[ecrea] CFP: Zombies in the Academy - book chapters for an interdisciplinary anthology

>Call for papers:  book chapters for the 
>interdisciplinary anthology "Zombies in the 
>Academy: living death in higher education"
>
>Editors: Andrew Whelan, Chris Moore and Ruth Walker
>
>This book takes up the momentum provided by the 
>recent resurgence of interest in zombie culture 
>to explore the relevance of the zombie trope to 
>discussions of scholarly practice itself. The 
>zombie is an extraordinarily rich and evocative 
>popular cultural form, and zombidity, 
>zombification and necromancy can function as 
>compelling elements in a conceptual repertoire 
>for both explaining and critically enlivening 
>the debates around a broad variety of cultural 
>and institutional phenomena evident in the 
>contemporary university. We propose to canvas a 
>range of critical accounts of the contemporary 
>university as a living dead culture. We are 
>therefore seeking interdisciplinary proposals 
>for papers that investigate the political, 
>cultural, organisational, and pedagogical state 
>of the university, through applying the metaphor 
>of zombiedom to both the form and content of professional academic work.
>
>We invite submissions from a range of scholars - 
>notably in cultural and communication studies, 
>but also popular culture, anthropology, 
>sociology, film, game, and literary studies, 
>political science, philosophy and education - 
>who would be prepared to submit chapters that 
>examine the zombie trope and its relation to 
>higher education from a variety of perspectives.
>
>The editors of "Zombies in the Academy" have an 
>agreement for publication with Intellect Press UK for 2012.
>
>The anthology will be structured in three 
>sections around the broad general topics of:
>1. corporatisation, bureaucratisation, and zombification of higher education;
>2. technology, digital media and moribund 
>content distribution infecting the university;
>3. zombie literacies and living dead pedagogies.
>
>Paper proposals that would fit into these 
>sections would include essays that might:
>"       investigate the current conditions of 
>the academy under pressure from the zombie 
>processes variously described as audit 
>culture or the McDonaldisation of higher education;
>"       explore the uncanny value of the figure 
>of the zombie as a component in critical 
>pedagogical accounts (zombie concepts, undead 
>labour in Marxist theory etc.), including in 
>such accounts as they are applied to the university itself;
>"       analyse the theme of zombies and the 
>academic gaze through the narratives and 
>mechanics of particular films, games, texts or graphic novels;
>"       name the attenuated conditions of work 
>in the sector with reference to its various forms of zombidity;
>"       evaluate the perceived decomposition of academic standards;
>"       discuss the zombie contagion model as an 
>explanatory device for the circulation of 
>content across multiple media platforms, 
>including into and out of the classroom;
>"       explore pedagogical activities that use or reflect zombie content;
>"       critically investigate the rise of 
>zombie literacies - as an epidemic circulated 
>by an unthinking student horde, and/or the undead ivory tower itself;
>"       address the corpselike inertia and 
>atavism of academic distinction and social 
>closure (journal rankings, peer review, tenure 
>etc.) in the face of the apparently lifelike 
>models of research production beyond the walls of the academy;
>"       reassess the metaphor of zombiedom, 
>considering how it can be construed not only as 
>a negative critique, but also as a possibly 
>desirable,  advantageous or alternative adaptive strategy in academic contexts.
>
>Abstracts for proposed book chapters should be 
>1000 words.  Authors are asked to include brief 
>biographical details along with their proposals, 
>including name, academic affiliation and previous publications.
>
>Deadline for submissions is 15th December 
>2010.  Please select the most appropriate book 
>section theme for your paper, and submit 
>proposals as an emailed .doc attachment to the following editors:
>
>For papers on the corporatisation and zombification of higher education:
>- Andrew Whelan, PhD.  Department of Sociology, 
>Sciences, Media and Communication, University of 
>Wollongong. Email: (awhelan /at/ uow.edu.au)
>For papers on technology, digital media and contagion:
>- Chris Moore, PhD. Centre for Memory, 
>Imagination & Invention, Faculty of Arts and 
>Education, Deakin University. Email: (moorenet /at/ gmail.com)
>For papers on zombie literacies and pedagogies:
>- Ruth Walker, PhD. Learning Development, 
>University of Wollongong. Email: (rwalker /at/ uow.edu.au)
>
>
>Anticipated timeline:
>- proposals due December 15th 2010 (1000 words)
>- contributors notified January 15th 2011
>- chapters due July 1st 2011 (6,000 - 9,000 words)
>- edited full manuscript to publishers December 2011
>- book publication 2012

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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New Book:
Trans-Reality Television
The Transgression of Reality, Genre, Politics, and Audience.
Lexington. (Sofie Van Bauwel & Nico Carpentier eds.)
http://www.lexingtonbooks.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0739131885
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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