Dear Meccsa colleagues,
[[Apologies in advance for any cross-posting]]
EXTENDED DEADLINE, Dec 1 2012 – Call for Papers, "Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism"
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A special issue of the journal will be appearing in 2014, focusing on "Ethical Tensions in Literary Journalism"
Literary journalism has been popularised by writers as diverse as Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Martha Gellhorn, Ryszard Kapuscinski, George Orwell, V.S. Naipaul, Will Self, David Shields and Tom Wolfe. In each generation, writers and critics find ways to value the potential of long-form narrative nonfiction to offer readers an insight and artistry that is commonly assumed to be the preserve of fiction. More recently, memoir and confessional writing and their social networking equivalents have also gained currency, mixing with and borrowing from journalistic forms.
While literary journalism has gained prominence as a distinct genre, however, the ethical issues arising from this specific encounter – between the disciplines of objectivity as a form of verifiable truth, and the subjectivity of personal experience – have become more urgent. The writer working in this form must balance emotional truths and factual accuracy; a covenant with the reader and a responsibility to the story’s subject; a desire for authenticity and an awareness of its limits.
This special issue will explore a range of critical and practice-led approaches to an evolving genre, focusing on areas of ethical tension.
Work can be submitted in TWO formats:
• Informal research essays, 1,000 to 4,000 words
• Scholarly articles, 5,000 to 8,000 words (including refs)
Prospective authors should submit an abstract of approximately 250 words by email to Susan Greenberg ([log in to unmask]) and Julie Wheelwright ([log in to unmask]). A selection of authors will be invited to submit a full paper according to the journal’s Notes for Contributors. Acceptance of the abstract does not guarantee publication, given that all papers will be subjected to peer review.
Possible topics might include:
• The relationship between the observed and the observer: a cross-disciplinary approach to ethical boundaries
• Distinctions between fact, fiction and faction
• Ethnography and the challenges of privacy and cultural sensitivity
• The cultural specificities of literary journalism, as currently theorized
• The potential for an ethical focus to marginalize the political economy of literary journalism
• The impact of blogging and confessional journalism
• The impact of readers’ expectations on writing practice
• Understanding and distinguishing forms of subjectivity
• Uses and misuses of narrative in commercial communication
• The ethics of travel writing as a popular form of narrative nonfiction
• Risks and rewards of the university as a ‘home’ for literary innovation
• Harassment and offensive behaviour in social media
• Writing identity and personae in the digital dimension
• Censoring and self-censorship
TIMELINE:
Deadline for abstracts: 1 December 2012
Deadline for submission of articles: 30 April 2013
Final revised papers due: September 2013
Publication: mid 2014
Susan Greenberg
Senior Lecturer
Department of English & Creative Writing
University of Roehampton
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MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education. Membership is open to all who teach and research these subjects in HE institutions, via either institutional or individual membership. The field includes film and TV production, journalism, radio, photography, creative writing, publishing, interactive media and the web; and it includes higher education for media practice as well as for media studies.
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