CFP: Cold War Book History Anthology (1/20/07; collection)
Submissions are currently being solicited for an edited collection of=20
articles about print culture and the Cold War. The editors of this=20
anthology seek work by historians of the book and print culture, as=20
well as scholars from disciplines across the academy who are pursuing=20
work in the history of the book and/or the history of the Cold War.
The subject of culture in the Cold War has received significant=20
scholarly attention over the last twenty years. Many excellent cultural=20=
histories connect popular and high culture with the larger political=20
currents and military conflicts of the time, and recent work has also=20
taken as its subject the use of culture as a weapon in the Cold War.=20
But the importance of the medium of print, which did much to convey and=20=
shape these ideologies and events of the period, has received little=20
attention. Although television, film, radio, and other forms of media ,=20=
certainly were crucial reflectors and carriers of Cold War politics and=20=
ideology, and have received much attention, printed materials remained=20=
a critical means of shaping political and popular discourse during the=20=
Cold War.
Printed materials underwent a number of revolutions during the Cold=20
War, including the development of mass-market and "quality" paperbacks=20=
and the explosion in inexpensive reproduction (such as photocopying and=20=
mimeographing). The growth of higher education around the world created=20=
new markets for print, new opportunities for publishers, and a new set=20=
of consumers for printed material, while governments of the East and=20
West attempted to control what got into print and how it circulated, to=20=
encourage reading as a way to increase learning in fields such as=20
science and math, and to spread their own ideologies. Access to and=20
distribution of easily reproduced printed materials posed challenges=20
and possibilities for both sides in the Cold War.
The central questions that this anthology seeks to explore are:
What was the role of the printed word in shaping the events of the=20
historical period known as the Cold War? And to what extent did the=20
historical pressures of the Cold War shape the material factors,=20
economic contexts, production, distribution, and reception of printed=20
materials?
Some specific issues that submissions might examine could include:
=95 How did the pro-Western alliance use print culture to disseminate =
its=20
ideas in an effort to win over public opinion in their own nations and=20=
in nonaligned nations?
=95 What role did print culture play in the establishment of Soviet=20
control over public discourse in its satellite nations?
=95 How did changing formats for literature respond to and shape =
cultural=20
politics?
=95 What role did politics play in definitions of quality and debates=20
over high- and lowbrow?
=95 Why did divisions over high and low take on increased importance=20
during this period?
=95 How did non-literary works (cookbooks, advice manuals, and =
textbooks)=20
reflect and shape cultural politics?
=95 How did publishers take advantage of changing market realities? How=20=
did these changing realities shape the publishing industry?
=95 How did cultural politics influence critical discourse about print? =20=
How did this discourse in turn shape school curricula?
=95 How did print culture provide a location for the intersection of=20
anticommunist ideology and the nascent civil-rights movement in the=20
U.S.?
=95 How did print culture undermine Soviet communist ideology in the=20
Soviet Union? How did this process differ in nations such as=20
Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and East Germany?
=95 How did citizens of the Eastern Bloc produce and disseminate=20
dissident works of literature or journalism?
=95 How did radical or dissident groups in the U.S., both on the left =
and=20
on the right, use print to alter the public discussion about the Cold=20
War?
=95 What role did print culture play in the Cold War-era discourse about=20=
terms like cultural diplomacy, human rights, totalitarianism, feminism,=20=
and liberalism?
=95 How did underground bookstores and publishers (both of the radical=20=
left and the radical right) disseminate ideology in the U.S.?
=95 What was the publication history of Mao=92s Little Red Book in =
China,=20
in Southeast Asia, in Europe, and in the U.S.?
=95 How did revolutionary leaders of the developing world come into=20
contact with and use radical literature?
=95 What was the role of the Union of Soviet Writers in the publishing=20=
industry in the Soviet Union?
Please submit an abstract of a previously unpublished paper to Greg=20
Barnhisel, Department of English, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh PA=20
15282. Direct inquiries only (no electronic submissions) to Greg=20
Barnhisel [barnhiselg_at_duq.edu] or Cathy Turner=20
[cturner_at_misericordia.edu]. The deadline for submissions is January 1,=20=
2007.=
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Received on Fri Aug 11 2006 - 15:28:24 EDT