American Popular Culture, 9/11 and=20

the So-Called Global War on Terror

We seek essays of 4,000 to 8,000 words for an anthology that explores
how popular narratives perform as both mouthpieces of military and war
culture and criticisms of international policy. In particular, we are
interested in the "global war on terrorism" and the 9/11 aftermath as an
uncanny manifestation of the interdependence of American consumer and
military culture; the condition of endless war as symptomatic of
neo-liberal as well as neo-conservative and evangelical ideologies of a
"clash of civilizations"; and the way that conservative representations
of this worldview frequently open up unanticipated disclosures for
examination and critique. We are particularly interested in how recent
popular films, television shows, internet media, recent dramatic works,
and books allegorize the local and global implications of the U.S.-led
"global war on terror" and the "obscene underside" of the cultural
(re)production of "democracy."

=20

The manifestation of transnational American studies envisions defining
"American" in new cultural, historical, spatial, and epistemological
frameworks: How does cultural production of an America-at-war fantasize
a nostalgic return to a monomythic state of innocence even as it
dehistoricizes the industrial military apparatus and competing
ideologies of Exceptionalism and national identity? How can popular
narratives construct "America" in the context of a globalized, unending
war? How do popular texts reconfigure spatial proximities of the United
States and its military empire? How does popular culture in its myriad
forms mediate support for and/or dissent from the current global
situation?

=20

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

* Internet media (e.g., weblogs, youtube, military sites, etc.)
* Television shows and series (e.g., 24, The Unit, Over There, The
Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, etc.)
* Movies, including documentaries
* Drama (e.g., Eve Ensler's The Treatment, The Lysistrata Project)
* Fictional books (e.g., the Left Behind series)

=20

200 word abstracts, CV by December 31, 2006

Completed Essays by May 1, 2007, to:

=20

Jeff Birkenstein, Ph.D.

Saint Martin's University

5300 Pacific Avenue SE

Lacey, WA 98503 / USA

jbirkenstein_at_stmartin.edu

=20

=20
-or-

=20

Karen Randell, Ph.D.

Southampton Solent University

East Park Terrace

Southampton, Hampshire

S014 OYN / UNITED KINGDOM

Karen.randell_at_solent.ac.uk

=20

=20
-or-

=20

Anna Froula

University of Kentucky

1215 Patterson Office Tower

Lexington, KY 40506 / USA

Froula_at_gmail.com

=20

=20

Jeff

=20

Jeff Birkenstein, Ph.D.

Department of English

Saint Martin's University

5300 Pacific Avenue, SE
Lacey, WA 98503

jbirkenstein_at_stmartin.edu <mailto:jbirkenstein_at_stmartin.edu>=20

Visit our website: http://www.stmartin.edu/ <http://www.stmartin.edu/>=20

         ==========================================================
              From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                        CFP_at_english.upenn.edu
                         Full Information at
                     http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
         or write Jennifer Higginbotham: higginbj_at_english.upenn.edu
         ==========================================================
Received on Sun Nov 12 2006 - 23:13:50 EST