Two cinema-related CFPs: Sports in Film and the second Marx at the Movies Conference

Dear SHERANs,
for the benefit of those who work broadly with visual culture, I'd like to
draw your attention to a call for papers for an upcoming thematic
issue of *Studies
in Eastern European Cinema *on sports in film. I'm also attaching a pdf
with a CFP for a conference titled "Marx at the Movies," which is not
exclusively focused on our region, but will, I'm sure appreciate
contributions by scholars of Russian and Eastern European cultures.
Sincerely,
Ksenya Gurshtein

___________________

Call for submissions
Studies in Eastern European Cinema

Sports in Film

>From Olympia to Shaolin Soccer, from The Harder They Fall to Chariots of
Fire, and from Raging Bull to The Big Lebowski, cinema has relentlessly
displayed its fascination with the world of sports. As Eastern European
cinema is no exception in this regard, Studies in Eastern European Cinema
sets out to showcase its sport imaginaries. Recognising that this topic has
received little critical attention, the special issue of Studies in Eastern
European Cinema aims to fill this gap by seeking scholarly contributions
that expand our knowledge on films about sport in the titular region.

Just like cinema itself, sport is a vast and complex social arena in which
many discourses, practices and institutions enmesh, intersect and - no pun
intended - compete. It is about games and scores, but also about politics,
economy, education, law and media; about athletes, but also about sport
fans; about professionals, but also about amateurs; about discipline, but
also about leisure. Sport excludes and divides, yet also conciliates and
includes. No social layer is inert towards it as it intertwines with the
categories of gender, class, age, sexuality, ethnicity, and location.

The journal Studies in Eastern European Cinema aims to explore the ways in
which Eastern European films screened the sport-related experiences in all
historical periods and socio-political constellations. According to our
central premise, cinema never merely reflected on sport, or depicted it in
a disinterested way, but actively shaped opinions and attitudes about
sport. In that way, just like sport imagery is integral to the history of
cinema, cinema itself participates in the history of sport.

The journal Studies in Eastern European Cinema encourages prospective
contributors to employ different analytical categories and perspectives
such as:

·         Politics, ideology, nation: sport as the expression of nationhood
or an ideological cause; sport as a proverbial "continuation of war by
another means"; the athletes as the unofficial ambassadors of a
political/ideological system (nation, communism/socialism etc.).
·         Class: sport as a marker of class belonging and a mechanism of
strengthening the class divide; sport as a vehicle for interclass inclusion
and movement;
·         Gender: the various types of sport-related masculinity and
femininity; sport as a sexist, male-dominated institution that maintains
the general status quo of male/masculine domination; sport as a venue for
the gender empowerment of women (a rise in women's participation in sport);
·         Sexuality: sport and the heterosexual privilege; homosociality
and homosexuality;
·         Body: sport as a mechanism disciplining the body; fit and able
bodies; disabled bodies; sports and illness;
·         Age: sports and children; sports as a catalyst in coming-of-age
stories; sports and youth delinquency;
·         Media fame and sporting celebrity: films about or inspired by
particular sport stars; films about the sport fame and notoriety in
general; films that cast actual sport celebrities.

As this is by no means an exhaustive list, feel free to expand it in
accordance with your own theoretical interests and the films that you would
like to showcase.

Deadline for articles (6,000-7,000 words): 30/07/2015

Please direct enquiries to the editors:

Ewa Mazierska ([email protected]), or
Elzbieta Ostrowska ([email protected])



-- 
Ksenya Gurshtein
Lecturer, McIntire Department of Art
Fayerweather Hall 309
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Phone: (434) 924-6123 (work); (347) 567-8425 (home)
[email protected]

"Art is what makes life more interesting than art."
--- Robert Filliou

"What is true for writing and for a love relationship is true also for
life. The game is worthwhile insofar as we don't know what will be the end."
--- Michel Foucault

_______________________________________________
Shera mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.oakland.edu/mailman/listinfo/shera