[Commlist] Diaspora Cinema and Media: Globalising the Local CFP

*Diaspora Screen Media Network virtual conference 17/18 March 2022 
(Birmingham City University, UK)*

**

*_Diaspora Cinema and Media: Globalising the Local _*

*__*

This AHRC-funded virtual conference is the culmination of the Diaspora 
Screen Media Network’s series of successful events. The network has been 
formed to examine and discuss the exciting new viewing practices in 
relation to screen media and social networking apps in the field of 
Black British and British Asian diaspora screen media.

This event will draw on earlier workshop presentations, and findings 
while also allowing for new areas of related discussion and 
investigation to take place. The topic for the event, ‘globalising the 
local’, might be approached through some of the following perspectives: 
the newviewingcontexts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: theexpansion of 
the online digital environment;the lockdowns and closure of public 
venues like cinemas, theatres and exhibition spaces; theshift to the 
virtual world: i.e. screening platforms like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon 
Prime and BBC iPlayer;the vital portals ofsocial networking apps like 
TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, audience response and intercommunication; 
the changing patterns of representation with a need for greater 
sensitivities in relation to intersectionality (i.e. race, ethnicity, 
gender, class, disability, sexuality – especially LGBTQIA).

*Day One*: presentations of papers including keynote speakers.

*Day Two*: round table discussions on key strands of the network’s 
research agenda (by invitation)

a. Cinemas, festivals, the online industry

b. Social media, networks and apps

c. Student engagement: cinemas, online streaming services, mobile 
technology. We invite anyone with an interest in the outlined topics to 
submit an abstract for a 20-minute presentation. Or introduce your own. 
Panels will be developed from the abstracts.

*Subtopics might include*

  * Changing consumption patterns:new audiences and viewers for the
    digital technologies- how to identify, measure and interact with
    viewers; big data
  * Changes in production, circulation and dissemination practices with
    reference to feature films, mini-series, and other visual culture
    (e.g. previews, pre-release trailers, You Tube clips)
  * Festivals (e.g. Flatpack; BFI; New York; Sundance; Cannes):
    highlights, community and international constituencies;
    dissemination practices
  * Prizes and awards (Emmys and Oscars): patterns of viewing,
    dissemination and consumption
  * Comparabilities between major and minor streaming platforms, media
    companies,subscription services (e.g. Netflix, Neon, I-Player, You
    Tube, BritBox, SkyQ, Acorn TV, Disney +, Amazon Prime)
  * Local, global and ‘glocal’ imaginaries – tracing strands in films,
    documentaries, mini-series: e.g. production techniques, locations,
    performance, fashion, settings, music, mise en scene, narrative schema
  * Gender, ethnicity and class: the changing sociology of the Black
    British/British Asian cinematic text
  * Diversity of viewing patterns: changing attendance in public venues
    like multiplex cinemas; picture houses; theatres; private (home)
    cinemas with niche audiences
  * Black Lives Matter:issues of Inclusivity, diversity and
    representation; industry racism and changing patterns of visibility
  * Online self-presentation and microcelebrity culture (e.g. Bilal
    Zafar, Michael Dapaah, Vee Brown, Asim Chaudhury, Mo Gilligan Ghuz
    Khan): the use of social media platforms
  * Changing settings and narratives: how do the new patterns of
    production and consumption affect styles of telling and techniques
    of presentation of Black British/British Asian visual culture? (e.g.
    role of social media in story line)
  * Black British/British Asian Music and film scores: South Asian disco
    music; soundtracks, original and adapted scores, UK Bollywood sound
  * Social media:unregulated/alternative opportunities for diverse voice
    and presence; or form of ghettoization?
  * Funding and sustainability of new visual culture: social media;
    crowd sourcing and other methods
  * Reception: reviewing practices on social media, Rotten Tomatoes,
    traditional media etc; the voice of the reviewer; minority groups
    responses
  * The ‘glocal’ marketplace: mainstream versus minority; niche markets,
    market drivers in relation to public interest
  *

*Deadline for abstracts*:

31 January 2022

*Please send to David Simmons at (David.Simmons /at/ northampton.ac.uk)*

*Publication:*Selected papers will be published in a special issue of 
the /Journal of Postcolonial Writing/ (scheduled for 2023)

*The Diaspora Screen Media Network: Previous events*

14 September 2021: Online workshop on ‘New Screen Media: The Digital 
Environment in the Post-COVID World’.

5 February 2020: Workshop held at University of Northampton on ‘The 
Impact of Social Media on Consumption Patterns of Diaspora Cinema and 
Media Cultures in modifying themes and issues’

Key texts studied include:Michaela Coel’s /I May Destroy You/; Guz 
Khan’s /Man Like Mobeen/;Gurinda Chadha’s /Blinded by the Light/ and 
/Bhaji on the Beach ;/ Steve McQueen’s /Small Acts/.

*See our new and updated website*at Birmingham City University: 
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/media/research/research-groups/creative-industries/research-projects/diaspora-screen-media-network


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