Call for Papers v. 15 n. 2 (2026) – Thematic Issue Media: Narratives for Social Change

2026-02-02

Media narratives play a central role in the production of meaning about the world, articulating representations, affects, symbolic disputes, and projects for the future. By mediating and mediatising individual and collective experiences, the media not only reflect social dynamics but also actively participate in processes of social transformation, whether by making inequalities visible and reinforcing specific regimes of truth, or by producing counter-narratives and challenging exclusion. Social transformation, in this context, is understood as a set of changes – gradual or disruptive – in the structures – being cultural, political, economic, communicational, or otherwise – that organise social life.

The centrality of digital environments fosters new forms, agents, and strategies within media narratives. Journalism, advertising, audiovisual production, activist practices, cultural production, and algorithmic performances coexist and compete for attention, legitimacy, and narrative authority. This complex ecosystem challenges traditional analytical models and calls for theoretical and methodological approaches capable of understanding media as a privileged space of conflict, negotiation, and, ultimately, social transformation.

Inserted within the scope of Rizoma journal, this thematic dossier aims to bring together contributions that investigate the relationships between media narratives and social transformation in their multiple tensions, privileging interdisciplinary approaches articulated within the field of Communication. Empirical, theoretical, or methodological studies are welcome, including discourse analysis, digital ethnographies, case studies, digital methods, and applied research.

This thematic dossier welcomes contributions on the following topics, among others:

  • Media narratives (journalistic, audiovisual, advertising, institutional, or AI-generated) and their impacts on processes of social transformation;

  • Impacts of sociotechnical agents, such as platforms and algorithms, on social transformation;

  • Processes of mediatization, circulation, and transformations in modes of collective action;

  • Uses of Artificial Intelligence across different types of narratives and their effects on the production of meaning;

  • Journalistic practices oriented toward social transformation;

  • Counter-narratives, symbolic resistance, and discursive reconfigurations within the media ecosystem;

  • Media in contexts of social and community vulnerability;

  • Activist discourses, political engagement, and struggles for visibility in the contemporary public sphere;

  • Populism, polarisation, and narrative strategies in the media;

  • Cultural and creative industries and transformative media narratives;

  • Digital influencers, identity performances, and social transformation;

  • Audiovisual production oriented toward social critique.

 

Manuscripts may be submitted until April 30, 2026, through the journal’s electronic submission system. Submissions are accepted in Portuguese, Spanish, or English and must comply with the submission requirements and author guidelines available on the journal’s website: Rizoma. The dossier is scheduled for publication in July 2026.

Rizoma is a publication of the Department of Business Management and Communication and the Graduate Program in Letters of the University of Santa Cruz do Sul.

For further information, please contact: revistarizoma@unisc.br 

 

Sincerely,

 

Camila Hartmann – Professor in the Communication programs at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul; PhD in Communication from the Federal University of Santa Maria; member of the editorial team of Rizoma.

 

Carla Rodrigues Cardoso – Associate Professor at Lusófona University, where she founded and coordinates the Magazine Media Lab, the first scientific structure specialised in Magazine Studies. Founder and editor of the International Journal of Magazine Studies. She holds a PhD in Communication Sciences from NOVA University of Lisbon, specialising in Media and Journalism Studies.

 

Dora Santos-Silva – Associate Professor at NOVA University of Lisbon - School of Social and Human Sciences, and researcher at ICNOVA – NOVA Institute of Communication. She coordinates the Master’s degree in Journalism, the postgraduate program in Communication of Culture and Creative Industries, and Obi.media – Observatory for Media Innovation, which she founded in 2021.