[ecrea] CFP special issue: Documentary Film and Migration in Twentieth-century Italy

*Call for Papers*

*Documentary Film and Migration in Twentieth-century Italy*

*Special Issue*

/*Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies*/

*Guest-editor Dr. Gaoheng Zhang*

*Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto*


Long before the 2015 refugee and migrant crisis captured international
media attention, Italy was at the forefront of European management of
post-Cold War mass immigration from around the globe. And just thirty
years before that, during the 1950s-60s in particular, the country was
still undergoing a large-scale internal migration from the South to the
North, and from the countryside to the cities. Still earlier, between
late 1800s and mid 1900s, Italians emigrated to the Americas, Northern
Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, constituting one of the most
significant labor diasporas in modern history. These events, as many
scholars have contended, have been decisive to Italy as a nation, a
people, and a cultural entity. How did the only new, major art form
developed in the twentieth century—the cinema—represent and influence
these migrations? In particular, how did the documentary cinema—arguably
contemporary Italy’s most versatile and prolific film genre—respond to
and reflect on the migratory flows?

This special issue of the /JICMS/ aims to examine the place of
documentary and nonfiction film in articulating migration issues in
Italy. The editor invites contributions that will examine three
migrations in particular—i.e., Italian emigration worldwide, migration
from Southern and peasant Italy to Northern and urban Italy, and foreign
immigration to Italy. Comparisons between these migrations and forms of
transnationalism are encouraged. Analyses can also focus on films about
migration made by non Italian-identified filmmakers. The editor welcomes
proposals that consider films on other individuals whose mobilities are
related to migration, such as colonial soldiers, refugees, tourists, and
businessmen. Other topics the editor is particularly interested in
soliciting include state migrant management, social incorporation and
cultural assimilation, public security, NGO’s role, gendered and
racialized lives of migrants, and diasporic and transnational practices
of migrants as addressed in documentary films.

Topics related to documentary film as a genre are also welcome,
including film ethics and techniques. Films made for the big screen, for
television, and for distribution on the internet will be considered. The
editor seeks contributions that can speak to the latest technologies in
making and screening documentaries, such as digital cinema. Proposals
focusing on documentary films’ interactions with other art forms such as
fiction film, and on hybrid genres such as docudrama and mockumentary
are also encouraged. Further, the editor seeks academic articles and
review essays on Italian and transnational documentary film industry,
festivals, archives, and scholarship, as well as commented interviews
with filmmakers, as they are related to migration.


*Instructions for proposal submission:*

The editor is soliciting proposals of articles that can speak to any
aspect of this call for papers until *February 8, 2016*. Please email
your proposals (togaoheng.zhang /at/ utoronto.ca)
<mailto:(gaoheng.zhang /at/ utoronto.ca)>. Accepted authors will be informed
by*February* *15, 2016* and will be asked to submit their articles in
*60 days*following this date. The articles would contain no more than
*8,000 words*each. They must be written in English. Inclusion in the
special issue will then be determined by an anonymous peer-review process.

Authors should also avoid submitting abstracts and articles that deal
with only one film or are close readings of a character’s psychological
process. Authors should limit the scope of their discussion to 3 or 4
films and few directors.

Articles submitted to /JICMS/ should be entirely original and
unpublished, should not be under consideration by any other publisher,
and should not have been published previously even in part by any other
publication.

Proposals of English translations or edited versions of previously
published works will not be considered.

For details of the rationale and requirements of the /Journal of Italian
Cinema and Media Studies/, see the journal’s webpage:

http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=215/



*Please include the following information in your proposal:*

1)    A clear title

2)    A 500-word abstract outlining:

a) The topic

b) Critical approach

c) Theoretical bases of the proposed article.

The abstract should clearly state the goals of the article, and provide
a cohesive description of the objective of the argument. In addition to
a 500-word abstract, authors should send:

3)    Relevant bibliography and filmography

4)    200-word biographical notes followed by a detailed list of their
academic publications




Gaoheng Zhang
Assistant Professor
Department of Italian Studies
University of Toronto
100 St Joseph Street, Room 209
Toronto, ON M5S 1J4

(gaoheng.zhang /at/ utoronto.ca)

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