Call for Papers and International Conference
Gendered Cultures in Platform Economies: Entertainment, Expertise and Online Selfhood
ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
Avenida das Forças Armadas, 1649-026
Lisbon, Portugal
20-21 November 2023
CALL FOR PAPERS
There is a hopeful narrative running through the scholarship around media and communication studies, arguing that the internet and social media are means of enhancing political and civic participation. While to a certain extent this is the case, at least in the earlier internet days, the rise of gigantic, privately owned, digital platforms as major sites for regulating and disciplining contemporary production, consumption, work and play further gestures towards a global entertainification of online cultures. Looking, for instance, at the most popular influencers in Italian media platforms (Miconi, 2023), we can observe a contrast with recent trends in Internet studies arguing that social media play a key role in mobilizing people in civic and wider political terms (e.g., Vaccari & Valeriani 2021). Coaching advice, parodies, food, fashion and sports seem to be overwhelmingly capturing both the imaginary and the production and consumption cultures of the main media platforms at the expense for example, of news and political debate. As data infrastructures that capitalize on the user’s time, labour and attention (Poell, Nieborg, Duffy, 2022), platforms only care about keeping the user in their space; in this regard, the circulation of online entertainment is more appealing than civic debates.
This conference looks at the gendered dimensions of platform economies focusing specifically on how entertainment interweaves with expertise in the construction of contemporary femininities and masculinities. Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook enable a seemingly democratization of expertise, as anyone could become an expert in any matter possible among niche communities, ranging from wine tasters, perfume specialists, life coaches, fitness trainers, dieticians and health consultants to sex therapists, pick up artists, mindfulness gurus, city guides and gastronomic bloggers. In this context, popular feminism intertwines with popular misogyny as online media give visibility to emancipatory discourses while simultaneously limit the effectiveness of collective action (Banet-Weiser, 2018).
The entertainification of expert knowledge in the 2000s begins with the proliferation of television talent shows, including song, fashion and cooking contests, that brought to the public realm the creative celebrity-expert as an arbiter of good taste. The occupation of cooking, to take one example, from being a behind the scenes, domestic, unpaid, free and feminine labour became, in the form of the celebrity chef, a creative, if not artistic, genius-male endeavor that can potentially lead to stardom. These chefs are presented as having their own unique artistic vision, cosmopolitan identities and cool instagrammable personas. To the abundance of visible professional experts, we can add the widespread micro-expertise of amateurs found online and offline on trivial or nontrivial matters, from how to raise a child to how to grow cactuses.
Aspirational labour and aspirational consumption in media platforms has a strong gendered dimension. Erin Duffy (2017) argues that the aspirational (unpaid) labour of creative entrepreneurs in media platforms is primarily performed by women while aspirational (curated) consumption creates particular fantasies of femininity, masculinity, queerness and other gender identities. At the same time, while platforms can offer visibility to progressive gender causes in public debate, they can instigate a relation of ‘cruel optimism’ vis-a-vis ideal gender constructions, to use Laurent Berlant’s term, as the latter becomes a desirable object which at the same time creates anxieties and frustration by being unrealizable (2012). The exposure of gendered and classed selves to expert entertainment content, from eating food of celebrity chefs to training with fitness gurus, perpetuates a feeling of self-inferiority against gender and class success.
This conference explores gender in the context of expert entertainment cultures in platform economics. We look for 250-word abstracts in the following themes:
- Optimizing gender and sexuality
- Optimizing womanhood and motherhood
- Life coaches, self-help gurus and self-curating
- Manosphere, pick up artists and new masculinities
- Prank videos and sexism
- Queer identities between entrepreneurialism and empowerment
- ‘How-to-Succeed’ guides and cultures
- Growing plants and pets
- The performance of gender in animal videos (cuteness/ strength)
- Confidence culture and the psy-industries
- Feel-good economy, therapeutic cultures and neo-spiritualism
- The gendered self as a project and work of art
- Fitness, beauty and the body
- Discipline and self-restraint
- Amateur and professional labour
- Individualized gendered practices Vs. collective mobilisation
The Advisory Committee is composed by:
- Tonny Krijnen (Erasmus University)
- Joke Hermes (Inholland University)
- Sander De Ridder (University of Antwerp)
- Sofia Caldeira (Lusófona University)
- Cila Willem (Universitat Rovira i Virgil)
- Maria Helena Santos (CIS, ISCTE-Lisbon University Institute)
- Carla Cerqueira (Lusófona University)
The Organising Committee is composed by:
- Panos Kompatsiaris (IULM)
- Claudia Alvares (CIES, ISCTE-Lisbon University Institute)
- Andrea Miconi (IULM)
- Sofie Van Bauwel (Ghent University)
To submit your abstract, please send an email to: conference@eumeplat.eu
Download the Call for Papers in PDF.
