Dear all,
A new issue, Volume 2, Issue 1, of the Journal of Fandom Studies has now been published. This is a special issue focusing on the anniversary of Textual Poachers by Henry Jenkins. The table of contents are as follows:
Deletion Special Episode CFP Doctor Who: “…definitely a madman with a box!”
Deletion, the open access online forum in science fiction studies, is calling fororiginal contributions for a special themed ‘episode’ on Doctor Who. Following the 50th anniversary celebrations the return of the Time Lord later this year. What new directions are possible for a series with such history, production demands and passionate fandom?
Deletion invites contributions from science, philosophy and all other approaches that consider the visual alongside the aural and the aesthetic, to critically engage with the series’ future, past and present and to forge new perspectives for the study of this iconic SF imaginarium. We aim to reflect a diversity of approaches and seek contributions that offer new critical dimensions and concepts to engage with the series, its themes and concepts, its cultural importance and its impact, directions and meaning. Deletion encourages the submission of non-standard submissions such as creative pieces.
Contributions should be between 1200 -1500 words, but can also take the form of 2-3 minute podcasts, video blogs, image galleries, and other media.
Submission are Due May 30, 2014.
Topics may include but are not limited to:
Death and Life and Regeneration
Reimagining Time and Space: multi-dimensional perspectives and places
Conservation and environmentalism restarting the universe
Mental health and time travel
Companion; bodies, genders, races and people
Technology; and non-technology technology
Whovians and fan cultures, commodities, cosplay, crafts, economies, and relations
Genre policing: science fiction, fantasy or space opera?
Time Lords: politics, power, society, order and chaos,
New Who and Old Who: transmedia, paratextual industries and innovation
Please contact the editors for the episode Christopher Moore (chrism@uow.edu.au) or Daniel Lewis (djle@deakin.edu.au) for further information.
Call For Papers/V. 2, N. 3/ IJCLTS 2.3/ June, 2014
INDIAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND TRANSLATION STUDIES
ISSN: 2321-8274
VOLUME: II, NUMBER: III
CALL FOR PAPERS
STARDOM AND CELEBRITY IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA
Issue Editor- Rakesh Ramamoorthy
Asst. Professor of English, St.John’s College.
LAST DATE OF SUBMISSION: 31st May, 2014
Shahrukh Khan, Anna Hazare, M.S. Dhoni, Shiney Ahuja, A.R. Rahman, M.S. Subbalekshmi, Saina Nehwal, Arundhati Roy, Sanjay Dutt, Vava Suresh…….
A random list of famous Indians such as the one given above is enough to remind one of the wide range of celebrities who are in the limelight in contemporary India. They range from film stars to politicians, from sport stars to activists, from darlings of the masses to widely hated ‘villains’, from pan-Indian and global celebrities to stars whose fame exists within specific regions.
The forthcoming issue of IJCLTS will seek to decode the politics of stardom in post-1990s India. The informing assumption is that there is no single culture of celebrity and the issue will endeavor to highlight the co-existence of multiple domains of celebrity culture in India. We invite scholars all over the world to submit critical essays that are analytic and that are informed by the extant work on celebrity studies. The areas of interest include but are not limited to:
Ø Theorizing the Indian celebrity
Ø The global circulation of Indian celebrities such as Shahrukh Khan, A.R. Rahman etc.
Ø The apparatuses of the Celebrity Industry in India: The media (magazines, websites, TV shows), the events (Film launches), product tie-ins etc.
Ø The conventional domains of stardom: Authors, Filmstars, Sports Stars etc.
Ø Crime and Celebrity: Criminals and victims, especially the fame (or notoriety) accrued in conjunction with rape cases.
Ø The public intellectual/activist as celebrity.
Ø Fandom: Study of Fan identities across various domains of celebrities, including the study of Fan Clubs (online as well as ‘real life’)
The pertinent master categories of India studies – class, caste, gender and region – could inform the prospective contributions. In keeping with the overall scope of the journal, we would especially welcome comparatist approaches to celebrity studies and would welcome works that focus on regional language representations and analysis of celebrities whose fame circulates within certain regions.
