CFP: Pre-Cinema/Silent Film (NCSA, Fresno, CA) 9/30/12, 3/7-9/13

From: Arnold Anthony Schmidt <[email protected]>

Call for Papers: Special Session on Pre-Cinema & Silent Film

"Loco/Motion"
34th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY STUDIES ASSOCIATION
Fresno, California, March 7-9, 2013


As part of the 2013 NCSA conference, I’m seeking papers or presentations
for one or more panels about pre-cinema and early film technology, as well
as on silent film creators (producers, actors, directors) and images
(representations of class, culture, gender, or race) produced anywhere
before 1914. Film – i.e. “moving pictures” -- fits neatly into the
conference theme of Locomotion, which I interpret very broadly.

If they like, scholars might address the theme literally (treating images
of travel and physical movement) or metaphorically (e.g. technical
evolution; camera movement; narrative or character development; cultural,
historical, or psychological change). Feel free to email me if you have
questions about the appropriateness of a topic for presentation.

To submit, please e-mail 250-word abstracts of 20-minute papers and
one-page vitae to Arnold Anthony Schmidt at [email protected] by 30
September 2012. It may be possible to arrange screenings to accompany the
panels, so include information about any material available.

Graduate students may, upon acceptance of their abstracts, submit complete
papers in competition for a travel grant to help cover transportation and
lodging expenses.

For more information, please see the general conference CFP below.

=================

The long nineteenth century set the world on the move. Travel became
increasingly important for business and pleasure, for war and peace. At the
same time, new forms of moving people arose: the balloon, ships,
undergrounds, funiculars, the railroads. Each carried riders to great
distances, different locales, and novel pursuits. But motion wasn’t purely
spatial; new movements arose as well, sweeping the inhabitants of the
period into fresh vistas of thought and endeavor. We seek papers and panels
that capture the sense of movement at work and at play during the long
nineteenth century (1789-1914). Papers may address the intersections of
movement/s, focus on technologies of motion in isolation, or reveal the
desires—for gain, glory, greed—that set the world on its feet.

Some suggested topics:
Gold Rushes (Mineral Manias and Speculative Destinations)
Literature of the Sea
Maps and Cartography
The Science of Exploration (Darwin’s Voyages)
Narratives of Time Travel, Travel into Space (Jules Verne, Arthur Conan
Doyle)
The West as Destination and Concept
Celebrity Performance Tours
Movement of Goods and Ideas
Migration and Relocation
Expeditions
Concepts of Motion and Stasis
New Forms of Creative Motion and Locomotion (Moving Pictures, Photography,
Dance, Music)
We also welcome other interpretations of the conference theme.

The campus of California State University, Fresno, will host us in 2013.
Its setting makes it the perfect place to explore the conference theme,
since Fresno is ringed by the original Gold Rush towns and three superb
national parks (Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon), two of which are
nineteenth-century creations. As a result, Fresno still bears evidence of
the vast changes caused by the movements of the nineteenth century. The
library of CSU Fresno houses the Donald G. Larson Collection on
International Expositions and Fairs; material from this archive will be
featured in a special exhibition for the conference. Please note:
submission of a proposal indicates intent to present.


-- 
Arnold Anthony Schmidt, Ph.D.
Professor of English
California State University
http://www.csustan.edu/**english/schmidt/index.html<http://www.csustan.edu/english/schmidt/index.html>
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