TIMELINE
PROGRAMME
Zoom link for online participants
Wi-Fi access for onsite participants
Network: eduroam
User: guest_eventos@iscte-iul.pt
Pass: GYU12345!
NOVEMBER 20, 2023
8.30-9.30 Registration of the participants
9.30-10.00 Welcome speeches
Andrea Miconi, EUMEPLAT Principal Investigator, IULM University (Italy)
Gustavo Cardoso, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)
Cláudia Álvares, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)
10.00-11.15 Keynote speech
‘Europe’ from a cultural citizenship perspective. On context, experience and media wisdom
Key note speaker: Joke Hermes, Inholland University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands)
Chair: Cláudia Álvares, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)
45 minutes speech + 30 minutes Q&A
11.15-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-13.00 Panel session 1
#wellbeing: gender, self-help and ideologies on social media platforms
Chair: Panos Kompatsiaris, IULM University (Italy)
Exploring #wellness on Instagram: how is gender represented?
By Rita Sepúlveda (ICNOVA – NOVA University Lisbon; ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal), Ana Marta M. Flores (ICNOVA – NOVA University Lisbon; University of Coimbra, Portugal) and António Vasconcelos (ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal)
Gender and Anti-Work Ideology on TikTok
By Jacquelyn Arcy (University of Wisconsin – Parkside, USA) and Allison Page (Rutgers University – Camden, USA)
Coaching digital minimalism
By Ana Jorge (CICANT/Lusófona University, Portugal)
On life coaches, self-improvement, and gender
By Bert Verhulst (Ghent University, Belgium)
13.00-14.00 Lunch Break
14.00-15.30 Panel session 2
The feminist turn: on feminist discourses, platforms and empowerment
Chair: Sofie Van Bauwel, Ghent University (Belgium)
Finance, But Make it Fun (and Feminist?): A Discourse Analysis of @MrsDowJones
By Rachel O’Neill (LSE – London School of Economics and Political Science, UK) and Simidele Dosekun (LSE – London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)
Gender rhetoric for sale. Chiara Ferragni and the platformization of woman body that crushes ideologies
By Maria Angela Polesana (IULM University, Italy) and Elisabetta Risi (IULM University, Italy)
Feminist Instatoons in South Korea
By Sarah Molisso (City University of London, UK)
Click here for feminism! Exploring tensions on Instagram feminisms self-promotion practices
By Sofia Caldeira (CICANT/Lusófona University, Portugal)
“Today I’ve been a super cheating #ThatGirl”: self-improvement performances on TikTok and YouTube
By Ana Margarida Coelho (Portuguese Catholic University & Lusófona University, Portugal) and Maria Castellví (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain)
15.30-15.45 Break
15.45-17.15 Panel session 3
On Body and love: embodiment, love and sexuality online
Chair: Babette Lagrange, Ghent University (Belgium)
Transnormativity and the Biopolitics of Eating on Instagram
By Loki Klister (Central European University, Austria)
Naked or dressed? The effect of (female) pop-stars’ self-representations on Instagram
By Alessandra Micalizzi (Università Telematica Pegaso, Italy)
The School of Cruel Optimism: Influential Gatekeepers of Desire and Self-Optimisation
By Andrew Porter (University of Strathclyde, UK)
The Hooker, the Hacker, and the Instagrammer: Eros at the Intersection of Sex, Identity, and Class
By Andrea Barcaro (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
Coping with scrutiny across platforms: Chinese female transnational romance content creators’ daily production
By Qian Huang (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
17.15-18.35 Panel Session 4
Creating change: the online economy as a platform for activism and change
Chair: Cláudia Álvares, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)
Exploring the Role of Digital Content Creation in Shaping Offline Status: A Study of Female YouTube Content Creators in Nagaland, India
By Ashonshok Kachui (IIT – Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, India)
Historicizing Gendered Engagement: How Early-2000s Convergent Platforms for Women Introduced Users to the Internet
By Jacquelyn Arcy (University of Wisconsin – Parkside, USA)
The logic of virtual influencers: social platformization, LGBTQ movement and brand activism
By Nello Barile (IULM University, Italy)
Emergence of the Transgender Woman in Bangladesh – the Gendered, Employable, Neoliberal Subject
By Maliha Mohsin (Central European University, Austria)
NOVEMBER 21, 2023
10.00-11.15 Keynote speech
Platforms and Intimacies: Everyday engagements with digital media
Keynote speaker: Sander De Ridder, University of Antwerp (Belgium)
Chair: Sofie Van Bauwel, Ghent University (Belgium)
