The study of intergroup communication concerns the ways in which communication within and between groups affects social relations. Intergroup encounters occur when social, rather than personal, identity forms the basis for communication. Intergroup communication is often characterized by power inequality, bias, competition or conflict. These troubling aspects of intergroup communication have been realized in scholarship on prejudice and discrimination (e.g., ageism, racism, sexism), aggression, violence, and genocide. However, intergroup communication can be equally characterized by positive communication found in identity expansion, cooperation, altruism, negotiation, and collaboration. Intergroup research informs many social contexts; some examples of these contexts are to be found in communication between members of co-cultures, cultures, nationalities, genders, generations, as well as groups belonging in the workplace and health contexts. There are arguable intergroup dimensions to all of the areas of concern to communication scholars. Intergroup communication informs mass, organizational, intercultural, political, sociocognitive, and interactive aspects of communication.

The Intergroup Communication Interest Group provides a home for quantitative and qualitative approaches to intergroup communication phenomena. We welcome perspectives from social psychology, sociology, sociolinguistics, and political science with an aim to providing an exciting interdisciplinary niche for intergroup communication.

Submission Guidelines. All submissions must include a 150 – 200 word abstract. Authors must make evident in the abstract how their paper/proposal is relevant to the study of intergroup communication. Abstracts that fail to show a clear link to intergroup communication will be transferred to a more appropriate division/interest group. The Intergroup Communication Interest Group welcomes (a) completed papers (25 pages maximum excluding references), (b) fully developed panel or roundtable proposals (400-word description, with 100-word abstracts for each paper and contact information for each author), and (c) extended abstracts of papers that are currently in progress (500 to 1000 words). Submissions will be considered for traditional panel programming, high-density paper sessions, virtual presentations and/or interactive paper sessions. Submission is NOW AVAILABLE online through the ICA Conference website. To reach the conference website, go to the ICA home page at http://www.icahdq.org and follow the link for 2011 Conference Submission. It is essential that you read the complete instructions carefully and prepare your submission prior to logging on. All submissions must be completed online no later than 11:00 p.m. EST, 1 November 2011. To avoid technical problems, early submission is strongly encouraged.

Questions? Contact:

Lisa Sparks, Co-chair and Program Planner
Chapman U
Schmid College of Science
Orange, CA 92866
Phone: 714-997-6703
E-mail: sparks@chapman.edu

Liz Jones, Co-chair
Griffith U
School of Psychology
Brisbane, QLD 4111
AUSTRALIA
Phone: + 61 7 3735 3365
E-mail: l.jones@griffith.edu.au