University of Seville, 16-17 May 2024

CALL FOR PAPERS

"At the heart of the transnational allophone press: production, financing, distribution, circulation and reception (XIX°-XX° centuries)”

Long ignored by specialists, the foreign-language press exists in most countries at the margins of the global media system. In some countries, especially in those that attract large flows of immigrants, exiles and expatriates, these periodicals are numerous and of a great variety. Thanks to the work undertaken by the researchers of the Transfopress network, notably during their annual encounters, this specific type of media is becoming better known. The first nine meetings endeavored to identify and map this press in the world (Paris 2013, Sao Paulo 2014), but also on the scale of a “polyphonic” city like Paris (Paris 2022). The Paris 2017 meeting also addressed questions relating to the language(s) used. The French-speaking press in Southern Europe received special attention at the 2018 Bucharest meeting and the English-language press at the Paris 2017 gathering. The cultural diversity and dialogue that these newspapers represent and induce were also the focus of the network's researchers at the 2015 Malaga and 2021 Valparaiso meetings, as were the new forms, contents and functions that characterize them at the 2016 Mexico encounter. We addressed the case of foreign-language periodicals that were vehicles of political protest at our 2019 Rome meeting, whereas in 2021 at Valparaiso we analyzed those that contributed to the integration of their readers in the country that hosted them. After the May 2023 conference at the University of Saarbrucken that focused on the journalists of the allophone press, it is now necessary to better understand how these fragile newspapers, whose readership is by essence limited, were produced, financed, then distributed, how they circulated, what reception they received, in conditions that are not those of the so-called national press.

For the 10th Transfopress Encounter, to be held at the University of Seville’s Department of Journalism, we invite papers on the organization and functioning of the editorial staff (networks of volunteer or professional correspondents....) and on the editors of foreign-language newspapers and periodicals, but also on the material production of these periodicals (who prints them, who are the typographers, what machines and typefaces do they use, where do they get them?) Finally, how do these newspapers and periodicals finance themselves (subscriptions, advertising, are they linked to a reading room, to a travel agency, an association, a political party, etc.)?

To better measure the audience of the allophone press, we seek proposals related to its distribution and circulation. Some of these newspapers announce ambitious targets in the field of dissemination and circulation, especially on a geographical level. Are their results up to their expectations?  We also encourage papers that address the influence of these newspapers on the national press of the country in which they are published: to what extent and in what way are innovations from abroad accepted and adapted to the local context, what new methods – if any - are introduced, e.g., to ensure faster circulation of information (several editions per day for daily newspapers, opening offices in several cities, etc.).

We are also interested in papers dealing with the mechanisms at the heart of the distribution of the allophone press - subscriptions, single issue sales, depots in selected places (hotels, reading rooms, station kiosks, travel agencies etc.), networks specific to each newspaper, home delivery, street vendors, etc., but also with the way in which this press has adapted to the socio-political and economic conditions of the market (postal rates, competition, etc. )

Finally, studies on the reception of this press - how have these periodicals been 'received' by their readers? - would allow us to understand where, and when, their reception has been more important than the official circulation might suggest. Are readers satisfied with their newspapers? What can we learn from the “letters to the editor”? How are readers affected by reading the allophone press? To what extent does it meet their expectations in term of news and reading material?

These are some of the questions this meeting aims to address.

• Organizing committee: Diana Cooper-Richet, Isabelle Richet, Maria José Ruiz Acosta, Rosalba Mancinas Chávez
• Conference languages: English, French, Spanish
• Launch of the call: June 2023
• Deadline for abstracts (200 words and bio/biblio one ½ page): September 2023, answers November 2023
• Date of the conference: 16-17 May 2024
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• Scientific Committee:
  • Philippe Mezzasalma (BNF)
  • Nicolas Pitsos (BULAC)
  • Fionnuala Dillane (Esprit)
  • Valeria Guimaraes (UNESP)
  • Ramón Reig (US)
  • Elena Benítez Alonso (US)
  • Daniel Moya López (US)
  • Inés Méndez Majuelos (US)

[1] Diffusion : nombre d’exemplaires par numéro effectivement vendus.

[2] Circulation : nombre de lecteurs moyen par numéro.