers: The Politics of Expertise in Media and Cultural Research

By Karen Patel on June 3rd, 2016

I’m running an informal symposium on expertise as part of the research seminar programme at BCMCR, taking place on Wednesday 30 November 2016. Submissions are welcome from researchers and PhD students in all areas of media, cultural and arts research.

Call for papers

Download the PDF version of the call for papers

In cultural research, any mentions of experts or expertise usually refer to art critics (Bourdieu, 1996), art collectors (Braden, 2015), cultural intermediaries (Prince, 2010) or consultants (Prince, 2014). In media and cultural research as a whole, including the works cited, the idea of the expert and expertise itself is not explored in great depth. Yet, being known as an expert is crucial to ensure regular work in a precarious and competitive cultural labour market. What does expertise mean to cultural and media workers? In what ways, and where, do cultural and media workers perform expertise? How can we, as cultural researchers, explore and conceptualise expertise?

The Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR) hosts this informal symposium aimed at putting expertise firmly on the research agenda. We encourage submissions from all areas of media and cultural research, and invite participants to discuss how the idea of expertise pertains to their research.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

Expertise in cultural policy making
Questions of expertise, professionalism and amateurism
Expertise and new media
Expertise and gender
Expertise and race
Expertise and class
Expertise in cultural institutions
The performance of expertise
Interrogating technological expertise
Expertise and celebrity
Experts in the media
Art and aesthetic expertise
Theorising expertise
Experts in media history

Presentations need to be no more than 15 minutes long, and visual aids are not essential. Please send a short abstract of no more than 200 words and a short biography to karen.patel@bcu.ac.uk by Friday 30 September 2016.