> American Visual Cultures: Call for Papers
>
> John Beck (University of Newcastle) and David Holloway
(University of Derby)
> invite proposals for a book of edited essays on American
visual cultures of
> the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
>
> The growth in popularity of the study of visual culture
is clearly indicated
> by recent trends in academic publishing and higher
education curricula. Much
> of the recently published material has placed stress upon
the processes
> through which certain kinds of visual culture (film over
TV, painting over
> photography, for example) are consumed. This stress often
downplays the
> historical conditions in which visual texts are produced,
and the
> multivalent contextual and intertextual relationships
between visual and
> other historical texts.
>
> We invite proposals for essays to be included in a
multidisciplinary
> textbook on the historical dimensions of United States'
visual cultures,
> from the Civil War to the presidency of George Bush jr.
On completion we
> anticipate that the book will offer a broadly
chronological account of
> significant moments, events and debates within American
history, as they
> were represented (overtly or 'unconsciously') in the
visual media of their
> times. The book will be organised around two central
assumptions: firstly,
> that history may be defined as a shifting nexus of
social, political and
> economic tensions in which different social groupings
compete for power and
> authority; and secondly that the form and content of all
visual texts are
> indivisible from the historical periods in which they get
made.
>
> We invite essays that might discuss, indicatively, film,
photography,
> painting, television or visual news media. We would also
be interested in
> considering proposals that discuss other visual cultures,
such as poster
> art, advertising, newspaper cartoons, and so forth.
Indicatively, essays
> might consider specific visual texts, or groups of texts,
within the broad
> contexts of: the rise of monopoly capitalism in the
second half of the
> C19th; the Civil War and Reconstruction; urbanisation and
industrialisation;
> the opening of the West, the closing of the frontier; the
drift toward
> nativism 1880s-1920s; the economic crises of the 1870s-
1890s; Progressivism;
> US intervention in World War One; the suffragette
movement; the first Red
> Scare of 1919-20; prohibition; early Fordism in the
1920s; the Great
> Depression; US involvement in World War Two; the
Fordist 'long boom' of the
> postwar era; McCarthyism and the Red Scare; Cold War
foreign policy; the
> Korean War; the rise of the Sunbelt, and the New West;
the New Left and
> other dissenting cultures of the 1960s; Civil Rights
struggle; Black Power;
> Second-Wave feminism; the Vietnam War; oil crisis and
economic stagnation in
> the 1970s; the emergence of neo-liberal economics,
Reaganism and the New
> Right, the 'culture wars'; the globalizing of American
capital, and the
> shift from a regime of 'Fordist' political economy to a
new regime of
> 'post-Fordism'; post-Cold War 'American' identities.
These suggestions are
> intended to be indicative only, and we leave it to
contributors to set the
> historical frame of reference in which they wish to work.
>
> Proposals of around 500 words may be sent by email to
> [log in to unmask], or by regular mail to:
>
> Dr David Holloway,
> Department of American Studies,
> Humanities Languages and Law,
> University of Derby,
> Kedleston Road,
> Derby DE22 1GB,
> England.
>
> Please mail all proposals to arrive no later than June
30th 2001. Where
> appropriate, contributors are also welcome to submit any
completed essays
> for consideration at this stage.
>
Posted by:
------------------------
Damian Sutton
CINEPHOTO - AN INTERDISCIPLINARY EMAIL LIST FOR SCHOLARLY
DISCUSSION OF CINEMA AND PHOTOGRAPHY
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cinephoto.html
|