Ambiguity and Belonging in Times of Social Media

Ambiguity has long been valued as an indicator of cultural sophistication, democratic resilience, and social pluralism. Celebrated in the arts and understood as a prerequisite for tolerance and intercultural understanding, it has also been studied in psychology as a personality trait linked to open-mindedness and resistance to authoritarianism. However, in the era of ubiquitous social media, the nature of ambiguity is changing. The features of digital platforms, such as algorithmic curation, virality, and multimodal expression, facilitate new forms of ambiguity that can be as socially divisive as they are cohesive.

We invite applications to present at an interdisciplinary conference on the theme of “Ambiguity and Belonging in Times of Social Media” on July 1 to July 3, 2026, at the University of Konstanz, Germany. The international conference is hosted by the Konstanz section of the Research Institute Social Cohesion at the University of Konstanz.

We aim to bring together researchers from the fields of media studies, sociology, political science, linguistics, psychology, and history to address the shifting role of communicative ambiguity in contemporary media ecologies and beyond. While ambiguity has long been considered a virtue in social-psychological theory and cultural studies, in contemporary public spheres communicative ambiguity has also been used strategically for dog whistling and doublespeak, or to manage expectations of different societal groups in political rhetoric. The conference thus pursues two central questions: have we witnessed a transformation of the forms, practices, and understandings of ambiguity in the recent two decades, in part influenced by the increased importance of social media publics? How does the shifting role of (communicative) ambiguity allow for or undermine practices of belonging and social cohesion?

Possible topics for presentation include but are not limited to:

• Contemporary forms and practices of communicative ambiguity
• The role of social media in transforming the form, practice, or understanding of (communicative) ambiguity
• Conceptual history of (communicative) ambiguity
• Norms and ethics of strategic versus constitutive ambiguity
• Belonging and social cohesion because of or despite ambiguity
• Practices of criticizing ambiguity

Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt | Standort Konstanz
Universität Konstanz | Bischofsvilla
Verwaltung: Otto-Adam-Str.5, 78467 Konstanz
Telefon: +49 7531 88-5800 | www.fgz-risc.de

Further information about the conference theme and related topic areas can be found here.

Confirmed keynote speakers of the conference are Whitney Phillips (University of Oregon) and Wolfgang Ullrich (Leipzig).

Please submit an abstract of 250 - 500 words together with a short biographical note. Participants should expect to give presentations of 20 - 25 minutes, with an additional 20 minutes for Q&A. Travel stipends are available. The conference language is English.

Please submit the abstracts to risc-ambiguity-conf(at)uni-konstanz.de by February 28, 2026.

Organizing Committee:
Ines Grau, Meike Hein, Steffen Krämer, Kathrin Leipold, Isabell Otto