Media Fields Journal Issue 5 “Memory, Space and Media”

Call for Submissions
Media Fields Journal Issue 5: Memory, Space, and Media

Submission Deadline: November 15, 2011

Trends towards spatial analysis and memory studies have both emerged as vibrant and booming fields of inquiry in the humanities. In this special issue, we ask what is to be gained at the intersection of memory studies, spatial studies and media studies? What role does disciplinary specificity have to play in the conjunction of these fields? What are other ways to examine memory and space outside a paradigm of trauma?

Some scholars have begun recently to productively explore the intersection of these areas. In Remembering: A Phenomenological Study, Edward S. Casey writes that the “intimate relationship between memory and place is realized…through the lived body.” This bodily memory and its relationship to lived places can be seen in recent documentary films such as Patricio Guzmán’s Nostalgia for the Light, where Miguel Lawner, an architect and former prisoner under Pinochet’s regime, reenacts the way he was able to mnemonically store the dimensions of the concentration camp where he was imprisoned by counting his paces around his cell. How can media objects help us approach these intersections between the memory of the body and place? How is embodied memory represented? What bodies show the markings of memory?

We see a unique opportunity in film and media objects to explore the possibilities of mapping memory onto place. Giuliana Bruno, in her book Atlas of Emotion, itself an exercise in mapping, locates film in a genealogy that includes the mnemonic devices that assign memories a place in an imagined architectural edifice. Aside from film, other media projects such as works produced by The Labyrinth Project, or Philip Mallory Jones’ immersive narratives using Second Life have also experimented with mapping memory. How else might memory be mapped? What does a media map of memories provide to the theorization of memory?

Susannah Radstone highlights three key concerns guiding memory studies: “its urgent and committed engagement with varied instances of contemporary and historical violence, its close ties with questions of identity—and, relatedly, with identity politics—and its bridging of the domains of the personal and public, the individual and the social.” What happens when these concerns are mapped on to the lived experience of space? How does a spatial approach call in to question our accepted notions concerning identity, violence and the individual and the social?

We are particularly interested in works that bring space and memory together in an analysis of media texts, objects, and spaces, as well as essays that interrogate the idea that these notions are suitable bedfellows. We welcome submissions that engage with the above themes in any way. Other questions that might guide articles, art projects, and interviews include:

What are the failings of memory and spatial studies?

How is memory raced in space?

How do these questions speak to the disciplines of race and ethnic studies, women’s and feminist studies and LGBTQ studies?

Does memory offer any insights for issues of environmentalism and environmental justice?

How are some spaces forgotten in film and media texts?

Can memory studies be divorced from considerations of traumatic events?

What traumas get represented in films and media texts and which remain invisible?

How does a community’s experience of a place (conceived broadly to include a region or a less-conventional place such as an online community) influence their perception of time?

How do memories once narrativized as fiction or non-fiction take place?

How do media factor in the commemoration or marking of spaces of suffering?

What do embodied memory and the senses, discursification of the environment, or futurity have to tell us about nostalgia?

We seek essays of 1500–2500 words, digital art projects, and interviews (text, audio, or video) exploring possible relations between memory, space, and media.

Please review the detailed submission guidelines at: http://www.mediafieldsjournal.org/guidelines/

Feel free to contact issue co-editors Jade Petermon and David Gray with questions or proposals. E-mail all submissions and inquiries to submissions@mediafieldsjournal.org.

Submission Deadline: November 15, 2011

 

Stardom and Fandom, SW/TX PCA/ACA (12/1/11; 2/8-11/12)

The Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference will be held on February 8-11, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We invite paper or panel proposals on any aspect of stardom or fandom.

Proposal submission deadline: December 1, 2011. (Please see below)

Any and all topics will be considered, although we especially encourage proposals on:

The reciprocal relationship between stars and fans
Impact of celebrity and fame on identity construction, reconstruction and sense of self
Reality television and the changing definition of ‘stardom’
The impact of social media on celebrity/fan interaction
Children and stardom (Little Rascals to Toddlers and Tiaras)
Celebrity/fame addiction as cultural change
The intersection of stardom and fandom in virtual and physical spaces
Celebrity and the construction of persona
Pedagogical approaches to teaching stardom and fandom
Straddling the stardom/fandom line: big name fans, bloggers and aca-fans
Anti-fans and ‘haters’
Fan shame and fame shame
Gendered constructions of stars and fans

If you have an idea that is not listed, please suggest the new topic. We encourage submissions from multiple perspectives and disciplines. Submit 250 word paper or 500 word panel proposals to: http://conference2012.swtxpca.org/ (Choose the area “Special Topics – Stardom and Fandom.”)

Direct questions to: Lynn Zubernis, lzubernis@wcupa.edu

 

Computer Culture Area: SW/TX PCA/ACA Conference February 8-11, 2012. Proposal Deadline December 1, 2011

Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association

February 8-11, 2012

Albuquerque, New Mexico

http://www.swtxpca.org
Proposal submission deadline: December 1, 2011

Conference hotel: Hyatt Regency Hotel & Conference Center

330 Tijeras Ave NW
Albuquerque, NM 87102

Phone: +1 505 842 1234

Computer Culture: Call for Papers
We are beginning to form panels for the area of computer culture, with possible topics in blogging; Twitter; social networks; computers and pedagogy; Web site analysis and design; viral video; news and politics; terrorism; online literary journals; online security issues; spam, scams, and hoaxes; live feeds; theories of computer culture; and others.

