[Commlist] Call for Chapters: The Wild: Image, Industry, and Technology

The modern construction of ‘the Wild’ is firmly imprinted in the 
transcultural fabric of humanity, from Egyptian menageries to National 
Parks and from the writings of Robert Frost to the wares of REI. This 
construction is deeply rooted in our cultural and biological existence 
as the descendants of hunter-gatherers, for whom the Wild was a giver 
and taker of life—a space to be feared, revered, before ultimately 
tamed, controlled, and reconstructed in our image. Today, the Wild of 
our ancestors exists only in memory; an unreliable recollection of the 
natural world that has been reimagined, politicized, exploited, and 
commodified. The feeling of this existential co-dependence is now 
mediated through images in Instagram posts as opposed to images on cave 
walls. This collection will feature transdisciplinary work that focuses 
on the interplay of political economy and the environmental humanities 
in the ‘post-capital Wild,’ spanning the fields of media studies, 
history, and environmental communication.


The public’s contemporary environmental consciousness is increasingly 
shaped by mediated renderings of the wilderness. This articulation of 
ecological space and geography through popular culture, news media, and 
green persuasion increasingly situates nature as socially constructed 
phenomena. The Wild: Image, Industry, and Technology aims to 
contextualize this mediation of environmental phenomena, while 
establishing popular, social, specialist, and strategic media not only 
as a reflection of ecological perceptions and values, but also as a 
driver of ecological rift.


We invite submissions for a co-edited collection—currently under 
contract with Lexington Books for a 2024 release—that ask and address 
questions such as:


  *

    What role has the entertainment and edu-tainment industry played
    historically and contemporarily in rendering public understandings
    of nature?

  *

    How is environmental communication impacted by the combination of
    nature with technology?

  *

    How does spatial media such as satellite and aerial videography
    reconfigure existing knowledge of ecology?

  *

    How is nature co-opted for the interests of profit, power, and
    political ideologies?

  *

    What is the impact of rhetorically-defined wild spaces through
    constitutive naming, media promotion, and advertising?

  *

    How does the emphasis of nature as a “lifestyle” align with material
    realities?

  *

    How does the news media navigate prominent environmental stories,
    including climate change, and what are the long-term consequences of
    this attention?

  *

    What is the role of social media in popularizing nature with new
    audiences, including visual-intensive channels such as Instagram and
    YouTube?


For consideration, please submit a 500-word abstract for your proposed 
chapter as well as a biography to (wildcfp /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(wildcfp /at/ gmail.com)>. The deadline for submissions is Monday, 
August 14, 2023. If selected, a complete 5,000-8,000 word draft of the 
chapter will be due in early January 2024.


Potential contributors are welcome to contact either of the editors for 
more information or questions:


  *

    Dr. Derek Moscato, Associate Professor, Department of Journalism,
    Western Washington University, (moscatd /at/ wwu.edu) <mailto:(moscatd /at/ wwu.edu)>

  *

    Dr. Phillip D. Duncan, Assistant Professor, Division of Humanities,
    Eureka College, (pduncan /at/ eureka.edu) <mailto:(pduncan /at/ eureka.edu)>


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