Call for Papers

Call for Contributions for a Special Section of Global Media Journal – German Edition – Summer 2027


Deadline for full paper submissions: 15 January 2027

 

Representations of (Post-)Industrial Communities: Voice, Visibility and Value

 

Guest Editors:

Anke Fiedler, Universität Greifswald
Darren Lilleker, Bournemouth University
James Morrison, University of Stirling

 

Industrialization across the globe, and particularly in North America and Europe, was associated with profound societal transformations, most notably the urbanization of populations and the creation of mass workforces (Cowie & Heathcott, 2003). Across generations, many families expected their children to follow established occupational trajectories into mines, steelworks, docks, mills, and factories (cf. Gildea, 2023). For much of the twentieth century, heavy industries offered relatively stable employment, social security, and a decent standard of living, contributing to gradual improvements in working-class conditions up to the 1960s (Russo & Linkon, 2009).

Deindustrialization, by contrast, has often been experienced as a process of decline and loss – in economic, social and cultural terms. As industries disappeared, so too did the social infrastructures that sustained everyday life (Cowie & Heathcott 2003; Russo & Linkon 2009). Urban spaces fell into decay, amenities declined, and the voices, values and identities of communities were increasingly marginalized within broader national imaginaries. The result has been a growing sense of diminishing pride, security, self-worth and trust among post-industrial working-class communities (Cowie & Heathcott, 2003), which continues to shape experiences of being voiceless, unrepresented, and neglected (Emery, 2018). In a number of contexts, such experiences have also provided fertile ground for neo-authoritarian movements – including illiberal, anti-democratic, nationalist, and populist ones (Rodríguez-Pose et al., 2018, 2023) – which mobilize narratives of loss, resentment, and national re-framing (Emery, 2018; Morrison, 2022).

These dynamics have been particularly pronounced in major industrial regions that later experienced significant decline, such as the Rust Belt in the United States (Campbell, 2017; Cowie & Heathcott, 2003) as well as Northern England and the German coal regions (bpb, 2021). Comparable processes of political radicalization can be observed across Europe, in regions shaped by different political and economic systems (Rodríguez-Pose et al., 2018, 2023). These include both long-established capitalist economies as well as former state-socialist contexts, such as Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Wallonia, and Upper Silesia (Domański, 2015; Leboutte, 2009).

This special issue seeks to explore these dynamics by examining the media, political and wider public communicative processes around (de-)industrialization. It aims to take a pluralist approach to industrial transformation, attending both to macro-level public discourses and to the lived experiences of communities navigating industrial decline and post-industrial restructuring, along with the political responses to these developments. By foregrounding communication as a central site through which industrial transformation and political challenges are interpreted, negotiated, contested, and experienced, the special issue invites critical engagement with questions of inclusion/exclusion, voice, visibility, (mis/under-) representation and inequality in societies shaped by ongoing processes of deindustrialization.

We welcome submissions from scholars across disciplines and regions, including historical and contemporary analyses, that address communication processes around (de-)industrialization. Submissions may engage with, but are not limited to, the following research areas:

  • Public discourse: The role of mass media, political communication, popular culture and wider public debate in shaping narratives of industrial change, decline, renewal, and loss.
  • Everyday/interpersonal communication: Constructions and experiences of loss, value and belonging by affected communities and practices through which they articulate, negotiate or resist dominant public representations; communicative practices of memory, identity and belonging; political attitudes/orientations among (post)-industrial communities.
  • Media structures and representation: Structural absences and inequalities in media institutions, including the exclusion and/or mis/under-representation of working-class voices in media production, ownership and decision-making, and the implications of these absences for public visibility, voice and the recognition (or denial) of lived experience.
  • Journalism: Journalistic practices, norms, routines and cultures in sourcing and reporting stories about the impact and implications of industrial transformation and communities affected; relationships between journalists and deindustrialized communities; authority, authenticity and legitimacy of competing voices in representing working-class lives.
  • Data, digitization, and media technologies: The role of digital platforms, data practices, automation, algorithmic systems and generative AI in reshaping visibility, value and participation; the communicative implications of platformization for post-industrial work and community life.
  • Media use and reception: Media use and communication by affected communities that is directed at making sense of industrial change; levels and forms of media reception and (dis-)engagement among (post-)industrial communities, agenda-setting and media effects; use of participatory, community and/or alternative media and information sources.
  • Theoretical and methodological considerations: Conceptual and methodological approaches to researching the mediation of deindustrialized and marginalized communities in the digital era, including ethical questions of access, voice, representation and participation in communication research itself.

