28th annual conference (2027)

Society for Phenomenology and Media

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Conference Theme: The Phenomenology of Institutions: Media, Structures, and Lived Experience

Venue: Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City, Mexico

Dates: March 16 to 20, 2027

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CONFERENCE THEME AND SCOPE

 

From legal systems, educational bodies, and governmental frameworks to digital platforms, algorithmic governance, and corporate networks, institutions shape the horizons of human experience, sense-making, and social reality. Institutions are rarely static containers; rather, they are dynamic, mediated, and continuously enacted through embodied practices, technologies, habits, and discourses.

 

The Society for Phenomenology and Media (SPM) invites paper and panel proposals for its 28th annual conference exploring The Phenomenology of Institutions, hosted at Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City. In keeping with the broad, multidisciplinary tradition of the SPM, we seek contributions that examine how institutional structures are perceived, embodied, mediated, resisted, eroded and reproduced.

 

We welcome a wide range of theoretical paradigms, including classical phenomenology, post-phenomenology, critical theory, post-structuralism, media ecology, affect theory, cultural studies, feminist epistemology, hermeneutics, decolonial theory, cultural studies, hermeneutics, New Historicism, pragmatism, semiotics, speech-act theory, etc.

 

SUGGESTED AXES OF INQUIRY

 

1. Mediated Institutionality and Platform Governance

- Digital platforms, social networks, and AI systems as emerging institutional structures.

- Algorithmic governance, automated decision-making, and the lived experience of bureaucratic opacity.

- The phenomenology of surveillance, privacy, and control in modern institutions.

 

2. Embodiment, Spatiality, and Institutional Life

- How bodies inhabit, navigate, or resist institutional spaces (hospitals, schools, prisons, virtual environments).

- Post-phenomenological approaches to institutional artifacts, tools, and technological infrastructures.

- The affectivity of institutions: institutional trust, anxiety, alienation, and sense of belonging.

 

3. Media as Institutional Architecture

- Archives, databases, and record-keeping technologies of memory and power.

- Mass media, public spheres, and the institutionalization of truth and consensus.

- The performativity of institutional communication, rituals, and rhetoric.

 

4. Critical and Marginal Perspectives

- Decolonizing institutional phenomenologies: race, power, and structural violence.

- Queer and feminist critiques of normative institutional horizons.

- Disruption, resistance, counter-infrastructures, and alternative institutional imaginaries.

 

SUBMISSION TYPES AND GUIDELINES

 

- Individual Paper Proposals: 150-250 word abstract including title, key methodology/framework, and a short author biography (50-100 words).

- Panel Proposals: A 150-word panel summary along with individual abstracts for 3 to 4 papers, including speaker names and affiliations.

 

A maximum of two submissions per author will be accepted

 

CONFERENCE FORMAT AND DETAILS

 

- Venue: Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City, Mexico.

- Format: Hybrid options available (In-person sessions with dedicated virtual presentation streams).

- Publication: Selected papers will be invited to expand their work for peer-reviewed publication in SPM's journal, Glimpse.

- Registration Fees: Regular Rate: $250 USD. Reduced Rate (Graduate students, postdocs, contingent faculty, and virtual presenters): $150 USD.

REGISTRATION

 

RELEVANT DATES

Deadline for abstracts: December 15, 2026

Acceptance rollout: January 15, 2027

Deadline for conference registration (through PayPal): February 1, 2027​

 

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Mariano Navarro, Universidad Panameriana, Mexico. 2027 Program Chair and SPM Vice-President and Acting Secretary

Nicola Liberati, UESTC, China. SPM President

Shoji Nagataki, Chukyo University, Japan. 2026 Program Chair

Jacques Ibañez-Bueno, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, France. 2025 Program Chair

Melinda Campbell, National Univerity, USA. SPM Chair

Gerardo De la Fuente, UNAM, Mexico. SPM Vice Chair

Luis Acebal, National University, USA. SPM Treasurer

 

 

CONTACT AND SUBMISSIONS

 

Please submit abstracts and general inquiries to the organizing committee at:

societyphenomenologymedia@gmail.com

 

For society updates, past conference proceedings, and membership information, visit:

https://www.societyforphenomenologyandmedia.org

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