2024 Call for Submissions
Central States Communication Association
2024 Annual Conference
Incoherence: Failure, Futures, and Forgotten Messages
Amway Grand Plaza
Grand Rapids, Michigan
April 2 – 7, 2024
You are invited to submit competitive papers, panel discussions, and performance sessions for our 93rd Annual Convention in Grand Rapids, MI. Members are encouraged to reflect on the theme of “Incoherence”. Our lives are filled with moments of incoherence. Some segments of incoherence occur at the individual level, as we explore how shared meaning is missed. Other sites of incoherence come from systems and structures working to obfuscate our understanding of ourselves, our relational partners, our communities, and our organizations. Sometimes, as our theories tell us, incoherence can be beneficial, illuminating, or productive.
At times our narratives fail to make sense as they are missing the perspectives of portions of the community. Other moments of incoherence exist as individuals attempt to rewrite history as we know it, be it in our families or at the national level. Beyond exploring the incoherence of others' lives, we need to explore the incoherence within knowledge claims. How is the work we are doing misinterpreted or misappropriated so that what is shared with the larger community no longer makes sense? How do we push back on commonly accepted scripts when they do not cohere with our research or best practices? How do we assert scholarly and artistic knowledge and worth in a post-truth era of uncertainty where competing “truths” are the norm? We often return to struggles in our own relationships, organizations, and communities due to the failure to make sense of the communication and experiences of others. Additionally, incoherence may be felt at the individual level when happy objects fail to fulfill their promise. As we move from the intersections and transitions of the current year, let us continue our work, attending to marginalized voices as they help us make sense of our fractured meanings.
In embracing the theme of incoherence, we are invited to explore the instances of incoherence in our community as well as within our research. How do we as scholars approach results that fail to fit within existing frameworks that we build? How do we negotiate replication studies to consider our more intersectional perspectives? How do we move forward as theorists when theory fails to work within more diverse populations? As teachers, do we take time to reflect on norms of the field when they are rooted in biases that no longer make sense for our students and our future? Or as mentors, how do we respond when the feedback we offer our students does not land? Finally, how can we redress the incoherence in the structural practices of our institutional homes? What is incoherent about instructional and administrative labor, resource allocation, or curricular development vis a vis changing student need? This conference is an invitation to argue, articulate, narrate, perform and question these moments of incoherence.
Faculty, students, independent scholars, K-12 educators, and community members are encouraged to submit and attend the convention. Institutional and community partnerships are particularly welcome.
Submissions inclusive of all methodological perspectives in the communication discipline are expected and embraced.
Submitters for the 2024 Central States conference may take part in the Equity and Inclusive Scholarship Award process. If your paper should be considered for this award, the paper must clearly articulate how the respective scholarship explicitly addresses equity and inclusion. Additionally, select the Equity and Inclusion Scholarship option when submitting.
Look for specific calls and submission information from each of the 27 CSCA Interest Groups, Caucuses, and Sections.
Questions about the general call or the 2024 conference:
- Contact Kathy Denker, 2024 primary program planner, kjdenker@bsu.edu.
Deadline for Submissions: October 7, 2023, 11:59 pm CDT
Directions for using the online system: Online Submission Directions