45 minutes speech + 30 minutes Q&A
11.15-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-13.00 Panel session 5
Gendered Violence, emotions and platforms
Chair: Sofie Van Bauwel, Ghent University (Belgium)
Sexual harassment in Portuguese academia: Discourses of women victims and bystanders on #Metoo
By Júlia Garraio (University of Coimbra, Portugal), Maria Helena Santos (ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal) and Carla Cerqueira (CICANT/Lusófona University, Portugal)
Online Emotions as Catalysts for Change
By Babette Lagrange (Ghent University, Belgium)
Femicide frames on Facebook and twitter platforms in Greece: Their role in public awareness of addressing violence against women
By Achilleas Karadimitriou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), Stylianos Papathanassopoulos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), Iliana Giannouli (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece), Ioanna Archontaki, (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
Media Sensationalism and Unveiling the Dark Realities of Feminicide in Brazil and Its Ramifications
By Dália Costa (ISCSP – Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal) and Jaqueline da Costa Bueno (ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal)
13.00-14.00 Lunch Break
14.00 -15.30 Panel session 6
Representing gendered identities on social media platforms
Chair: Cláudia Álvares, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)
Labors of (Trans)Masculinity: A Discourse Analysis of FtM Influencers’ Instagram Accounts
By Tristan Venturi (University of Bologna, Italy)
Gender and the entertainification of historical cultures through YouTube videos
By Sheenagh Pietrobruno (Saint Paul University/University of Ottawa, Canada)
Gender identity definition in the Metaverse: from avatars to NFTs
By Valeria Volponi (IULM University, Italy)
New Selves Old Identities: A Content Analysis of Top 100 Instagram Accounts in Turkiye
By Lutz Peschke (Bilkent University, Turkey), Yasemin Gümüş Ağca (Bilkent University, Turkey) and Irmak Dündar (Bilkent University, Turkey)
BEING IMPALUME: The Construction of Life-Giving Masculinity in Bemba Matrilineal Society of Northern Zambia
By Upendo Mwakasenga (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)
15.30-15.45 Break
15.45-16.55 Panel session 7
On Body and love: embodiment, love and sexuality online
Chair: Panos Kompatsiaris, IULM University (Italy)
The glamour of the Muhteşem Yuzyil: the fashionable Ottoman court in the 21 century
By Nilay Ulosoy (Bahçeşehir University, Turkey) and Deniz Gürgen Atalay (Bahçeşehir University, Turkey)
360 Degrees of Feminine Competence: Surface Aesthetics, Expertise and Authority Among Drip Cake Baker-Influencers
By Vanessa Brown (Nottingham Trent University, UK) and Steve Jones (Nottingham Trent University, UK)
Gendered Zootopia on Instagram: Pet Instagram Accounts and Gender Representation
By Irina Dushakova (HSE University, Russia) and Natalia Vereshchagina (HSE University, Russia)
16.55-18.25 Panel Session 8
Family ties: on social media platforms and the construction of family
Chair: Sofie Van Bauwel, Ghent University (Belgium)
Momfluencers’ Instagram Stories as Entertainment: Daily-Soaps visualizing care from 9 to 5
By Friederike Jage-D’Aprile (Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Germany)
Sharenting for Profit: From amateur to professional parent content creators
By Alexandra Ruiz-Gomez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain), Ana Jorge (CICANT/Lusófona University, Portugal) and Emma Beuckels (Ghent University, Belgium)
Family, fulfillment and ‘successful ageing’: Online representations of elderly Thai women
By Kullanit Nitiwarangkul (City University of London, UK)
“Good mothers” and “involved fathers”: influencers sharenting on Instagram
By Francisca Porfírio (CICANT/Lusófona University, Portugal), Patrícia Dias (CECC/Portuguese Catholic University, Portugal) and Ana Jorge (CICANT/Lusófona University, Portugal)
18.25-18.40 Closing by Panos Kompatsiaris, IULM University (Italy)
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Joke Hermes
Inholland University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands)
EUMEPLATJoke Hermes is Professor of Inclusion and the Creative Industries at the Creative Business research group of Inholland University of Applied Sciences since 2004. In addition to her appointment as professor, Hermes is affiliated with the Media Studies department of the University of Amsterdam and is also founding editor of the academic journal European Journal of Cultural Studies. Joke Hermes studied Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, where she also earned her PhD doctorate.
