Mapping propaganda: practices, media and power
- Submission status
- Open
- Submission deadline
This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 16- Peace, justice and strong institutions .
Propaganda has long shaped political authority, social identities and collective understandings of the world. Produced by states, political movements, religious institutions, corporations, media organisations and other actors, it operates through language, images, symbols, narratives and performances intended to influence how people interpret events and understand their place within society. Propaganda does not necessarily depend on false information; it may also work through selective representation, emotional appeal, repetition, omission and the strategic use of established beliefs and cultural values.
Contemporary technologies have expanded the speed, reach and adaptability of propagandistic communication. Social media platforms, algorithmic systems, generative artificial intelligence and personalised political messaging now coexist with older forms involving print, broadcasting, education, public monuments, film and the arts. These developments invite renewed examination of how propaganda is produced, circulated and received, and of the boundaries between propaganda, persuasion, information, ideology and public communication.
This Collection welcomes research that maps propaganda practices across different historical periods, political systems, cultural settings and forms of media. We encourage contributions from across the humanities and social sciences, including history, political science, sociology, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, literature, linguistics, media and communication studies, cultural studies, international relations, education, religious studies, art history and film studies.
We invite papers engaging with topics including, but not limited to:
- Histories and theories of propaganda
- States, institutions and political movements
- War, conflict and geopolitical competition
- Ideology, nationalism and collective identity
- Language, rhetoric and political storytelling
- Visual and cultural propaganda
- Digital platforms and artificial intelligence
- Audiences, emotions and reception
- Education, religion and everyday life
- Colonial and postcolonial propaganda
- Counter-propaganda and resistance
- Methods for studying propaganda
We particularly welcome comparative and interdisciplinary research examining how propagandistic messages and practices are created, adapted, circulated, interpreted and contested, and how they reflect unequal access to political, cultural and technological power.
