Edinburgh Napier University

  Media and culture play a crucial role in shaping identity, especially in contemporary contexts marked by economic struggles, conflict, and migration. The significance of identity is heightened as individuals navigate their sense of self in new and evolving cultural and social environments. This raises questions about how identities can be preserved or adapted, and the responsibilities of academics and researchers in addressing identities at risk.

Questions of identity have been at the heart of MeCCSA disciplines and debates for a long time. How identities are mediated and how they mediate themselves is often at the core of our work. MeCCSA sections and networks in many ways reflect this across gender, race and ethnicity, disability, social movements, etc. Our 2025 conference seeks to further this questioning, whilst also considering the issue of belonging. Whether we belong to research communities that embody media, communications or cultural studies, and whether we belong to groups that prioritise areas such as climate change, policy or conflict, this conference provides an opportunity to reflect on the character of our diverse disciplines and where we find spaces of belonging.

We envisage the conference to be a mix of scholarly papers, themed panels, posters, film screenings, performance, installations, and other practice-based or artistic research contributions, and we welcome submissions across the full range of interests represented by MeCCSA.

We welcome interdisciplinary/trans-disciplinary approaches and artistic practice research that allow for a multi-faceted approach to identity and belonging.
Possible topics connected with the theme of identity and belonging can include, but are not limited to:
Climate Change and Global Crises
Policy
Activism and Resistance
(Anti-)Racism and Identity Politics
Culture Wars and Social Conflict
Resilience and Community Building
Extremism and Populism
Citizenship and Belonging
Fake News and Disinformation
Migration and Cultural Memory
Heritage and Identity
Technology and Digital Identity
AI and Ethics of Identity