Through her research, she investigates how the creative industry can contribute to addressing social issues and problems. Other focusses of her research are diversity and the ever-changing dividing line between creators and users of creative products and services, how stakeholders can be involved and participative design (a method in which the end users of the design are involved in the design process). The results of Hermes’ research are published in trade journals and academic journals. Outside Inholland, Hermes maintains contacts with governmental and non-governmental organizations that deal with communication, media and young people. She currently works with Movisie, Diversity Media and Textgain.
Joke Hermes is also a member of EUMEPLAT Scientific Board.
Sander De Ridder
University of Antwerp (Belgium)
EUMEPLATSander De Ridder is an assistant professor in the field of Media Studies at the University of Antwerp.
His research investigates the role of media and digital culture in society with a focus on intimacy, identity, and communication.
He published in leading journals and is co-editor (together with Lisa Parks and Julia Velkova) of Media Backends: Digital Infrastructures and Sociotechnical Relations (forthcoming 2023, University of Illinois Press).
He is a member of the Antwerp Media in Society Centre (AMSoC) and fellow of the Young Academy, which is a part of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for the Sciences & the Arts.
REGISTRATION
LOGISTICS
VENUE
The conference will take place at ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
Avenida das Forças Armadas, 1649-026
Lisbon, Portugal
ROOM: Auditório Ferreira de Almeida (B2.03), Edifício II, bloco B, piso 2
You can find more information on how to reach the campus here.
MEALS
LUNCH
Lunchboxes will be offered to the participants, including:
- Sandwiches
- Quiche (vegetarian)
- Soup
- Juice
- Nata (Portuguese pastry)
DINNER
On November 20, we will have a dinner together at Entrecopos restaurant (Rua Entrecampos, Nº 11, 1000-151 Lisboa)
Price: 24 € per person
To help us with the reservation at the restaurant, please register here.
Menu
Starters:
- Bread, butter, olives
- “Peixinho da Horta” (a type of battered and deep-fried green bean)
- Fried Sausage
Main Course (optional):
- Grilled Salmon with Potatoes and Broccoli
- Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Rice, Salad, and French Fries
- Vegetarian Alheira (White Garlic Sausage) with Potatoes, Sautéed Greens, and a Fried Egg
Desserts:
- “Creme Brûlée”
- Rice Pudding
- Mousse
Drinks:
- House Wine (White/Red)
- Draft Beer
- Water
- Soda
- Coffee
ACCOMMODATION
Suggestions for accommodation in the surroundings of the campus are available here-below.
Hotels
Hotel NH Campo Grande
Stars: 4
> Campo Grande, 7, 1700-087 Lisboa
Hotel VIP Entrecampos
Stars: 4
> Avenida 5 de Outubro, 295, 1600-035 Lisboa
Hotel VIP Zurique
Stars: 3
> Rua Ivone Silva, 18, 1050-124 Lisboa
VIP Grand Lisboa
Stars: 5
> Avenida 5 de Outubro, 197, 1050-054 Lisboa
3K Barcelona
Stars: 4
> Rua Laura Alves, 10, 1050-138 Lisboa
Sana Metropolitan
Stars: 4
> Rua Soeiro Pereira Gomes, 2, 1600-198 Lisboa
Holiday Inn Lisbon Continental
Stars: 4
> Rua Laura Alves 9, 1069-169, Lisboa
Turim Ibéria
Stars: 4
> Avenida 5 de Outubro, 160, 1050-062, Lisboa
VIP Inn Berna
Stars: 3
> Avenida António de Serpa, 13, 1069-199 Lisboa
Sana Executive
Stars: 3
> Avenida Conde Valbom, 56, 1050-069 Lisboa
Hotel Alif – Campo Pequeno
Stars: 3
> Campo Pequeno, 51, 1000-081 Lisboa
Hotel Alif – Avenidas
Stars: 3
> Avenida Duque D’Ávila, 189, 1050-082 Lisboa
Hostels
This is Lisbon Hostel
> Rua da Costa do Castelo 63 1100-335 Lisboa
Lisb’on Hostel
> Rua do Ataíde, 7A, 1200-034 Lisboa
Travellers House
> Rua Augusta, 89, 1100-060 Lisboa
NEXT Hostel
> Avenida Almirante Reis, 4, 1150-017 Lisboa
University Residence
Prof. José Pinto Peixoto
e-mail: residencia@iscte.pt
+351 218 149 380
09:30 – 12:30 | 14:30 – 16:30
UPDATES
23 October 2023
Information about lunches and dinner are available in the “Logistics” tab.
26 September 2023
The programme of the conference is available.
8 September 2023
Registrations to attend the conference are open.
25 August 2023
Suggestions for accommodation are available in the “Logistics” tab.
8 June 2023
The deadline to submit your paper has been extended until June 30th, 2023.
A selection of papers will be published in a special issue of a Q1 scientific journal.