(Apologies for crossposting) Hello, Hope your weekend is off to a good start. Please find a CFP I put together below. I hope it interests you but, if not, kindly share with your networks and put me in touch with authors you believe would be a good fit. Thank you! ----- *Call for Papers: Special Issue of a Journal* *Topic* Autoethnographies of Care: Foregrounding the experiences of early career researchers *Overview* To be a young researcher in the social sciences, especially in media and communication studies, comes with its own set of challenges and learning opportunities. While our identities might lend us some advantage as we conduct research in a fertile field, especially with certain sections of participants, it might also be part of the problem which acts as roadblocks in access, digital divide, equity, reciprocity, and respect. This special issue seeks to present and engage with narratives of early career researchers at different stages of their academic careers: doctoral/postdoctoral students, lecturers, assistant professors, and researchers. These personal narratives will range from talking about the self and surrounding environment to the possibility of looking inward to understand and take the community forward, and from drawing resonance with text to (re)designing mechanisms for academic contemplation. Using autoethnographic accounts of care, or lack thereof, experienced by the scholars featured, their personal narratives will be tied to broader social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of their local realities for reflection on and recommendations for inclusivity such that a richer engagement with the field can be undertaken for newer, nuanced meanings to emerge. To give you a glimpse, a panel we are organising for the International Communication Association (ICA)’s 71st Annual Conference to be held in May 2021 in the main theme session has six of us giving our accounts and experiences as early career scholars in media and communication studies. The first scholar emphasizes the necessity of weaving an element of care in studying gaming cultures in India. He proposes a meta-reflective mechanism for researchers to contemplate on gamers’ ludic practices and experiences such that newer understandings can emerge from the field. The second researcher interrogates the power structures that enforce restrictive practices while demanding invisible labour off of young researchers. The third scholar questions the neoliberal narratives surrounding shifting careers, the isolated experience of archival work, and how to deal with anxieties and vulnerabilities. The fourth paper unravels common threads between the doctoral student’s life and the women in her text as she completes her PhD with a focus on cinema studies. She identifies otherizing and siloing can create a culture of silence to the detriment of women researchers, and that gendered self-care, presentation, representation, and normalization are important. The fifth paper draws on the lived experiences of an international doctoral student as she tried to navigate her field several thousand miles and cultural milieus away from her home. She outlines the perspectives of care she utilized in her work and shares ethical challenges and possible core values for other fellow international students. The last paper is about self-inquiry and how experiences from the field can be tied back to community centred endeavours to care for them. *Submission* We invite early career scholars and researchers in media and communication studies to take an autoethnographic approach to their journeys as doctoral/postdoctoral scholars and early career researchers/academicians and reflect on their experiences within their broader social, cultural, political, economic contexts in their local realities and recommend changes for better care, inclusion, and access. Please find details below: *To submit:* Full Papers (4,000 words ALL INCLUSIVE) including an Abstract (250-300 words); Keywords (5-8 words); and relevant references in APA 7th edition citation and referencing format. *Guidelines:* MS Word, A4 size with 1” margins, Times New Roman, font size 12, APA 7th edition language and grammar as found here https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/grammar/verb-tense). Papers need to double spaced and justify aligned. Kindly proofread your paper for grammatical, spelling, and other errors before submission. Please let me know in case you need help with this. *Tables/Figures:* Please include original tables/figures at the end of your article if needed. If it is copyrighted material, kindly have permission to use ready. Inclusion of tables/figures is subject to the guidelines of the journal. *Additional information:* Please have a clear explanation of the main argument of your essay and how the submission contributes to the aims of this special issue in no more than 250-300 words on the cover page of your article. Your cover page also needs to have your personal details like name, designation, affiliation, email address, and the title of your essay. *Timelines:* Authors can expect feedback on their essay by 11th June 2021 and revisions are expected to be submitted by 11th July 2021. Invited revised submissions will undergo an editorial review followed by a peer review following the usual procedures of the journal. Approximately 10-12 papers will be sent out for the full peer review. Therefore, the invitation does not guarantee acceptance into the special issue. Please *email* your submissions to *devina.sarwatay@gmail.com <devina.sarwatay@gmail.com>* strictly on or before the *10th of May 2021*. Feel free to reach out with queries regarding your submission to the email above. Devina Sarwatay, Senior Research Fellow (UGC-NET) and PhD Student, Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad, India Graduate Student Member, Media Education Lab, Harrington School of Communication and Media, University of Rhode Island, USA —End of Call— Warm Regards, Devina Sarwatay Senior Research Fellow (UGC-NET) and PhD Student, Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad, India Graduate Student Member, Media Education Lab, Harrington School of Communication and Media, University of Rhode Island, USA ------------------------- Please reply to all my mails on devina.sarwatay@gmail.com Detailed Profile: https://in.linkedin.com/in/devinasarwatay ------------------------- CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE This message (including any attachments) contains information that may be confidential. 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