We are inviting abstracts for papers to be presented at a conference on the Cold War and Entertainment Television, to be held at the University of Paris 8, on June 5-7, 2014.
An essential dimension of the Cold War took place in the realm of ideas and culture. A great deal of work, for example, has been done on cinema, especially with regard to the United States although other nations, both East and West, have received increasing attention. But with certain noteworthy exceptions (primarily in the areas of science fiction and espionage series) relatively little has been done on this subject in relation to television. Yet, television was a technology and popular cultural form that emerged during the Cold War.
This project hopes to rectify that absence by providing a forum for examining the impact of the Cold War on entertainment television. We intend to underline the comparative aspect by studying programs from both blocs – without forgetting, of course, the outsize impact of American television
We would welcome submissions that treat a variety of regions and genres, including (but not limited to) the following topics:
· Analyses of the reflection of the Cold War in particular genres
· A close reading of particular episodes or series
· The presentation of the “other side,” both its elites and the lives of ordinary citizens
· Depictions of social class and ideologies in Cold War entertainment television
· The uses of race and gender in depictions of the “other side” or in celebrations of one’s own side
· Exporting television series to other cultures
· How audiences received and used a variety of Cold War television series
· The space race, the military industrial complex, the national security state, and nuclear weapons in Cold War television
· Cold War discourses in children’s television
· The impact of censorship, whether official or self-imposed
· Commercials, public service announcements, documentaries, and Cold War subtexts
· Changes in Cold War discourses in entertainment television through 1991
The languages of the conference will be English and French, and we anticipate that the conference proceedings will be published in English.
Please email a 250-word proposal, a one-page c.v., and contact information to Prof. Lori Maguire at coldwartv@gmail.com by Sept. 15, 2013. Notification of accepted proposals will be made by Oct. 15, 2013.
Email inquiries are preferred, especially over the summer, to coldwartv@gmail.com
Organizing committee: Prof. Lori MAGUIRE (Département d’Etudes des Pays Anglophones, Université de Paris 8, St. Denis, France); Dr. Janice LIEDL (Dept. of History, Laurentian University, Canada); Dr. Joseph DAROWSKI (Dept. of English, Brigham Young University Idaho); Dr. Nancy REAGIN (Dept. of Women’s and Gender Studies, Pace University, New York); Dr; André FILLER (Département d’Etudes Slaves, Université de Paris 8, St Denis, France) ; Prof. Cécile VAISSIÉ (Département de Russe, Université de Rennes II, France)
The CFP and other details can also be found in English and French here:
The Fan Studies Network 
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