Kramersplein 23 9000 Ghent
Liberas, UGent, the Laboratoire des pratiques et des identités journalistiques (ReSIC-ULB) and CAMille (ULB/KBR) are organizing between 5 and 7 June a three-day international colloquium on the life stories and careers of "forgotten journalists". The history of journalism has often focused on a limited number of famous individuals. Behind these big names are many journalists whose names and work have not made it into the canon. But to capture the full diversity of the journalistic field, these careers and lives need to be recovered. Three particular groups of forgotten media professionals stand out: women journalists, journalists who made an important mark on the media landscape of their colonial and post-colonial societies during periods of (de)colonization, and those who worked in sectors and areas of journalism that are often considered less prestigious. The third category includes forgotten war photographers, for example, as well as invisible news workers such as telegraph and linotype operators.
Both young researchers and established scholars, including several authors with extensive experience in professional journalism, will present new research on the experiences of forgotten journalists in very different geographical and historical contexts from biographical or prosopographical perspectives. The speakers will take us from a French political exile from the Second French Empire (1852-1870) who took up his pen again in Brussels, to a Belgian nobleman who covered historical events around the world a hundred years later during the early Cold War.
The program includes three keynote lectures: a French-language lecture by Marie-Eve Thérenty (Université de Montpellier III) on women who wrote for the film sections of French newspapers in the interwar period, a lecture by Will Mary (Louisiana State University) on the importance of the workplaces and technical resources available to large groups of news workers, and a lecture by Noah Amir Arjomand (University of California) on the professional particularities and importance of "fixers" in making sense of current-day crises in the Middle East.
The colloquium can take place thanks to the support of the Research Foundation Flanders-FWO and the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique-FNRS.
The colloquium will take place in the conference room of Liberas in the center of Ghent - (Kramersplein 23).
The full program, with all up-to-date details and information on the speakers and the abstracts of their papers, can be accessed at www.forgottenjournalists2025.eu.
Please check this website for updates as the program can be subject to changes.
If you wish to attend, please register by sending an email to: inschrijven@liberas.eu. Please specify which day(s) of the conference you'd wish to attend.
The registration fee for the full conference is 50 euro (sandwich lunches included). The registration fee for one conference day is 25 euro.