The Fan Studies Network

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:

http://www.ea-anglais.univ-paris8.fr/spip.php?article1231

Transitions is a one-day symposium promoting new research and multi-disciplinary academic study of comics/ comix/ manga/ bande dessinée and other forms of sequential art, now in its fourth year.

Saturday the 26^th of October 2013

School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX

Keynote: Dr. Ann Miller (University of Leicester, joint editor of European Comic Art)

Respondent: Dr. Roger Sabin (Central St. Martins, University of the Arts London)

Transitions is currently the only regular academic comics event based in London, and is part of Comica – The London International Comics Festival.  The symposium offers a platform where different perspectives and methodologies can be brought together and shared.  As an event devoted to promoting new research into comics in all their forms the symposium provides a forum for research from postgraduate students and early career lecturers.

Comics studies occupy a unique multi-disciplinary middle-space, one that encourages cross-disciplinary pollination and a convergence of distinct knowledges: literary and cultural studies, visual arts and media, modern languages, sociology, geography and more. By thinking about comics across different disciplines, we hope to stimulate and provoke debate and to address a wide spectrum of questions, to map new trends and provide a space for dialogue and further collaboration to emerge.

We welcome abstracts for twenty minute papers of 250 – 300 words.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

 International iterations: manga, bande dessinée , fumetti etc. – children’s comics – superheroes – non-fiction comics – the (im)materiality of comics – formalist approaches – cultural histories –adaptation/ remediation – autographics – early comics – comic strips – small press –alternative comics/ underground commix – comics narratologies – political comics – comics and cultural theory – contexts of production and circulation – audiences – comics and the archive – subjectivity in comics – graphic medicine – fan subcultures – comics as historiography – key creators…

Proposals for papers should be sent as Word documents, with a short biography appended. Abstracts should be submitted by the 30th of July 2013 to Hallvard, Tony and Nina at transitions.symposium@gmail.com.

European Fandom and Fan Studies: Localization and Translation
One Day Symposium, 9 November 2013
Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis and
University of Amsterdam Department of Media Studies
Call for Papers
 
 
The increasingly global circulation of media often threatens to obscure local contexts of reception, identification, interpretation, and translation.  This one day symposium at the University of Amsterdam seeks to explore the state of Fan Studies and the variety of Fandoms focused within the social and geographical boundaries of Europe, particularly with regard to processes of localization and translation, broadly interpreted.  Inter-disciplinary papers are invited to explore the nature of the field itself, how different fandoms function within Europe, and how European fan cultures re-interpret, re-imagine, translate, and localize foreign media texts or foreign fan practices.  Potential avenues of exploration may include how Fan Studies is represented, studied, and received within European universities, by funding bodies and publishers.  Papers on fandoms may explore how European (English and non-English speaking) fans of European and non-European objects of fan appreciation participate in fandom, the differences between internet fandoms and local/national/international fan practices, and objects of fan appreciation that originate within Europe.
 
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
 
-Regional fan histories.
-Negotiation between international and local fan infrastructures.
-Local and national adaptation of fan cultures and identities.
-European fans’ impact on international public policy and industry practice.
-Fans’ relationships to national media industries and public policy.
-National and transnational economies within fandom and/or fan studies.
-Crossing national, cultural, and language boundaries in fandom and fan studies.
-Translation, both linguistic and cultural.
-Fans’ local and international languages and economies of desire.
-Framing local European fan objects and cultures within fan studies.
-Processes of translation, adaptation, and localization in European fans’ interaction with global media.
 
 
The symposium is associated with a special issue of the journal of Transformative Works and Cultures tentatively slated for 2015, with full papers due January 1, 2014.

Event Details
The symposium will be held in the center of Amsterdam, easily accessible from Amsterdam international airport.
 
Submission Process
Please send a 300 word abstract along with a short (100 word) biographical note to Anne Kustritz (A.M.Kustritz@uva.nl) or Emma England (E.E.England@uva.nl) by 10 September.

http://celebritystudiesconference.com

The 2^nd Celebrity Studies Journal conference has now been announced!

It will take place at Royal Holloway, London, 19-21 June, 2014.

The conference is organised by James Bennett & Su Holmes and will feature the following Keynote Speakers:

• Richard Dyer (Kings College, University of London)
• Diane Negra (University College Dublin)
• Sean Redmond (Deakin University, Melbourne)
• Mandy Merck (Royal Holloway, University of London)

The conference will be themed around questions of methodology: ‘Approaching celebrity’.

Call for Papers:

We invite abstracts for individual 20minute papers or pre-constituted panels of 3 x 20minute papers that speak to this theme or on any topic in celebrity studies.

We also invite submissions for Pecha Kucha style presentations, either individually or as part of a pre-constituted panel of 3-4 speakers.  click here for more info.

PhD Competition

A travel bursary and fee waiver will be available to the best two abstract submissions (including abstracts for Pecha Kucha presentations).  click here for more info.

