2nd Global Conference: Urban Popcultures

2nd Global Conference Urban Popcultures Friday 9th March- Sunday 11th March 2012 Prague, Czech Republic

Call for Papers:
This inter- and multi-disciplinary conference aims to examine, explore and critically engage with
issues related to urban life. The project will promote the ongoing analysis of the varied
creative trends and alternative cultural movements that comprise urban popultures and
subcultures. In particular the conference will encourage equally theoretical and practical
debates which surround the cultural and political contexts within which alternative urban
subcultures are flourishing.

Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:

1. Popular, Alternative, and Underground Music Cultures; Alternative and Underground Dance, Electronica, Hip Hop, Gothic, Punk
and Post-Rock Scenes. Local, Regional, and Global Scenes. The Mass-Appropriation of Underground Music. Independent Music Cultures. Popular Music Theory.

2. Subcultures, Communities, and Codes Underground and Alternative Ideologies and Lifestyles. Issues of Gender,Sexuality, and
Identity. The Avantgarde and Urban Codes. Urban Religion and Religious Expressions. D.I.Y. 

3. Theories and Critical Studies of Popular Culture Histories, Representations, and Discourses on Independent Scenes. The Frankfurt School. The Visual Turn. Urban Intertextualities and Intermedialities. Cultural Appropriations. Postmodernity and Beyond.

4. Popular and Subversive Expressions in Fashion, Art, Film, and Literature Urban and Contemporary Life and Themes Considered in Music, Literature, Art and Film. Urban Fashion, Style, and Branding. Pop Art. Graffiti. Low vs. High Culture.

5. The City as Creative Subject/Object Virtual Urbanity ? Online Communities and the Impact of Social Networking. Urban Identity and
Membership. Globalization/Localization of Urban Experience. Recent trends in copyright/Copyleft. The Role of Internet in the Transformation of Music Industry. The Impact of User-generated Content.

6. Conflict, Popular Revolt, and Politics Music and Politics. Race and Music Styles. Music Revolutions. Generational Conflicts. Class
Divisions. Ageing Music Fans and Cross-generational Cool. New Schools vs. Old Schools 

7. Popular Culture Online and in Mass media The Visual Aspects of Urban Entertainment. The Evolution of Music and Thematic Television. Media Structure of Music Video. Explicit TV and Censorship.

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2011. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e)body of abstract

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs
Jordan Copeland
La Salle University,
Philadelphia, USA
Emial: [email protected]

Daniel Riha
Hub Leader (Cyber), Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Charles University,
Prague, Czech Republic
Email: [email protected]

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
Email: [email protected]

The conference is part of the 'Critical Issues' programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and
interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s) or for inclusion in a new Cyber journal (launching 2011).

For further details of the project, please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/cyber/urban-popcultures/

For further details of the conference, please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/cyber/urban-popcultures/call-for-papers/

Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or
subsistence.