EMHIS was especially invited to present our network at one of the so-called “spotlight sessions” during the international ACSIS conference in Norrköping 15-17 of June. This year, the very nicely arranged conference in a sunny and warm mid-Sweden had the theme “In the flow – people, media, materialities”. It was the sixth biennial conference of ACSIS, which stands for Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden. A wide range of topics, dealing with both contemporary and past media, was covered in over 35 different panels and sessions. The themes under specific discussion on the conference ranged from body monitoring to translation, touching on issues such as heritage, search cultures and remembering. Several sessions focus on tracking and measuring of flows in personal as well as social and commercial contexts.
As an introduction to our spotlight session, arranged as the grand finale of the conference on June 17, the EMHIS network and its activities was first presented by Marie Cronqvist and Johan Jarlbrink. This was followed by four short presentations of ongoing research projects. In the first of these, Hugh Chignell, Bournemouth, presented his work on the BBC radio drama, using the case of Samuel Beckett to highlight entangled dimensions both in terms of methodology and entangled objects. Kristin Skoog, Bournemouth, then outlined a coming research project on the BBC and the formation of the British welfare state in the reconstruction period, pointing to interesting transnational dimenisons – such as for example the constant references to “the Swedish model” – as well as a range of intermedial relations between print, radio, exhibitions, and propaganda literature. Kristin was followed by Marie Cronqvist, Lund, who presented her project on the entangled networks of television with regards to the relationship between Sweden and the GDR in the 1970s and 1980s. Finally, Johan Jarlbrink, Umeå, presented his study on the entangled nature of diplomatic relations and the role of the media in the 1905 dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian union. After the four presentations, a joint discussion with the audience took place.
In another session at the conference called “Disciplined records” (Disciplinerade handlingar), Charlie Järpvall presented his soon-to-be-finished PhD thesis on office paper as a communicative medium in the mid 20th century.