Scholars, teachers, professionals, artists and others interested in computer culture are encouraged to participate. Graduate students are also particularly welcome with award opportunities for best graduate papers.

If you wish to form your own panel, I would be glad to facilitate your needs. Please pass along this call to friends and colleagues.

For early consideration, submit 100-200 word abstracts and proposals for panels by 11 November 2011 to the conference electronic submission system which can be found at: http://conference2012.swtxpca.org/

For any questions regarding the Computer Culture Area, feel free to contact
Dr. Andrew Chen ( andrewsw@gmail.com ) and Dr. Joseph Chaney ( jchaney@iusb.edu )
Co-Chairs, Computer Culture Area
http://www.swtxpca.org

 

The Velvet Light Trap #70 – Stocks, Screens, and Servers: The Materiality of Media DEADLINE EXTENDED

As culture becomes increasingly digitized—from downloading and streaming videos and music to digital film production and cloud computing—arguments for the “dematerialization” of media are becoming commonplace. However, media have always been, and remain, embedded in and structured by material objects, networks, and practices that constrain their uses and meanings. Any cultural artifact bears traces and consequences of the material conditions of its production, distribution, and reception, whether this be a result of the size and weight of the camera that shot a film’s images, the geography of the shipping or cable network through which it was transported or transmitted, or the spaces occupied by physical record or DVD collections. Even ostensibly “dematerialized” digital media find material existence in hard disks, server farms, and wires—as well as in the proliferation of new interface devices, from smart phones to iPads.

The perception of the diminished materiality of media presents us with an opportunity to reconsider (and reaffirm) the material dimensions of media, both in terms of the present moment and from an historical perspective. To this end, The Velvet Light Trap seeks articles considering the implications of the materiality of media, welcoming studies of film, broadcasting, and new media from a range of approaches—including historical, theoretical, ethnographic, and/or textual.

Potential areas of inquiry include (but are by no means limited to):

-the effects of technological and other material factors on film/media craft practices and style
-screen technologies and other exhibition devices, old and new
-issues in the political economy of the manufacture and disposal of media objects and devices (e.g., labor conditions and e-waste)
-logics and operations of physical networks of distribution and transmission
-media infrastructures and cultural geography
-physical interactivity with media interfaces
-the imitation of material objects in the digital realm (e.g., album art and liner notes)
-the resurgence of physical formats once presumed ‘dead’ (e.g., vinyl, cassette tapes)
-material dimensions of reception and fandom (e.g., collecting, scrapbooking)
-the aestheticization of media commodities
-materiality, memory, and nostalgia
-material media objects, cultural capital, and taste
-material collections, archiving, and media historiography
-the exploration of materiality by particular artists and/or texts,
materiality and avant-garde cinema
-media materiality and policy.

Submissions should be between 6,000 and 7,500 words (approximately 20-25 pages double-spaced), in MLA style. Please submit one electronic copy of the paper, along with a one-page abstract, saved as a Word .doc file; remove any identifying information so that the submission is suitable for anonymous review. The journal’s Editorial Board will referee all submissions. Send electronic manuscripts and/or any questions to thevelvetlighttrap@gmail.com. All submissions are due October 15, 2011.

The Velvet Light Trap is an academic, peer-reviewed journal of film, television, and new media studies. Graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Texas-Austin alternately coordinate issues. The Editorial Advisory Board includes such notable scholars as Richard Allen, Henry Benshoff, Peter Bloom, Mia Consalvo, David Desser, Radhika Gajjala, Sean Griffin, Darrell Hamamoto, Joan Hawkins, Barbara Klinger, Jon Kraszewski, Joe McElhaney, Diane Negra, Michael Newman, Alisa Perren, Aswin Punathambekar, Yeidy Rivero, Beretta Smith-Shomade, and Michael Williams.

JOBEM: “Socially-Mediated Publicness”

Guest Editors: Nancy Baym (University of Kansas), danah boyd (Microsoft Research)

Editor: Zizi Papacharissi

Social media call into question conventional understandings of what it means to “be public,” what it means to be “in a public,” and even the meaning of “public” itself. New types of publics are emerging because of the technological affordances of social media and individuals may be more visible than ever before, whether they seek this or not. This special issue will explore these issues.

We seek scholarship from an array of theoretical and methodological perspectives that critically examines how public life is reconfigured because of or in relation to social media.  We welcome articles from diverse fields, including media studies, communication, anthropology, sociology, political theory, critical theory, etc.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

·        Processes and practices of building and living in online publics

·        How new technologies of publicness affect celebrities, artists, musicians, and other creators

·        How mediated publics challenge social, political, and economic assumptions

·        The meaning of concepts such as “audience” and “listening” in mediated public spaces

·        How counterpublics and intimate publics are reshaped by technology

·        The relationships between being public and being part of a public

·        Degrees, boundaries, and scales of technologically-mediated publicness

·        How new types of publicness reconfigure identity and race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and/or nationality

In order to be more public, this special issue of JOBEM will be published as an open-access issue.  All articles will be available online at the point of publication. The anticipated publication date for this issue is September 2012.

Manuscripts should conform to the guidelines of the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (www.beaweb.org/jobem/info.html).

By December 12, 2011, you should send a title, abstract, and list of 5 potential reviewers to jobem.publicness@gmail.com to help us streamline the peer review process.

Game Studies Area PCA/ACA

The Game Studies area of the National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference invites proposals for papers, panels and completed papers on games and game studies for the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference to be held Wednesday, April 11, through Saturday, April 14, 2012, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bosco-boston-marriott-copley-place/ in Boston, MA.