[Commlist] CFP: Spectator Special Issue "Waste"

Call for Papers
Spectator Special Issue: “Waste”

Volume 42.2 (Fall 2022) Edited by: Eszter Zimanyi

Description of topic

Look around and all the eyes can see is waste. From piles of face masks 
used during the COVID-19 pandemic to heaps of fake lifejackets left 
behind by migrants along Europe’s shores, we seem to be surrounded by 
discarded objects—used, abused, and left behind. As climate change 
accelerates and racial capitalism continues its relentless agenda of 
extraction and consumption, human and nonhuman life grows increasingly 
disposable as well. Despite—or perhaps because of—ongoing calls for 
better “management,” governments seem more than willing to sacrifice the 
elderly, disabled, and poor in order to “save” the economy. Over the 
past few years, we have watched states detain migrant children in cages 
and abandon refugees stranded at sea. We have witnessed communities 
around the world endure increasingly extreme weather events while 
environmental regulations are dismantled by autocrats and democrats alike.
Waste, materially and conceptually, is marked by a certain excess. The 
term ‘waste’ can signal excessive practices of extraction and 
production, or improper habits of consumption (wasting food, wasteful 
spending). It can describe an excess of the body (excrement), and the 
refusal or inability to make the body productive (wasted talent, waste 
of time, to waste away from disease or malnourishment). As a verb, 
‘waste’ can also mark excessive acts of destruction (laying to waste). 
Across these uses, waste seems to connote a transgression, a violation 
of an intended order.

This special issue of Spectator asks what media studies can tell us 
about our waste-full world. How do we come to understand what is 
valuable and what can be thrown away? What role does media play in 
producing and representing waste? How does a logic of disposability 
shape labor practices in media industries? And how can media studies 
help us reclaim the discarded and forgotten, and revitalize it anew?
We encourage essays that span a wide range of historical and 
geographical case studies and that take an expansive approach to the 
definition of media. We welcome both single-authored and co-authored 
submissions as well as non-traditional submissions, including 
photo-essays, critical creative writing, and interviews with 
media-makers engaging waste.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
•	Wasteful media (such as e-waste, disposable cameras, film stock, media 
infrastructures, etc.) •	Aesthetics of waste and disposability 
(including theories of the “poor image”)
•	Media representations of waste
•	Environmental media and eco-criticism
•	The “forensic turn” in media studies •	Temporalities of waste and 
degradation
•	Wasting time
•	Mediatizing bodies as waste / wasted bodies •	Making media from waste 
(recycling, remixing, reimagining waste)
•	Book reviews of recent scholarship examining media in relationship to 
waste, pollution, disposability, and sustainability
Deadline for Submission: November 20, 2021

Spectator is a biannual publication by the University of Southern 
California, School of Cinematic Arts, Division of Cinema & Media Studies.
Manuscripts to be considered for publication should be sent to:

Eszter Zimanyi, Issue Editor
Division of Cinema and Media Studies
School of Cinematic Arts, Room 320
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211

Email: (zimanyi /at/ usc.edu)

Submissions should be e-mailed directly to the issue editor. Manuscripts 
should include the title of the contribution, name of author(s), postal 
address, e-mail address, and a phone number for the author who will work 
with the editor on revisions. Contributions should be between 3,000 - 
5,000 words. Please include a brief abstract and author bio for 
publicity purposes.
Articles submitted should not be under consideration by any other journals.
Book Reviews may vary in length from 300 to 1,000 words. Please include 
title of book, retail price and ISBN at the beginning of the review.

Additional section contributions can include interviews, works about new 
archival or research facilities as well as newly developed methods 
related to the field.

Authors should send copies of their work via e-mail as electronic 
attachments. Files should be formatted in the latest version of 
Microsoft Word and endnotes should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style.

Upon acceptance, a detailed format/style sheet will be forwarded to all 
contributors as to the requirements for the submission of images and text.
For questions or enquiries about this CFP or review process, please 
contact the Issue Editor: (zimanyi /at/ usc.edu)

Current Board for Spectator
Founding Editor: Marsha Kinder
Managing Editor: William Whittington
Issue Editor: Eszter Zimanyi
Subscription Information

Individual issues cost $15.00. Institutional rate for US and Canadian 
customers is $30.00 USD. The rate for customers outside of North America 
is $40.00 USD. To order a subscription, please send checks to:

University of Southern California
School of Cinematic Arts
Cinema & Media Studies
SCA, Room 320
Los Angeles, CA  90089-2211
Attn: Spectator Subscription
Tel:	(213) 740-3334
Fax:	(213) 740-9471

Please indicate which issues you are ordering. For back issues, contact 
subscription manager and include a check for $15.00 per issue.
Email: (Spectator /at/ cinema.usc.edu)


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