[Commlist] CFP Online Conference: Precarity and the Moving Image

This is a gentle reminder about the Call for Papers (CFP) for the 
inaugural online conference of The Cinematic Precarity Research Network 
<https://cinematicprecarityresearchnetwork.wordpress.com/>. The 
conference will be held online via Zoom on *December 14th, 2023*, under 
the theme */The Many Faces and Spaces of Precarity in the Moving Image/*.

We are thrilled to have *Prof. Guy Standing *as our distinguished 
keynote speaker.

**

*/“Another world is not only possible; she is on her way. On a quiet 
day, I can hear her breathing.”/*

*/Arundhati Roy/*


The objective of this conference is to bring together academics working 
on the issue of precarity and its relationship with "the moving image." 
Definitions of precarity are diverse and sometimes conflicting. Many of 
them aim to capture the dynamics and social transformations associated 
with the neoliberal turn and the mechanisms of the gig economy.


However, this term has assumed various meanings and appears to encompass 
a broader social and emotional predicament. Ecological crises indicate a 
precariousness of existence and "the human" itself, while the sense of 
individualization and fragmentation resulting from an economy based on 
debt/credit connects with new concerning authoritarian trends. A sense 
of political helplessness is often associated with these social forces 
that enact and perpetuate processes of marginalization, which in turn 
favor increasingly violent mechanisms of exploitation. However, mapping 
the various manifestations and contexts of precarity also offers an 
opportunity to recognize the multiplicity of a vulnerable world and its 
inhabitants, while simultaneously highlighting new forms of political 
subjectivity.

Therefore, this call for papers aims to consider the polysemic and 
ever-evolving uses of the notion of precarity, while also describing 
strategies to address the challenges it presents. Precarity can refer to 
issues and problems of representation, analyzing how subjectivities on 
screen are shaped and how their definitions intersect along lines of 
class, race, gender, and ability/disability. Precarity may also 
encompass new issues in film and media production and distribution, 
aiding in the effective evaluation of tensions between mainstream and 
"niche" screen culture, as well as strategies to challenge such 
divisions. Understanding these mechanisms is also linked to the 
possibility of tracing the genealogies of precarity in the diverse 
histories of cinema and audiovisual production, examining hegemonic and 
counter-hegemonic trends in their development. In this sense, the 
discussion and critical assessment of political and social strategies 
aimed at addressing (or, conversely, standardizing) the precarious 
status of the industry are also of great interest. On a more 
philosophical level, the precarious status of moving images in 
contemporary artistic and affective infrastructure is also a theme to be 
explored and carefully examined.

The underlying hope in this call for papers is that studying and 
analyzing the various facets of precarity (from the climate crisis to 
new forms of exploitation and marginalization) is not limited to 
sophisticated identification of the cracks and contradictions defining 
our era. The analytical work that we earnestly hope to undertake 
together is to harness the power of moving images in order to ignite the 
critical and passionate imagination of a new world that responds to the 
supposed inevitability of the current state of affairs.

*We invite the submission of abstracts (maximum 300 words) along with 
brief biographies (maximum 150 words) for presentations of approximately 
20 minutes in length. We encourage submissions that address the 
following topics:*

  * Precarity as a Strategy: The Neoliberal Governance
  * Ecological Precarity and the Precarious State of the Human;
    Eco-Fears and Necropolitics
  * Precarious Subjectivities and Spaces on Screen at the Intersection
    of Class, Gender, Race, Sexuality, Ability/Disability
  * Precarious Citizenship: Border as Method
  * Precarity and the Digital Economy; Digital Exhaustion
  * Precarity, Class, and Identity (and its problems?)
  * Discourses on Precarity, Social Activism, and New Unionism
  * Precarity in Production, Circulation, and Participation in Media 
Culture
  * Political and Productive Strategies Responding/Resisting Dynamics of
    Precarisation
  * Genealogies of Precarity Beyond the Limits of Contemporaneity
  * Precarious Narratives and Counter-Subjectivation
  * The Precarious Status of Moving Images; New Forms of Circulation and
    Spectatorship
  * Precarity and the Affective Labour in Relation to Transfeminist Thought
  * Ways to Address Precarity in Terms of Public Policies

The *deadline *for abstract submissions is *September 15th, 2023*. 
Please send your abstracts and biographies to the following email 
address: (cinematicprecaritynet /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(cinematicprecaritynet /at/ gmail.com)>

We hope you have a pleasant summer.

Kind regards,

Dr. Maria Elena Alampi and Dr. Francesco Sticchi
Organizers


*Bibliographical References*

Burucúa, C. Sitnisky, C. (2018) “Introduction: Forms of the Precarious 
in the Cinemas of the Americas” In /The Precarious in the Cinema of 
Americas/. Burucúa, C. Sitnisky, C. (eds.). New York: Palgrave 
Macmillan: pp. 1-15.

Ciccarelli, R. (2021), /Labour Power: Virtual and Actual in Digital 
Production/, translated by E. C. Gainsforth. Cham: Springer Nature.

Federici, S. (2009) 2009. /Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and 
Primitive Accumulation/, 3rd ed. New York: Autonomedia

Fisher, M. (2009) /Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?/. 
London: Zer0 Books.

Fraser, N. (2022) /Cannibal Capitalism: How Our System is Devouring 
Democracy, Care, and the Planet-and What We Can Do about it/. London: Verso.

Gago V. (2017) /Neoliberalism from Below: Popular Pragmatics and Baroque 
Economies/, trans. Mason-Deese L. London: Duke University Press.

Guattari, F. (1995) /Chaosmosis: An Ethico-Aesthetic Paradigm/. trans. 
P. Bayns and J. Pefanis. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Jaffe, S. (2021) /Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs 
Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone/. New York: Bold Type Books.

Kirsten, G. (2022) “Studying the Cinema of Precarity” In /Precarity in 
European Film/, E. Cuter, Kirsten G. Prenzel, H. (eds.). Berlin: De 
Gruyter: pp. 1-30.

Lorey, I. (2015)/ State of Insecurity: Government of the 
Precarious/ fore. by Butler, J. London: Verso.

Marx, K. (1993) /Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political 
Economy/, trans. and fore. by M. Nicolaus. London: Penguin Books.

Mbembe, A. (2019) /Necropolitics/, translation by S. Corcoran. London: 
Duke University Press.

Mezzadra, S. Nielson, B. (2019) /The Politics of Operations: Excavating 
Contemporary Capitalism/. London: Duke University Press.

Morini, C. (2010) /Per amore o per forza. Femminilizzazione del lavoro e 
biopolitiche del lavoro/ fore. by Judith Revel. Ombre Corte: Verona.

O’Shaughnessy, M. (2022) /Looking Beyond Neoliberalism: French and 
Francophone/

/Belgian Cinema and the Crisis/. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University press.

Piketty, T. (2014) /Capital in the Twenty-First Century/ trans. By 
A. Goldhammer 
<https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&field-author=Arthur+Goldhammer&text=Arthur+Goldhammer&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books-uk>. 
London: Harvard University Press.

Robinson, C. J. (2021) /Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical 
Tradition/ fore. By R. D. G. Kelley and preface by C. J. Robinson, D. 
Sojoyner, and T. Willoughby-Herard. London: Penguin.

Sassen, S. (2014) /Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global 
Economy/. London: Harvard University Press.

Standing, G. (2011) /The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class/. London: 
Bloomsbury.

Stimilli, E. (2019) /Debt and Guilt: A Political Philosophy/. London: 
Bloomsbury


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