Deadline for abstracts: November 4^th, 2013 (250 words, +50 word bio)

Successful abstracts notified by: December 6^th, 2013

Enquiries/abstracts to: celebritystudies@gmail.com
A special issue of the best papers from the conference will be published in Celebrity Studies Journal in 2015. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Method: how to do celebrity studies
• The celebrity studies canon
• The value of fame
• Celebrity and power
• Star and celebrity images
• Pop stardom
• National cinema, international stars
• The TV Personality
• Celebrity and performance
• Digital platforms
• DIY celeb
• Ordinary celebrity
• Austerity and celebrity
• American Quality TV
• Entrepreneurial celebrity
• Celebrity fandom
• Literary celebrity
• Queer celebrity
• The celebrity ambassador
• Fame damage
• Celebrity affect, emotion
• Celebrity and gender
• Anti-celebrity
• The phenomenology of celebrity
• Cult stardom and celebrity
• Charisma and celebrity
• Pathology and celebrity
• Toxic celebrity
• Celebrity and news
• The sexualisation of celebrity
• Celebrity art/artists
• Race, ethnicity and celebrity
• Celebrity and persona
• Porn stars
• Sport and celebrity
• Gaming and celebrity culture
• Political fame
• Celebrity’s right to privacy
• Leveson inquiry and celebrity
• Reality TV
• Neoliberalism and celebrity

Call for Papers

Exploring British Film and Television Stardom Conference

Saturday, 2 November 2013 at Queen Mary, University of London

Supported by Living British Cinema

Keynote speakers: Dr. Melanie Bell (Newcastle University) and

Dr. Andrew Spicer (University of the West of England)

While British cinema and television history are thriving fields of scholarship,the issue of stardom has been insufficiently explored in national terms, and most British star images suggest that the dominant Hollywood model, associated with individualism, glamour, and consumption, sits uneasily in a British cultural context.

A decade after groundbreaking work by Geoffrey Macnab, in Searching for Stars: Stardom and Acting in British Cinema, and Bruce Babington’s British Stars and Stardom: From Alma Taylor to Sean Connery, there are new directions in star studies to consider, including performance, fandom and transnational stardom. Has film stardom now been usurped by celebrity, calling into question Christine Gledhill’s assertion that cinema “still provides the ultimate confirmation of stardom”? Meanwhile, television in this period has been marked by the phenomenon of a wave of British stars, including Hugh Laurie, Dominic West, Idris Elba and Damien Lewis, who have been reimagined in American long-form drama, and by the recent international success of Downton Abbey.

This one-day conference seeks to explore British stardom from historical, cultural, industrial and contemporary perspectives and will be an unprecedented opportunity to study stars in a British context. The conference aims to explore the issues around media stardom and national identity in innovative and challenging ways.  We welcome proposals from established academics, postgraduates, and independent scholars in the field.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

•      Historical perspectives on British stardom (film, television, celebrity)

•      Genre and film stardom

•      Celebrity and British stardom

•      Audiences and fandom

•      Race, gender, class and ethnicity and British stardom

•      The international appeal of British stars

•      Transitions between media for British stars (film, theatre, television, music)

•      British stars abroad

•      Stardom and regional identity

•      Fashion and costume and British stardom

•      Auteurs and British film stars

•      Stardom and industrial contexts

Please submit proposals of no more than 300 words and a brief biography via email to the conference organisers, Adrian Garvey (a.garvey@qmul.ac.uk) and Julie Lobalzo Wright (julielwright1@gmail.com), by 24 June 2013.

The Children and Childhood Studies Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association invites you to participate in the annual MAPACA conference. Papers in this area examine the impact of popular culture on children and childhood, as well as the role of children and young adults as influencers and creators of popular and American culture. Work from the world of Fan Studies would be most welcome in this area!
For this area, Fans need not be children. Adult fans of work that might be considered “for children” are of great interest. We’d love to hear about Bronies, adult fans of superheros, cartoons…

Single papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative formats are welcome. Proposals should take the form of 300-word abstracts. The deadline for submission is Friday, June 14, 2013. This year’s conference will be in Atlantic City, NJ, Nov. 7-9, 2013. For the complete call as well info on how to submit a proposal, please see http://mapaca.net/. Please direct any questions about the Children and Childhood Studies area to area chair Patrick Cox at ptcox@camden.rutgers.edu

MAPACA welcomes proposals on all aspects of popular and American Culture. For a list of MAPACA’s other areas and area chair contact information, visit Subject Areas. Fan Studies work would fit in many of them, and note there is a specific area for Fan Fiction. General questions can be directed to mapaca@mapaca.net

MAPACA is an inclusive professional organization dedicated to the study of popular and American culture in all their multi-disciplinary manifestations. The association is comprised of college and university faculty, independent scholars and artists, and graduate and undergraduate students. It is a regional division of the Popular Culture and American Culture Association, which, in the words of Popular Culture Association founder Ray Browne, is a “multi-disciplinary association interested in new approaches to the expressions, mass media and all other phenomena of everyday life.”