Stream: Culture/Politics/Technology

A Graduate Journal of Communication

Stream: Culture/Politics/Technology is an open-access, peer-reviewed graduate e-journal for students in communication studies and cognate fields encompassing three over-overlapping ‘streams’ of concentration: culture, politics, and technology. It is published by the Communication Graduate Caucus at Simon Fraser University. Papers are blind reviewed by graduate students, making Stream a unique contribution to the flourishing and productive field of communication in Canada. In employing open-source software and Creative Commons licensing, Stream is exceptional in the field of academic publishing and contributes to the public dissemination and sharing of knowledge. We hope that this initiative will become a space for graduate students to publish new work and expand upon new ideas, contributing to a thriving intellectual culture.


Call for Papers for special issue:
Communication and Global Conflicts

The so-called global “war against terrorism” has been the geopolitical focus of academics, politicians and civic institutions in the global community for the last 8 years. Human rights, civic rights and societies on the whole continue to suffer in conflict-ridden regions of the world.

From Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka to Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as various freedom movements in the regions, South Asia has seen a surge in terrorism in the last two years. For example, Pakistan has been in the spotlight, especially in the last two years during which the country faced more than a 100 terrorism events claiming hundreds of civilian lives. Drone attacks by the American military on Pakistani territories, demands for Sharia laws by Islamic groups, and the Pakistani government’s peace deals with Taliban have made recent headlines. In Israel and Palestine, amidst the rhetoric of “change”, images of destroyed houses, hospitals, and university buildings and civilian casualties are being shown on media outlets. Similar devastating conflicts are taking place the world over as tensions between the Islamic world and the West, as well as tensions within diverse Islamic factions lead to rising violence and blur the lines between “terrorists”, “rebels”, and “freedom fighters,” while at the same time polarizing their popular perceptions.

This special issue of Stream broadly explores current issues in global conflicts and in particular, the war against terrorism, from a communication perspective. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • effects of conflict on culture, society, and economy
  • political economy of the war against terrorism
  • media's representation of Islam and Muslims in the war against terrorism
  • media's role in wars and conflicts and comparative representations of both in media
  • peace journalism in the context of war against terrorism
  • religious and ethnic representation in media
  • use of communication media by terrorist and extremist organizations
  • exploring media's relationship with war and conflict resolution as they relate to current international events

Related to the above topics, we invite academic articles, methodology papers (with early research findings), literature reviews, book reviews, critical essays, and interviews. While Stream accepts articles on an ongoing basis, submissions for the special issue must be received by November 1, 2009. For any other queries, please contact Arsalan Butt at: ab@sfu.ca

Call for Papers and Digital Art for special issue:
Art, Culture and Everyday Life

During the recent Canadian federal election, much controversy arose over the Conservative government’s $45 million funding cuts to the arts and culture. Harper claimed that the arts did not concern "ordinary Canadians." Appealing to the working class, Harper suggested that “when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see … a bunch of people … at a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough when they know those subsidies have actually gone up, I’m not sure that’s something that resonates with ordinary people.” His statement drew censure from artists, politicians, academics and “ordinary Canadians,” notably Margaret Atwood in a Globe and Mail piece who cited rates of poverty among artists; the economic value of the cultural industries; the ordinariness of artists; DIY cultural production; the everyday impacts of culture; and the “universal” drive for creativity as counter examples to this conservative rhetoric. All of these perspectives seem to suggest that politics and class intersect at the juncture of culture in everyday life.

This special issue of Stream broadly considers debates like those raised by this case, as well as current issues in communication and culture. Possible topics include:

  • everyday technologies
  • public culture and the public sphere
  • cultural industries or culture industry?
  • the arts and the political imagination
  • DIY culture and citizenship practices
  • financial barriers to cultural participation
  • popular taste and cultural capital
  • intellectual property and independent cultural labour
  • globalization and cultural sovereignty
  • borders and digital technologies

We invite academic papers related to these topics. We also seek methodology papers with early research study findings and artistic projects developed as part of a graduate degree (these projects should include an academic paper component). For all submissions, we encourage authors to take advantage of the online capabilities of our journal by including links, images, sound or video files, etc. (it is the authors responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright holder).

Academic papers must be 15-20 pages in length and use APA style. Further information can be found here or by contacting Danielle Deveau. Papers that do not meet basic formatting requirements will not be considered. Articles can be submitted through the website. While we accept articles on an ongoing basis, submissions for the special issue must be received by July 1, 2009.


Vol 2, No 1 (2009)


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