Call for abstracts: SACOMM 2026

The Wits Centre for Journalism is hosting the South African Communications Association conference (SACOMM 2026) at Wits University from 9 – 11 September. The theme is Asserting the Human in the Time of Technofeudalism: Global South Perspectives. It is inviting submissions from those who focus on the theme, as well as from others in line with the general SACOMM conference. A pre-conference programme for emerging scholars will take place on 8 September.

Thematics

• The contemporary media environment is characterised by the increasing influence of platforms in what has come to be known as the platform economy. The rise of a platform economy, which accumulates capital through rent, in the form of ‘workers’ renting space or experience on platforms is said to have overtaken the significance of capital accumulation through the production of tangible goods.
• These arguments open up avenues for analyses of the current media and information environment. In a context where a few platforms significantly determine access to information, markets, cultural visibility, and social existence, it is necessary to consider the impact on humans.
• The race to AI dominance further exacerbates the inequalities brought by the new regime of capital accumulation. The Global South is particularly affected due to its long-standing experience of constrained and subordinate role-play in the Global economy.

This conference theme invites scholars to interrogate how the human is being redefined and reasserted in the emerging order of technofeudalism. Further, scholars can to explore innovations that acknowledge this emerging order but chart possible ways, especially for the Global South. Some possible themes include, but are not limited to:

• Technofeudalism and media innovation for sustainability
• Journalism practice and technofeudalism debates
• Technofeudalism and its implications for strategic communication
• Re-centering the human in communicative activities in a technofeudal system
• Decolonial perspectives on technofeudalism
• Agency in the Global South and the charting of new directions in a technofeudal system
• Re-imagining communities and access to information in a technofeudal system
• The human in the university curriculum and media training
• Health communication in a technofeudal system

Eligibility

• Submissions may come from a range of disciplines. These include but not limited to communication studies, media studies and journalism, communication education and advocacy, and strategic communication.
• Abstracts are be peer-reviewed, and accepted papers will be presented at the conference either in a traditional presentation format or as part of a panel.

How to apply

Interested applicants may submit abstracts using this online application from. They may address queries to editor@journalism.co.za. The last date to submit abstracts is 30 April 2026. 

For more information, please visit this page.