An interdisciplinary conference exploring representations of gender and race in magazines will be held Oct. 25-27 at the Africana Studies and Research Center.The conference will look at the role, function and meaning of magazines in the past and present and explore what the future might hold.

Magazines are a fertile space for the expression of social and political philosophies, say conference organizers, serving as important outlets for identity formation, defining what it means to be a part of a particular community, class or generation through image and text.

“Whether we like to admit it or not, we learn about both ourselves and others from popular culture forms like television, films, music and, of course, magazines,” says conference organizer Noliwe Rooks, associate professor of Africana studies. “Across lines of race and geography, historically, magazines were extremely important for women to learn what products they should buy, recipes they should try, clothes they should covet, celebrities they should love (or love to hate) and hairstyles to try.”

Rooks adds that while print magazines today are still important, new digital media platforms such as Tumblr, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, storify and Instagram have expanded the traditional landscape. The conference will consider the impact of new media and technology, broadening the scope of what is traditionally considered a magazine.

The conference will span a wide range of issues, including “Race in Cyberspace: Online Publications, Blogs and Tweets”; Black Women, Fashion and Journalism”; “Engaging Politics Through Magazines”; “Building Bodies and Masculinities in Men’s Magazines”; and “Wearing Race: Orientalism and Exoticism in Fashion Magazines.”

Conference keynote speakers will be Kimberly Foster, founder and editor of the blog For Harriet, and Ellen Garvey of New Jersey City University, author of “The Adman in the Parlor: Magazines and the Gendering of Consumer Culture.”

The Central New York Humanities Corridor, with an award from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is co-sponsoring the event, as is Syracuse University, along with Cornell’s Society for the Humanities, Africana Studies and Research Center, Olin Library, Department of English, Department of Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and the American Studies Program.

Linda B. Glaser is staff writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.