 

This special section follows the pre-conference, “Representations of (Post-) Industrial Communities: Voice, Visibility, and Value,” hosted by the IAMCR Communication in Post- and Neo-Authoritarian Societies Working Group on June 27, 2026, in Dublin. Funding for language editing and proofreading will be provided by the IAMCR Section/Working Group Project Fund.

 

Requirements for Submitting Contributions to the German Edition

Contribution formats:

Academic articles (peer-reviewed); essays; media practice & research reports; graduate section; interviews

Style Guide & Submissions Requirements:

Full manuscript submission:

  • Full manuscripts should be submitted via https://globalmediajournal.de by 15 January 2027.
  • Please select “Special Section Representations of (Post-)Industrial Communities: Voice, Visibility and Value” in the drop-down list when submitting your manuscript.

Timetable:

  • Submission of full papers: 15 January 2027
  • Response to authors (first review): 31 March 2027
  • Publication date: July 2027

CfP: Representations of (Post-)Industrial Communities: Voice, Visibility and Value

If you have any questions, please contact GMJ-DE editor Katharina Nötzold (gmj@polsoz.fu-berlin.de)

The GLOBAL MEDIA JOURNAL – GERMAN EDITION (ISSN 2196-4807) is a diamond open access, peer-reviewed journal for the publication of scholarly contributions dealing with issues of international, transnational, intercultural and transcultural communication and media, published in English and German twice a year. No article processing charges (APCs) are incurred. The journal is indexed in DOAJ, ERIH PLUS, EBSCO, EuroPub, BASE and Ulrich`s. Website: https://www.globalmediajournal.de

 

References

 

bpb [Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung] (Ed.). (2021). Abschied von der Kohle: Struktur- und Kulturwandel im Ruhrgebiet und in der Lausitz [Farewell to coal: Structural and cultural change in the Ruhr region and Lusatia]. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.

Campbell, C. (2017). Revitalizing the Rust Belt. American Affairs, 1(4), 130–139.

Cowie, J., & Heathcott, J. (2003). Introduction: The meanings of deindustrialisation. In J. Cowie & J. Heathcott (Eds.), Beyond the ruins: The meanings of deindustrialization (pp. 1–18). Cornell University Press.

Domański, B. (2015). Contemporary processes of regional industrial changes in Poland—Possible interpretations. Studies of the Industrial Geography Commission of the Polish Geographical Society, 29(4), 40–53. https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.294.3

Emery, J. (2019). Geographies of deindustrialization and the working-class: Industrial ruination, legacies, and affect. Geography Compass, 13, e12417. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12417

Gildea, R. (2023). Backbone of the nation: Mining communities and the Great Strike of 1984–85. Yale University Press.

Leboutte, R. (2009). A space of European de-industrialisation in the late twentieth century: Nord/Pas-de-Calais, Wallonia and the Ruhrgebiet. European Review of History: Revue Européenne d'Histoire, 16(5), 755–770. https://doi.org/10.1080/13507480903262785

Morrison, J. (2022). The left behind: Reimagining Britain's socially excluded. Pluto Press.

Rodríguez-Pose, A. (2018). The revenge of the places that don't matter (and what to do about it). Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 11(1), 189–209. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsx024

Rodríguez-Pose, A., Terrero-Dávila, J., & Lee, N. (2023). Left-behind versus unequal places: Interpersonal inequality, economic decline and the rise of populism in the USA and Europe. Journal of Economic Geography, 23(5), 951–977. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbad005

Russo, J., & Linkon, S. (2009). The social costs of deindustrialization. In R. McCormack (Ed.), Manufacturing a better future for America (pp. 149–174). Alliance for American Manufacturing.

 

Archive

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