[Commlist] CFP: The power of shame in film and media

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR A DUAL-SCOPE PUBLICATION: THE POWER OF SHAME IN FILM 
AND MEDIA

SHAME, POWER AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN MEDIA, an edited volume for 
Bloomsbury Publications

WATCHING WITH SHAME: AFFECTS AND ETHICS IN MEDIA SPECTATORSHIP, a 
Special Issue of Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind

Editors: Mette Kramer, Catalin Brylla & Karen Adkins

Deadline for abstract submissions: 3 April 2026

Shame is a uniquely complex and ambivalent emotion, simultaneously 
self-protective and self-effacing, socially regulated and deeply 
internalised (Brown 2006). Its survival-oriented and self-reflective 
dimensions make it a potent tool for media persuasion, capable of 
producing both critical awareness and conformity, which we hope to 
critically address in the two volumes. Shame is not only experienced 
personally, intersubjectively and socially, but also para-socially, 
operating across different modes of expression, reception and 
communication. For this reason, a wide range of disciplines across the 
humanities, social sciences and natural sciences have examined the 
mechanisms and effects of shame.

Beyond its subjective and interpersonal dimensions, shame is often 
structurally produced through dominant cultural narratives and social 
norms that privilege certain identities while rendering others deviant, 
deficient or burdensome (Ahmed 2004). Within marginalised groups, this 
dynamic frequently operates through exposure to, and internalisation of, 
stigmatising representations, whereby media consumers absorb and 
reproduce hegemonic beliefs that frame their social positioning as 
‘inferior’ (Brylla & Hughes 2017). Shame, in this sense, functions as a 
mechanism of social control - an affective technology that reinforces 
existing hierarchies by discouraging resistance and sustaining 
self-surveillance. Contemporary political cultures have further 
intensified this dynamic through forms of strategic or performative 
shamelessness, prominent in alt-right, conservative movements and 
populist political discourse (Bowden 2021). These not only reject shame 
at the moral level of the political actor but actively weaponise it 
against marginalised groups through practices of public othering and 
discrimination (Wodak 2019). Nevertheless, shame can also serve as a 
tool for social resistance, serving as a social indictment of people who 
are complicit in oppressive norms and structural injustice (Lebron, 2013).

In psychology, shame is considered “an acutely painful emotion that is 
typically accompanied by a sense of shrinking or ‘being small,’ and by a 
sense of worthlessness and powerlessness. Shamed people also feel 
exposed. Although shame does not necessarily involve an actual observing 
audience to witness one's shortcomings, there is often the imagery of 
how one's defective self would appear to others.” (Leary and Tangney 
2004: 18). Shame thus constitutes a complex higher-order social emotion 
that can be both destructive and adaptive. Research has focused on its 
functions and origins, as well as its distinction from related 
self-conscious emotions such as guilt. Directed inward, shame arises 
when individuals perceive themselves as deficient or morally wrong in 
the eyes of the social world (Sheikh and Janoff-Bullman 2010). As a 
self-conscious emotion, it can inhibit both self-oriented and 
other-oriented empathy, at times activating primitive survival responses 
such as fight, flight, freeze or fawn (Kaufman 1996). At the same time, 
shame engages higher-order moral processes that regulate social norms 
and ego ideals. It can also function as a catalyst for self-reflection 
and vulnerability, underscoring its deeply ambivalent role in emotional 
and social life (Piretti et al 2023).

Within Western philosophy, shame has been examined in relation to 
respect and its valence as a moral emotion. A central debate concerns 
whether shame is universal and grounded in human dignity and 
recognition, or whether it is conditional, tied to achievement, social 
roles, and thus susceptible to use as a mechanism of status improvement 
or decline (Darwall 1977, Nussbaum 2004). Within this moral framework, 
some psychologists and philosophers debate the moral utility and danger 
of shame, while others conceptualise it as a cognitive emotion oriented 
towards self-knowledge, which gives shame the propensity to be both an 
internal and external regulator.

We are soliciting contributions for two publications on shame:

1) EDITED VOLUME: SHAME, POWER AND CULTURAL IDENTITY (BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING)
This edited volume approaches shame through a broad, interdisciplinary 
lens, with a particular focus on its role in shaping cultural identity. 
It invites contributions from across disciplines, with an emphasis on 
media texts, platforms, production and reception (not limited to film), 
examined from interdisciplinary perspectives. Given the substantive 
differences in how shame is conceptualised, whether as a universal human 
emotion or as culturally and contextually specific, the volume aims to 
juxtapose overlapping and divergent interpretations of shame across 
fields. It further seeks to examine how shame, within contemporary 
cultural and political landscapes, shapes identities across different 
communities and individuals, with consequences for how we perceive 
ourselves and others, and how we negotiate contexts of shame.

For this edited volume, we welcome theoretical and methodological 
contributions from across the humanities, social and natural sciences, 
including psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, media and 
cultural studies, health and medicine, that draw on interdisciplinary 
approaches to shame, power and cultural identity. We particularly 
encourage submissions that engage with diverse cultural, geopolitical 
and socio-historical contexts, including perspectives and case studies 
from the Global South.

Following abstract acceptance, the word count for chapters will be 
6000-8000 words (excluding footnotes and references).

Bloomsbury’s mission and values can be found here: 
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/connect/about-us/missions-and-values/

2) SPECIAL ISSUE: WATCHING WITH SHAME: AFFECTS AND ETHICS IN MEDIA 
SPECTATORSHIP (PROJECTIONS: THE JOURNAL FOR MOVIES AND MIND)
Cognitive film theory has extensively examined basic emotions in 
audiences, yet higher-order cognitive emotions such as shame and guilt 
have received comparatively less attention, making shame a particularly 
timely focus for the journal. This special issue invites contributions 
that explore shame as a force in film and media spectatorship: as both a 
persuasive and self-reflective emotion mobilised in ideological contexts 
and as a hegemonic mechanism that governs the emotional lives and 
self-conceptions of viewers, especially those situated within 
marginalised communities. The representation and elicitation of shame 
can generate powerful spectatorial responses, prompting affective and 
cognitive shifts that engage viewers’ negotiations of intersecting 
social identities such as class, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, gender 
and disability. These processes may also involve individual journeys 
with therapeutic and introspective objectives that negotiate 
vulnerability and self-awareness.

For this special issue, we welcome theoretical and methodological 
contributions from across media psychology, the humanities and the 
social and natural sciences, drawing on interdisciplinary approaches to 
shame and spectatorship across a wide range of media forms, in line with 
the journal’s remit. We particularly encourage submissions engaging with 
media and cultural practices in the Global South. The issue will include 
contributions from Professor Emeritus Torben Grodal and other invited 
authors.

Following abstract acceptance, articles should not exceed 8,000 words 
(excluding footnotes and references).

Projections’ Aims and Scope can be found here: 
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/projections/projections-overview.xml?tab_body=about

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (for both publications)

Please submit:
• the title of your proposed contribution
• a 300 word abstract
• up to five key references (APA or MLA)

All submissions must be fully anonymised for peer review. Please include 
a separate document containing the title of your submission, your name, 
institutional affiliation and contact details. The editors will consider 
all submissions for both publications; contributors are invited to 
indicate any strong preference for book or journal publication in their 
submission. Abstracts should be submitted to ALL three editors.

For further information or queries, please contact the editors:

Mette Kramer: (kramermette1 /at/ gmail.com)
Catalin Brylla: (cbrylla /at/ yahoo.com)
Karen Adkins: (kmookins /at/ msn.com)

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