[ecrea] CFP: Film, public diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli conflict

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

An international conference on “Film, public diplomacy and the 
Arab-Israeli conflict: Historical and international perspectives” will 
be hosted by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at 
the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA on 16-18 October 
2018. The conference is supported by the University of Hertfordshire in 
the UK, Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee in Israel, the 
International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST), and at USC 
the Center on Public Diplomacy and Center for International Studies.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is seventy years old in 2018. Over the 
decades, a great many scholars and journalists have looked into the role 
that the news media have played in the conflict. By comparison, 
relatively few scholars have explored the part played by cinema. This 
conference focuses not only on film’s part in the Arab-Israeli conflict 
but also on how film has interacted with public diplomacy and 
propaganda. The conference aims to go far beyond the examination of 
particular feature films and documentaries – though that is an essential 
dimension. It seeks to look “behind the scenes” to examine how 
governments and groups have used film as a publicity tool; to assess the 
role that actors, producers, agents and directors have played in the 
conflict both on and off the screen; and to consider cinema’s political 
and cultural impact on the conflict.

Hollywood is obviously an important part of this story, and by holding 
the conference in Los Angeles we hope to involve contemporary 
filmmakers, diplomats and lobby organizations based in the city that are 
engaged in a variety of ways in the Arab-Israeli conflict. But the 
conference will look at how cinemas from different parts of the world 
have treated the Arab-Israeli conflict. This will enable comparative 
analysis and point to the part played by film in the international “war 
of images” that has surrounded the Arab-Israeli conflict since its 
inception.

Our approach is interdisciplinary, and we welcome proposals for papers 
from scholars of all fields, including History, Middle East studies, 
Israel studies, Public Diplomacy and Propaganda studies, International 
Affairs, Film studies, Literature, and the Social Sciences. Possible 
topics for panels and papers include but are not limited to:

  * Key feature films and documentaries about the Arab-Israeli conflict
  * Cinema’s direct and oblique treatments of the conflict
  * National film industries’ different takes on the conflict
  * Film activism
  * Film celebrity off-screen activism
  * Film as a public diplomacy and propaganda tool
  * Cinema and censorship/boycotts
  * Film and issues of image and Nation Brands

The working language of the conference will be English. We welcome 
individual proposals for 20-minute presentations, as well as 90-minute 
panels. Proposals for individual presentations should not exceed 300 
words, while those for panels should be a maximum of 1000 words. All 
contributors should include a brief (250-300 word) autobiographical 
paragraph and the contributor’s academic affiliation and email. All of 
this should be sent to Professor Tony Shaw at (a.t.shaw /at/ herts.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(a.t.shaw /at/ herts.ac.uk)>.

Deadline for abstracts: 31 July 2018.

Notification of acceptance: 15 August 2018.

Conference organizers:

  * Professor Tony Shaw, University of Hertfordshire, UK
    (a.t.shaw /at/ herts.ac.uk) <mailto:(a.t.shaw /at/ herts.ac.uk)>
  * Professor Nicholas Cull, University of Southern California, and
    President of the International Association for Media and History.
  * Dr Giora Goodman, Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel.


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