[ecrea] CFP: On the Fringe: Understanding Alternative and Subversive Media

First Forum’s On the Fringe: Understanding Alternative and Subversive Media

USC Critical Studies Graduate Conference, Los Angeles, California 
October 16th–17th, 2015

First Forum, the 2015 USC Critical Studies Graduate Conference, seeks 
out scholars examining a wide array of media existing on the “fringe” of 
mainstream commercial industries and the theoretical and critical 
frameworks that illuminate them. The areas of cinema and media this 
encompasses—such as avant-garde/experimental, minor cinemas, guerrilla 
television, YouTube and amateur internet media, B-movies, third cinema, 
exploitation genre, or feminist filmmaking—have historically been 
marginalized despite their rapid expansion and growing importance in the 
field of media studies. These fringe texts represent how visual media 
evolved over time speak to foundational questions of their surrounding 
visual culture, satisfy niche consumers, or express ideological 
manifestos. How does the fringe media serve as an alternative to the 
greater industry it is surrounded by? How do they impact our notions of 
“cinema” or digital media? What does it mean for a fringe media to 
become mainstream? What theoretical or political issues arise as we 
understand marginalized media? Topics are encouraged to draw from a wide 
variety of critical lenses, as well as focus on any time period, genre, 
or medium.

In addition to panels showcasing graduate papers, this year’s conference 
will include a roundtable discussion between Dr. David E. James, Dr. 
Kara Keeling, Dr. Akira Lippit, and Dr. Michael Renov, as well as alumni 
lectures, and a keynote address.

We welcome papers engaged with fringe studies, and encourage submissions 
that take a fluid interpretation of this topic as well. Please submit an 
abstract of no more than 300 words for a 20-minute panel presentation as 
well as a brief bio of no more than 100 words. Non-traditional, creative 
projects are welcome, as are individual papers or pre-constituted panels.

Please email your submissions and inquiries to Sophia Serrano at 
(wagnerse /at/ usc.edu) by May 26th, 2015.


Possible topics include:

Avant-garde, B-movies/Genre films, Experimental video art, Third Cinema, 
Guerrilla television, Blaxploitation, Feminist Theory/Media, 
Underrepresented artists, Pornography, Citizen journalism, Expired 
technologies, Found footage, Documentary, Forgotten media, Amateur 
Internet media, Cult Films, Genre films, Alternative histories, Minor 
Cinemas, Race politics and theory, Developing media

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