cfp.english.upenn.edu

Call for Papers:
We seek abstracts for our forthcoming anthology to be tentatively published in Spring 2010. "The Bloody screen: a study of violence and masculinity in postcolonial films."

"Bloody screen: a study of violence and masculinity in postcolonial films" places itself at the nexus of current issues of violence, masculinity and power in the postcolonial context (with an emphasis on the South Asian) and its representation in its films in challenging, normalizing, or contesting these major concerns of our times. This new collection of essays, thus, brings together, in one volume, the interplay of critical and theoretical insights both from literature and Social studies in analyzing the films based on societal violence in postcolonial cultures: be it in the context of sophisticated terrorism, suicide bombings, the underworld, any organized crime, mob violence etc.

We are not only interested in exploring these concerns as thematic questions in the films but also the dynamics of their representation as cinematic plots and techniques. Important also in our study would be the affective value of the films in generating and foregrounding the questions of feelings invoked by the onscreen violence, and the
impact of this emotive state on the issues of national and cosmopolitan identity formation. It is, therefore, one of the goals of this volume to enrich both literary studies and Social studies with a nuanced borrowing and intermixing of their primary texts and modes of interpretation, which would, we hope, enrich both fields of study by sharing their common and particular modes of reading and responding to the texts.

We invite essays of 5,000-6,000 words in length exploring the
following themes, or any other themes that might fall within the purview of our stipulated vision of the anthology:
• Representation of societal violence in films from the
postcolonial spaces
• Concepts of postcolonial masculinity and the terror films
• Gangster movies and the underworld in the postcolonial context
• Terrorism and suicide bombings: representations of violence and self-sacrifice in postcolonial films.
• Violence as a tool for resistance
• The craft of violence/special effects in new age cinema
• The marketing of South Asian violence and global awards
• Issues of censorship and violence in postcolonial films
• Comparative analysis of on screen violence in various
postcolonial situations
• The affective value of onscreen violence and its connotation in the context of identity formation

Please send your proposals, not more than 200 words, along with a brief bio by June 15, 2009. Send your proposals to the editors at pocofilm09@gmail.com. Include your proposal and bio in the body of your email as well as a Microsoft Word attachment. Essays selected for inclusion in the final volume will be peer-reviewed by specialists in the field.