We invite original, unpublished and innovative work from across the disciplines and across the world. The extent of the essays should be between 3000-5000 words. We also welcome shorter but rigorously analytic pieces (500-1500 words) whose scope is less extensive than that of an essay but which raises a pertinent point regarding celebrity culture. Besides the articles on above said topics we inviteTRANSLATIONS, INTERVIEWS, and BOOK REVIEWS etc. on any area. All submissions should adhere to the MLA 7th edition style sheet, failing which they would be rejected without any notice the quality of the work notwithstanding. Paper can be sent to ijclts2013@gmail.com by 31st May 2014. No paper will be accepted after the dead line. For further enquiries please feel free to contact the issue editor (rakeshmoorthy@gmail.com) or the editors. For more details you can visit our site mentioned below: https://sites.google.com/site/indjournalofclts/announcements
I am soliciting abstracts by scholars from all disciplines, including scholar-fans and fan-scholars, to be considered for inclusion in an edited collection on Bruce Springsteen, which will eventually be submitted to Routledge’s Studies in Popular Music series. The editor of this series has expressed an interest in seeing a Springsteen collection proposal.
In the middle of Bruce Springsteen’s 2012 Wrecking Ball tour promotional interview with the Paris media, one reporter observed, “so many people these past couple years look to you for your interpretation of events… . Look at us: when we were waiting for you earlier, so many people care about what you think, and what you feel about what is happening in the world.”
For many around the globe, Springsteen has become a voice of the everyday citizen in a political and social climate where such voices are marginalized. He has received a Kennedy Center Honor and with Peter Seeger sang before millions after Barack Obama was elected President for the first time. He has actively located his work within the lineage of Woody Guthrie and Seeger, reinforcing the necessity of contemporary folk music. In his SXSW Keynote he also asserted the importance of early rock and roll on his work, exclaiming, “Listen up, youngsters: this is how successful theft is accomplished!” In other places, he has discussed the significant influence of film and short stories, often describing his records as cinematic and looking for sounds that would evoke certain images. A new community of musicians, such as Tom Morello, Mumford and Sons, the Hold Steady, and Arcade Fire, has looked to him as a guide. In his most recent albums, Springsteen remixes work in the public domain and covers lesser known artists whose work speaks in a voice similar to his own. He has become quite adept at composing songs that respond to immediate contemporary events, such as “American Skin (41 Shots)” and “How Can a Good Man Stand Such Times and Live.” As performers, Springsteen and the E Street Band are incomparable, with shows lasting over 3 hours without a break.
Despite his contemporary appeal, Springsteen also seems to be rooted in the traditional relationship between label and artist. His recent move to release live versions of his shows soon after the events, while seemingly progressive, reinforces artist- and label-centric publishing with the possibility of refocusing fans on official bootlegs rather than those they compose themselves. Yet, Springsteen doesn’t seem to mind—and rather enjoys—fans recording his concerts with their phones and uploading them to YouTube. He is genuinely appreciative of the efforts fans go through to see his shows and has fun with their sign requests. The decades-long conversation he has been having with his fans (and fans with other fans) has, like all conversations, been made more complex as a result of convergent media.
Within this context has been a steady stream of writing on Springsteen, including several recent biographies, collections of interviews, international symposia, and the upcoming first issue of an academic journal dedicated to Springsteen.
The Routledge Studies in Popular Music series is described as a “home for cutting-edge, upper-level scholarly studies and edited collections covering Popular Music. Considering music performance, theory, and culture alongside topics such as gender, race, celebrity, fandom, tourism, fashion, and technology, titles are characterized by dynamic interventions into established subjects and innovative studies on emerging topics.”
Possible subjects might include but are certainly not limited to:
Please submit a 500 – 750 word abstract and 200-word biographical note that to Bill Wolff, Associate Professor of Writing Arts, Rowan University, at wolffspringsteencollection@gmail.com by May 18, 2014. Indicate the anticipated word length of your chapter, between 3000 and 6000 words. Biographical note should in part describe your qualifications for writing your article. Authors will be notified of acceptance by June 30, 2014. Once abstracts have been accepted, a proposal will be submitted to Routledge. If accepted, chapters will be due in late 2014. All chapters will receive blind review.
