Fwd: CFP: Mediations of Place-based Youth Identities

From: Margaret Zeddies <[email protected]>

CFP:  Mediations of Place-based Youth Identities

Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, March 2014 in Seattle,
Washington, USA

This panel seeks to explore the construction of youth identity in relation
to geographies through mediatization. This phenomenon can be explored on a
geographical spectrum: from identification with specific locations on a
local or national level, encouraging strong demarcations (Abu El-Haj, 2009;
Maira, 2004 & 2011; Nayak, 2003); or the dissolution of boundaries on a
global scale, facilitating ease of movement along the lines of Bauman’s
Tourist (1998) and third-culture kids.  Youth are commonly assumed to be in
the process of forming their identities, and are therefore susceptible to
being imposed with meanings of selfhood. They are also often used
symbolically to represent geographical identities (the association of youth
with the pastoral in art and literature; children as representative of the
ideals of the nation-state in print and film). However, youth also engage
with identity formation through their own expressions of and relationships
to places ( Massey, 1994 & 1998). Therefore, in addition to exploring the
spectrum of geographies, this panel is also interested in ranges of social
agency: from the construction of youth identity and place by others, to the
construction by youth of their identity with regards to place.

This panel considers the cultural production of places in the imagination
through the mediums of film, TV, and online arenas (Twitter, Facebook,
YouTube, blogs, and other web domains). Overarching questions for this
panel are: How is youth identity mediatized at different points on a
local-global scale? How do youth construct place-based identities through
media? How are youth constructed in relation to geographies by others
through mediatization?

Possible approaches to this topic may include but are not limited to:

- Cosmopolitanism

- Diaspora and deterritorialization

- Mediascapes and ideoscapes

- Nationalism, transnationalism, globalization, glocalization

- Nostalgia

- Post-9/11 anxieties

- Post-colonialism

- War and other traumatic events

- Various qualitative (textual, discursive, ethnographic) methodologies

- Cultural citizenship

Please send an abstract of no more than 2500 characters (to meet SCMS
guidelines), 3-5 bibliographic sources, and a brief bio to Margaret Zeddies
at [email protected] by August 5th.

Acceptance notices will be sent by August 15th at the latest.

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