Call for Papers - Investigating Battlestar Galactica:
Flesh, Spirit, and Steel
Since its inception as a miniseries in 2003,
Battlestar Galactica has been a critical and popular
science fiction success, garnering media attention and
honors such as the prestigious Peabody Award and
accolades from the American Film Institute (AFI). The
series' storytelling, technical craft, and acting have
created a dense, powerful text rich for
interpretation.
This is a call for papers for an anthology,
Investigating Battlestar Galactica: Flesh, Spirit, and
Steel, published by IB Tauris Books, and to be edited
by Roz Kaveney and Jennifer Stoy. Its target audience
is a "smart pop" or basic undergraduate audience.
Theory-driven papers are welcome; however, the format
is aimed at a less footnoted/endnoted style with more
close reading and textual-based criticism.
We are looking for paper proposals, as essays may be
given leeway to include season four in early 2008. The
proposal should be 250-750 words, and emailed to both
editors (contact information and due dates listed
below).
Topics in particular that the editors would like to
see abstracts on:
+ The series' place in televisual SF history, both in
relation to its own original incarnation, to the
various SF subgenres it engages with, including
military SF, the engagement of SF with religion and
the sublime, and SF's games with identity and "what it
means to be human."
+ Relatedly, the reversal of prototypical genre
tropes; ie, the agency of women in the series, Lee
Adama's place as semi-"ornament" for far more active
female characters, Bill Adama's sentimentality
compared to Laura Roslin's ruthless realpolitik, and
so forth.
+ The series as contemporary political allegory, and
its commentary on American political topics such as
the Iraq War, the War on Terror, 9/11, et cetera.
+ The use of allegory and referentiality in the series
in general, or a particular use of referentiality that
catches the essayist's eye (for example, the use of
Mormon/LDS theology, the musical references from "our"
world, et alia.)
+ Feminist readings of many of the series' themes and
leitmotifs, such as "downloading."
+ The online fandom surrounding the series; in
particular, the relative prominence of female/female
slash versus male/male.
+ Various character-focused essay from theoretical
points of view; a gender studies essay on the
character of Starbuck would most certainly be welcome.
Please note these topics are only suggestions, and
that the editors will accept abstracts/proposals on
other subjects relating to the reimagined Galactica.
Submit your proposal/abstract, along with biographical
information, to Roz Kaveney ([log in to unmask])
and Jennifer Stoy ([log in to unmask]) by
OCTOBER 10, 2007. Responses will be given by November
1, 2007.
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