Now accepting abstracts to be considered for a new book Fan Phenomena: The Godfather from Intellect Press. This title will be part of the latest series of Fan Phenomena books, which aim to explore and decode the fascination we have with what constitutes an iconic or cultish phenomenon and how a particular person, TV show or film infiltrates its way into the public consciousness.
The Godfather (Fan Phenomena) title will examine the film’s fan culture, its role as an enduring critical and commercial success, its influence on American and international cinema, as well as other areas of influence and social impact. Subjects are to be addressed in a thoughtful and accessible manner aimed at both fans and those interested in the filmic, cultural and social aspects of The Godfather and its sequels.
Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:
* the film’s success as both critical and popular artifact
* influence on television and long-form televisual narratives
* quality film sequels
* the American Dream
* perceptions of Italian Americans
* food
* literature and (fan) fiction
* influence on mobster and gangsta culture
* philosophy and business ethics
* online tributes and video games
* Italian Cinema
* music and music culture
Ten essays will be selected and published.
Abstracts should be 300 words long. Please include a CV or resume with your abstract. Abstracts due March 31, 2014. Final chapters of 3,000-3,500 words will be due July 31, 2014. Please direct all questions and submissions to editor Arthur Lizie alizie@bridgew.edu
Thematic Issue: Comic Book Women
This special issue of the Journal of Fandom Studies responds to the increasing interest in representations of women in comic books and the general explosion of Comic Studies over the last decade.
Historically, the best known comic book heroes have been men, reflecting a general dismissal of, and bias against, women within the genre. However, fan communities throughout the world have rebelled against this tradition.
Wonder Woman has never gone out of style, with fans such as Gloria Steinem from the early years of the comic as well as later fans introduced to the heroine through the Lynda Carter television show or her most recent comic book appearances. Some of Wonder Woman’s peers from the 1940s, such as Miss Fury and Nelvana of the Northern Lights, have recently reemerged in print due to crowdfunding efforts. Interest in such female comic book characters is not purely nostalgic, instead speaking to the ways in which fans have reinterpreted their cultural relevancy. In addition, new fan communities are responsible for the revival of Ms. Marvel, who will now appear as a Muslim teenager. She will be the first comic book character to represent contemporary intersections of gender, ethnicity, and religion.
In spite of these exciting cultural trends, there remains little scholarly research about fan responses to comic book women.
Existing research tends to focus upon gender stereotypes within texts and has not addressed what these heroines have represented to actual fans, both past and present.
We welcome papers representing a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• the history, development, and significance of the fan communities of comic book women
• the role of new media in creating, sustaining, or reimagining these fan communities
• fan activities and cultural practices
• fan discourses
• the commodification and/or cultural production/destruction of fan communities
• fan reactions or fan community formations related to issues of class, race, gender, or sexual orientation
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 1 March 2014.
Please submit an Abstract (250 words maximum) and a short biography (50 words maximum)
Deadline for submission of full papers: 15 September 2014.
Please submit a full paper (6,000-9,000 words, including references and tables).
Please send abstracts and full papers to: Dr. Caryn E. Neumann (neumance@miamioh.edu) and Dr. Sharon Zechowski (zechows@miamioh.edu)
For any further queries, please write to:
Dr. Caryn E. Neumann (neumance@miamioh.edu), Lecturer, Dept of Integrative Studies and Affiliate, Dept of History, Miami University of Ohio
OR
Dr. Sharon Zechowski (zechows@miamioh.edu), Visiting Assistant Professor, Dept of Communication, Miami University of Ohio
Call for Chapters: Media Ethics, Edited Collection
Editors:
Paul Booth, DePaul University
Amber Davisson, DePaul University
Among readers as well as teachers and students, there is a strong interest in understanding the complex ethical issues raised by seemingly omnipresent media forces. We invite submissions for an edited collection that deals broadly with current issues in contemporary media ethics. The book will deal with ethical issues facing both media producers and consumers. We welcome essays that discuss ethical issues facing media professionals in both print and broadcast journalism, advertising, public relations, and entertainment. These essays may deal with issues raised by emerging technologies, convergence media, or more established mass media outlets. Beyond the discussion of ethical issues facing media professionals, we are also invite essays that address private media consumption and production practices. We are interested in both classical and contemporary philosophical approaches to media ethics.
