On behalf of the Communication History division of ICA, we're pleased to
announce the schedule for our preconference “Communications and the
State: Toward a New International History,” to be held on Thursday, May
21, 2015 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (The larger ICA conference runs from
May 21-25.)

The preconference includes 24 papers by emerging and established
scholars examining connections between communications and states from
many different perspectives. (See the detailed schedule below.) The
papers range from national to transnational in scale, cover a variety of
communications media, and present a wide diversity in temporal and
geographic scope.

In our closing plenary, three highly regarded scholars (Daniel Hallin,
Richard John and Adrian Johns) will assess the current state of
scholarship in this many-sided field.

We hope members of the ICA Communication History division and ICA
members generally will join us for what promises to be a stimulating and
memorable day.

The registration fee is $85 (U.S.), and the preconference will be held
at the Condado Hilton, a 15-minute walk from the main conference hotel.

To register for the preconference, click here:

http://www.icahdq.org/conf/index.asp

We hope to see you there!

Michael Stamm, Gene Allen


ICA Communication History division

Preconference schedule:

Communications and the State: Towards a New International History

May 21, 2015

Condado Hilton Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico

8:30 a.m.: Welcome

8:40-10:00: Communications and the state in the early modern era

  • The Cotswold Olimpick Games: Sport, Politics and Faith in early
    modern England, Mark Brewin (The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, United
    States)

  • Three thirteenth-century travel accounts of missions to the Far
    East, Kathryn Montalbano (Columbia University, New York, United States)

  • A Republic Run as a Chamber of Commerce: The Role of the State in
    Structuring Communications in Renaissance Venice, Juraj Kittler (St.
    Lawrence University, New York, United States)

  • The Post Office and State Formation in World Historical Time, Lane
    Harris (Furman University, South Carolina, United States)

10:00-10:15: Coffee

10:15-11:35: Communication networks — mail, telegraph, telephone

  • Communications and the States: The Swiss Influence on the origins of
    ITU, 1855-1876, Gabriele Balbi (Università della Svizzera italiana,
    Lugano, Switzerland), Simone Fari, Giuseppe Richeri.

  • Mail Order Fraud, Postal Inspectors, and the Remaking of Consumer
    Capitalism in the United States, 1850-1900, Rick Popp (University of
    Wisconsin-Milwaukee, United States)

  • Media of Resistance: Organizing the Anti-Colonial Movements in the
    Dutch East Indies, 1920-1927, Rianne Subijanto (University of Colorado
    Boulder, United States)

  • International Copyright and Access to Education: A History, Sara
    Bannerman (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada)

11:35-12:40 p.m.: Lunch (participants provide their own lunch)

12:40-2 p.m.:

International Dimensions of Broadcasting and the State

  • News and Propaganda in the Cold War: Associated Press and the Voice
    of America, 1945-1952, Gene Allen (Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada)

  • Colonization through Broadcasting: Rádio Clube de Moçambique and the
    Promotion of Portuguese Colonial Policy, Nelson Ribeiro (Catholic
    University of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal)

  • A House Divided: The SABC during World War Two, Ruth Teer-Tomaselli
    (University KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa)

  • Subsidizing Content and Conduit: Global Wireless Communications and
    the State, Heidi Tworek (Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States)

Communications and the State: The Case of Germany

  • A Story of Transition and Failure? The State and the East German
    Media Reform 1989-1991, Mandy Tröger (University of Illinois at
    Urbana-Champaign, United States)

  • Presence and Absence: The Berlin Wall as a Strategic Platform,
    Samantha Oliver (University of Pennsylvania, United States)

  • Heads of State as Communicators “ A Comparative Analysis of State of
    the Union Addresses of American Presidents and * Regierungserklärungen
    of German Chancellors since 1945/49, Thomas Birkner (Westfälische
    Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany)

  • The Necessary Restraints of National Security: Cold War U.S.
    Government-Journalism Negotiations and the Communist Reaction, Mike
    Conway (Indiana University, United States) and Kevin Grieves (Ohio
    University, United States)

2 p.m.-2:15: Coffee

2:15-3:35:

The State and Infrastructure

  • How the French State did not Construct Nicholas Schöffer's Tour
    Lumière Cybernétique?, Dominuque Trudel, New York University, United
    States)

  • The phantom of the phone booth: Toward a material and cultural
    history of the telephone in Israel, Rivka Ribak, Michele Rosenthal and
    Sharon Ringel (University of Haifa, Israel)

  • Minitel and the State, Julien Mailland (Indiana University, United
    States) and Kevin Driscoll (Microsoft Research, United States)

  • Connected and Divided: Satellite Networks as Infrastructures of Live
    Television, Christine Evans (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, United
    States) and Lars Lundgren (Södertörn University, Sweden)

The State and Communication Across Borders

  • Media, Communications and the State in the Nordic Region: The History
    of the Media Welfare State Trine Syvertsen and Gunn Enli (University of
    Oslo, Norway), Ole J. Mjøs and Hallvard Moe (University of Bergen, Norway)

  • 'Home Is Where Your Heart Is': Mediated Longing for the State,
    Ekaterina Kalinina (Södertörn University, Sweden) and Manuel Menke
    (Augsburg University, Germany)

  • Theorizing Political Communication Policies, Tim Vos (University of
    Missouri, United States)

  • Commercial cross-border radio: Popular culture, advertising, and the
    erosion of state communication power in comparative perspective:
    Britain, India and America,“ John Jenks (Dominican University, United States)

3:45-5:00: Closing plenary: The State of the Field

  • Daniel Hallin (University of California, San Diego)

  • Richard John (Columbia University)

  • Adrian Johns (University of Chicago)