Call for papers for DIVISION SESSIONS for the 2009 Cultural Studies Association

Seventh Annual Cultural Studies Association Conference

Marriott (at the Plaza), Kansas City

April 16-18, 2009

Additional information about the CSA meetings can be found at:

http://www.csaus.pitt.edu/frame_home.htm

Division sessions are guaranteed acceptance for the conference.

Note the specific directions and different due dates for the various divisions.

By Jeff Malpas, Ph.D.

Link to speach

Preface by Arun Tripathi

Essays on Cultural History, Theory and Aesthetics

Edited by Melanie Swalwell and Jason Wilson

“This collection of essays situates the digital gaming phenomenon alongside broader debates in cultural and media studies. Contributors to this volume maintain that computer games are not simply toys, but rather circulate as commodities, new media technologies, and items of visual culture that are embedded in complex social practices. Apart from placing games within longer arcs of cultural history and broader critical debates, the contributors to this volume all adopt a pedagogical and theoretical approach to studying games and gameplay, drawing on the interdisciplinary resources of the humanities and social sciences, particularly new media studies.”

Link to Book Description

Journal Culture, Language and Representation, ISSN: 1697-7750, seeks

contributions for its 2009 and 2010 issues.

The 2009 is an open call for original articles that engage in any relevant area

of cultural analysis: the Arts, literature, film, education, linguistics and

communication, cultural history, anthropology, sociology, etc. Theoretical

discussions as well as empirical analysis of specific cases or texts are

welcome.

The 2010 issue will be devoted to „Popular Culture in the Age of

Globalization‰.

Deadline for submissions:

Articles for the 2009 issue should reach the Editors no later than 30th, October

2008.

Articles for the 2010 issue should reach the Editors before the 15th, September

2009.

For any enquiries, you may contact Jose R. Prado at prado@ang.uji.es

The guidelines for publication can be obtained from the Journal‚s web page:

www.clr.uji.es

Journal Culture, Language and Representation is indexed in the MLA, ABELL, ISOC

(CINDOC), and appears in the LATIN INDEX.

Please send two hard copies and a WORD or RTF document of your completed

manuscript to:

Jose R. Prado

Dept. Estudis Anglesos

Campus Riu Sec

Universitat Jaume I

12071 Castellon

Spain

Liminalities+ 4.1, a special expanded-length issue on the theme of „The City,‰ guest-edited

by Daniel Makagon of DePaul University. This issue includes critical

essays, ethnographies, videos, and performance texts.

http://liminalities.net/4-1/

A materialist turn in the humanities and social sciences has revitalized work in feminism, science and technology studies, critical social theory and phenomenology. Nonetheless, we want to ask what’s at

stake when ‘race’ is grasped from a materialist standpoint? Is the focus on materiality able to track and unravel the manifold neo-racisms of contemporary globalization? Does it supersede the

limitations of social constructionist accounts of race? And could a materialist ontology of race transform and invigorate anti-racist praxis?

http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/category/issues/race-matter/

“Cosmetic surgery is everywhere: we are surrounded by altered, enhanced, skinny and stretched celebrities, in a hyped media culture that focuses increasingly on the body beautiful. Once only associated with the rich and famous, cosmetic surgery is now widely available, advertised in magazines, doctors’ surgeries, and even on television. In some parts of the world it has become an aesthetic and cultural norm, yet remains deeply troubling for many.

Skintight argues that cosmetic surgery is the most provocative and controversial aspect of a new ‘makeover culture’. Shows such as Ten Years Younger and Extreme Makeover demonstrate that ‘fixing’ the body is a way to improve lifestyle and uncover true identity. Meanwhile, celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Jocelyn Wildenstein demonstrate the horrors of extreme surgical alteration.

Presenting a multidisciplinary approach, and examining a wide range of popular culture case studies from women’s magazines, television, architecture and the Internet amongst others, Skintight dissects the realities of cosmetic surgery and culture.”

Link

Research shows that among the youngest Internet users, the primary creators of Web content (blogs, graphics, photographs, Web sites) are not misfits resembling the Lone Gunmen of “The X Files.� On the contrary, the cyberpioneers of the moment are digitally effusive teenage girls.

Link

The Fifth Annual SOCIAL THEORY FORUM will be held on April 16 and 17,

2008 at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. This year’s

conference, titled A Foucault for the 21st Century: Governmentality,

Biopolitics & Discipline in the New Millennium, includes more than 60

papers addressing the contemporary relevance of the work of Michel

Foucault.

As the date approaches, we are happy to announce the publication of

the PRELIMINARY PROGRAM. Please check the conference website:

www.foucaultconference.org

and download the preliminary program.

“This survey paper explores the interdisciplinary literature of performance theory and critical performative pedagogy in an attempt to consider metaphorical applications of performance to pedagogy. This exploration involves looking at teaching as performance in the broadest cultural sense of the word - interested more in efficacy of communication and mutual empathetic understanding - than in the more commonly-held economic, technological and political senses of performance which are more interested in setting, raising, and maintaining standards of efficiency and effectiveness (see McKenzie, 2001). In examining these issues in both performance studies and education, the conclusions are that educational researchers and teacher educators can benefit significantly from a critical awareness of the proliferation of metaphors for teaching as performance that highlight both aesthetic and socio-political challenges inherent in a life in the classroom.”

Link