Essays may explore, but are certainly not limited to, the following topics:
Please submit proposals of 300-500 words with a brief biographical statement and contact information via email attachment to Paul Booth and Amber Davisson at adavisso@depaul.edu no later than March 30th 2014. Notice of acceptance will be sent out by May 2014 and completed essays accepted for publication will be due in September 2014.
Queer Fan Cultures in Greater China, edited collection
Editors:
Maud Lavin, School of the Art Institute of Chicago;
Ling Yang, Xiamen University;
Jing Zhao, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Contact Email: queerfandom2014@yahoo.com
Timeline:
Proposal due May 30, 2014 (1000-1500 words);
Acceptance Notification by July 30, 2014;
Final Submission due Dec 30, 2014 (5000-8500 words)
CALL:
Queer fandom nowadays has become a global phenomenon. It helps exemplify the complexities, anxieties, conflicts, and negotiations within and surrounding the collision of global, national, and regional cultures. Some of its subdivided fields, such as Western slash and Japanese Boys’ Love (BL), have received significant academic attention since 1980s (e.g., Aoyama, 1988; Bacon-Smith 1992; Buckley 1991; Fujimoto 1991; Jenkins 1992; Kinsella 1998; Matsui 1993; Penley 1992; Russ 1985). Especially in recent years, the distributions and interpretations of BL across language and geographical boundaries, the distinctiveness and similarities between BL and slash genres, the pornographic aspect of BL, slash, and other forms of queer fannish productions have been emphasized in a body of scholarly literature worldwide (e.g., Brienza 2009; Chao 2013; Galbraith 2011; Glasspool 2013; Isaksson 2009; Keft-Kennedy 2008; Levi 2009; Levi & McHarry & Pagliassotti 2010; Martin 2012; McLelland 2000; Meyer 2013; Mizoguchi 2008; Nagaike 2003; Nagaike 2009; Pagliassotti 2009; Penley 1991; Perper & Cornog 2002; Sabucco 2003; Shamoon 2012; Silvio 2011; Welker 2006; Wood 2006; Wood 2013; Zanghellini 2009).
Meanwhile, the blooming of Chinese queer fandoms in the past two decades has also offered rich sites of queer representations of gender and sexuality. Greatly shaped by Chinese traditional romantic literature, Japanese BL, and Western slash cultures (Feng 2009; Xu & Yang 2013; Yang & Bao 2012; Zheng 2009), contemporary Chinese queer fan cultures have been enjoying a growing diversity. The objects Chinese fans queerly fantasize about are by no means limited to local Chinese celebrities, nor to self-identified queer celebrities. The proliferation of cross-regional, cross-cultural, and transnational Chinese queer fandoms dedicated to androgynous celebrities, queer media, and popular culture is also hard to ignore. Yet, research explicating the intricacies of gender identities, sexual desires, regional differences, national belongings, and global queer cultural convergence and hybridization within Chinese queer fandoms is still far from adequate.
To fill this research gap, this edited collection stresses the struggles, potentials, and dynamics of queerness unveiled within a variety of the fannish contexts of Greater China. Bearing on the intersecting of global cultures studies, post-colonial studies, modern queer theory, and media audience research, we view queerness as a nonstraight spectatorial position (Doty 1993; Kohnen 2008) and/or a productive space (Munoz 1999). These expansive interests have also renegotiated certain online relations along homosocial lines, at times blurring, at times contesting boundaries between fans who define themselves as queers and those who do not. Accordingly, we aim to examine Chinese queer fandom as a grassroots cultural palimpsest that reconfigure, contest against, trespass, and/or overturn the dominant scripts of identity and subjectivity.
We seek chapter contributions that elaborate the cultural specificities, significances, transformativity, hybridity, historicity, and futurity epitomized by Chinese queer fan cultures. We are especially keen to receive manuscripts that consider the queer dimensions of gender, sexuality, desire, and fantasy from a wide range of Chinese temporal and geographical settings. We also very welcome submissions that employ interdisciplinary and/or comparative approaches.
