[ecrea] CFP: Transnational ecocinemas: film culture in an era of ecological transformation

> Transnational ecocinemas: film culture in an era of ecological transformation
>
> A critical collection edited by Pietari Kääpä
>
> Critical analysis of Hollywood cinema dominates 
> much of the contemporary work on ecocriticism 
> and the cinema. While discussion of Hollywood 
> and other place-centric films is important (ie. 
> Lu and Mi?s work on Chinese ecocinema), it is 
> vital to contextualize such ideas within the 
> transnational economic and geopolitical system, 
> especially concerning the proposed ?global? 
> solutions to environmental concerns. There is a 
> clear need for more sustained critical 
> interrogation of the ways concerns central to 
> transnational cinema studies (eg. hybridity, 
> post-colonialism, diaspora, the geopolitics and 
> economics of global inequality) feature in 
> cinematic analysis of the global ecoscape. The 
> adoption of theoretical and methodological tools 
> from transnational studies allows us to address 
> the very real economic and political factors 
> that are being negotiated and challenged in much of global cinema.
>
> Instead of validating, advertently or 
> inadvertently, the centrality of US-based 
> ecocinema, shifting the focus to transnational 
> considerations allows us to build a more complex 
> picture of the ways ecological considerations 
> work (g)locally, ultimately expanding our 
> framework to explore the global impact they 
> have. This does not merely involve focusing on 
> the types of films usually considered as part of 
> the canon of transnational cinema (ie. marginal, 
> liminal, postcolonial, hybrid or any number of 
> other adjectives designating their somewhat 
> ?lesser? position on a global scale). Rather, 
> the aim is to shed light on a range of films and 
> cinematic practices from different cultural 
> contexts that may be overshadowed by the 
> critical attention paid to mainstream ecocinema 
> (ranging from Gore to Emmerich). Yet, we do not 
> neglect the important contributions US-centric 
> films have made to global eco-awareness. Indeed, 
> the interaction and increasing blurring between 
> different ecocinemas, especially in distribution 
> and exhibition, is one of the key areas the book seeks to interrogate.
>
> This volume has four methodological orientations 
> in mind: 1) a materialist-industrial study of 
> the potential of cinema to envision and provide 
> more sustainable practices for cultural 
> production and dissemination; 2) ecocritical 
> readings of specific films from different 
> cultural contexts; 3) reception studies of 
> (trans)local audiences and their engagement with 
> ecological texts; 4) the potential of media 
> convergence to advance cinematic ecologicalism.
>
> Topics to be discussed:
> The politics of development: ecosocialist rhetoric in transnational cinemas
> Ecodocumentaries: planetarism and local realities
> Anthropomorphism in different cultural contexts
> Human ecology and cross-border/domestic migration
> Mobile media and new directions in producing/distributing ecocinema
> Anti- or neo-hegemonic transnational /regional ecopolitics
> The city and urban / human ecology
> Post-humanism and post-colonialist theory
> Industrial developments, especially in markets 
> rarely addressed in ecocinematic literature (Bollywood, Nollywood etc.)
> Haptic spectatorship and affectivity, especially 
> in translocal reception contexts
>
> The collection is under contract with Intellect 
> publishing and due out in early 2012.
>
> Please send short proposals for articles 
> (150-200 words) and brief author information to 
> Dr. Pietari Kääpä 
> ((Pietari.Kaapa /at/ nottingham.edu.cn)) by March 14 
> 2011. Manuscript submission deadline will be in late 2011.

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