[ecrea] Call for chapters - 'Mythologies' Today (and Together)

Research Project - Pete Bennett and Julian McDougall

Working title - Myth Today (and Together): Theory under reconstruction 
(Routledge, 2013).

Dear Prospective Author

We are inviting a range of published and cited expert teachers in the 
field of Media / Cultural Studies to contribute essays for a new edited 
collection of 'Mythologies' (after Barthes, 1972) for the year 2012. 
This is part of a broader project exploring the relationship between 
Media teachers (both inside and outside of The Academy), their students 
and 'theorising'/ 'writing Theory'/using Theory.  This project uses 
Barthes' seminal text as both exemplar and conduit and will produce both 
the 28 item 'expert reader' described above and a more diverse online 
record of teacher-student collaborations which will be edited down to 54 
items.  These seemingly arbitrary numbers merely reflect the scale of 
Barthes' original (1957) and its first English translation (1972).  Our 
research will ultimately consider the relationships between these new 
versions of a 'classic' text -- and what that might mean.
Should you accept the invitation, we will require you to:

.       Select a contemporary cultural event / practice / text which you 
identify as having equivalent mythological meaning as the range of 
cultural material Barthes discussed in his collection.

.       Produce an essay (3-4000 words) which engages with the cultural 
event / practice / text as mythological from any perspective you wish.   
You are not required to adopt a structuralist approach and you are at 
liberty to take issue with the notion of 'mythologies' / semiotics or to 
offer an updating / reworking / challenge of any kind.  On the other 
hand, you are equally welcome to remain faithful to Barthes' approach 
and / or style, or to take a position 'in between'.

The editors will produce a reworking of the 'Myth Today' essay. This 
piece will discuss your contributions and compare the approaches taken.

If you can be persuaded to contribute, we would like you to observe 
these deadlines --

.       100 word abstract for your essay -- Jan 20th 2012 (please email 
to (j.mcdougall /at/ wlv.ac.uk))

.       Decisions made about acceptances / developing full proposal and 
contract -- by Feb 10th 2012

.       First draft of essay - May 18th 2012

Further deadlines for redrafting will be set by the publisher.

We really hope you are interested in joining us on this project.

Pete Bennett and Julian McDougall
16.12.11


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Dr Julian McDougall | Reader in Education
Centre for Developmental and Applied Research in Education
University of Wolverhampton
Walsall Campus | Gorway Road | Walsall |WS1 3BD
01902 323264 | 07808 657933
skype: silvertwin168 | twitter: @julianmcdougall

Editor: The Media Education Research Journal http://www.merj.info/