Manuscript topics may include but are not limited to:
—Genders and Sexualities in Chinese Boys’ Love/Slash and Girls’ Love/Femslash Fandoms
—Queerness and Performativity in Chinese Fandoms Dedicated to Anime and Cosplay/Role-Play/Life-Play
—Chinese Queer Readings of Media, Popular Culture, and Celebrities Worldwide
—Chinese Queer Fans’ Gender- and Sexuality-Related Identities, Agencies, Subjectivities, Fantasies, Desires, Connections, and Relationships within Fan Communities
—Racial Representation, Distant Cultural Construction, and Non-Chinese Imagination in Chinese Queer Fan Cultures
—The Interrelationship and Interaction between Chinese Queer Fandoms, Queer Organizations, Queer Movements, Queer Politics, and Queer Grassroots Publics and Communities
—Queer, Pornographic Representations of Male/Female Sexualities in Chinese Queer Fandoms
—The Transgressiveness, Multivalence, and Constructedness of Masculinities and Femininities in Chinese Fan-Made Queer Productions
—Violence, Abuse, and Aggressiveness in Chinese Fan-Made Queer Productions
—The Interplay of the Boom of Boys’ Love/Slash and/or Girls’ Love/Femslash Industries, Fans’ Passions for Queering and Queerness, and the Commercialization of and Censorship on Queer Media in Greater China
—Imaginaries Related to Transgender Issues that Intersect with Chinese Queer Fan Practices
—Rethinkings of Fandom and Homosociality Related to Broadly Defined Chinese Queer Fan Practices
Note:
We are only interested in academic analytic papers grounded in certain critical/theoretical perspectives that have NOT been published elsewhere.
To submit chapter proposal submissions for consideration, please send a 1000- to 1500-word abstract (outlining the topic, methods, and fan-related materials used) with working bibliography and a CV to the book editors at queerfandom2014@yahoo.com by May 30th, 2014.
Acceptance will be handled on a rolling basis till the end of July, 2014. Early submissions are strongly encouraged.
Completed, well-polished papers from accepted contributors should run between 5,000 to 8,500 words and are expected before the end of December, 2014.
Digital Icons, a journal of studies in Russian, Eurasian and Central European new media has just published an interesting special issue on Digital Fandom and Media Convergence.
The issue can be read online here:
http://www.digitalicons.org/issue10/
and the table of contents is:
Reviewed by Evelyn Wan. (in English)
Reviewed by Ksenia Prasolova. (in English)
Fan Phenomena: Rocky Horror Picture Show
Editor, Marisa C. Hayes
Now accepting abstracts to be considered for a new book Fan Phenomena: The Rocky Horror Picture Show from Intellect Press. This title will be part of the latest series of Fan Phenomena books, which aim to explore and decode the fascination we have with what constitutes an iconic or cultish phenomenon and how a particular person, TV show or film infiltrates its way into the public consciousness.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Fan Phenomena) title will examine the film’s fan culture, its essential role in creating the midnight movie, audience participation, and cult film cultures, as well as other areas of influence and social impact. Subjects are to be addressed in a thoughtful and accessible manner aimed at both fans and those interested in the cultural and social aspects of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to:
– the film’s role in creating a culture of the midnight movie, audience participation, and the cult film circuit
-influence of developing the pastiche tribute film (for its homage to B-Grade Sci Fi, Hammer horror, early 20th century musicals, pulp, comics, etc.)
-queer theory
-sexual liberation
-glam rock aesthetics/drag style
-hedonism
-language and linguistics explorations pertaining to the creative use of dialogue and audience call and response during the film
-diverse aspects of fan art, fan tributes, and fan culture
-economics of fan culture, including creation of low budget cult classic and/or how a cult subject becomes a franchise (sequels, stage revivals, etc.)
Ten essays will be selected and published within the following broad section categories: Fashion, Fan Media, Language, Economics, Virtual, Influence, Philosophies, Character/Characterization.
Abstracts should be 300 words long. Please include a CV or resume with your abstract. Abstracts due March 3, 2014. Final chapters of 3,000-3,500 words will be due July 15, 2014. Please direct all questions and submissions to editor Marisa Hayes: marisa@videodansebourgogne.com
The Fan Studies Network 