[ecrea] CFP: Mediums of Trash/Trash Mediums (Trash Culture Edited Collection)

Mediums of Trash/Trash Mediums (Trash Culture Edited Collection)

Due Date: December 1, 2014



“The medium is the message”, declared Marshall McLuhan (1967) in his now 
famous book of the same name. He writes: “Societies have always been 
shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by 
the content of the communication” (2008: 8). Seemingly, the elements of 
Trash Culture have always prioritised the content over the medium, the 
supposed vulgarity contained in objects such as comic books rather than 
the aesthetics of the object itself, and the ‘crude’ programs on 
television rather than the television as a medium of communicating 
trash. The medium itself has therefore been a neglected element of Trash 
Culture, and in this way the notion of ‘trash’ must be discussed through 
lenses of technological and/or cultural determinism. The medium 
associated with Trash Culture continues to transform; comic books, now 
revered even in academic circles, were initially deemed juvenile 
material. With the advent of television, a new brand of trash was 
established amongst detractors. Newspapers have long been associated 
with exploiting trash, but how is tabloid news now received with the 
advent of online news? With the growth of social media and the internet, 
the spotlight has been temporarily taken off the television and 
newspapers, with Youtube, Facebook and Twitter now at the centre of the 
debate. This leads us to ask what happens to trash content that appears 
in non-trash related mediums, such as pornography in books or in the 
theatre? And what happens to high-brow content that appears in 
trash-related mediums, such as James Joyce’s Ulysses being adapted for 
comic book form, or art photography on Tumblr? Does the medium make the 
trash, or the trash make the medium?
While Henry Jenkins declares that old media never die, only transform, 
so too does the medium of trash. Thinking of the way in which low-brow 
content has persevered through various technologies, what can we glean 
from the relationship between a certain medium and the development of 
trash content? To what extent does the medium influence content, and 
vice versa? Does something become more or less trashy in one medium over 
another? Do certain forms of trash inform the aesthetics of the medium 
used to exploit it? Or does the actual appearance of a certain medium 
lend itself to the dissemination of trash? Crucial to this debate is the 
notion of dissemination and absorption. How have our consumption habits 
changed with the advent of newer mediums, and does this impact the way 
in which we perceive and interact with society? Are we more susceptible 
to messages through particular mediums? As Theodor Adorno would have it, 
the culture industries have a negative impact on social conscious, and 
yet others would advocate that we, as consumers/prosumers, are more 
active than passive. But how does the medium change the nature of the 
product? Are we more inclined to dismiss trash content from the digital 
realm, or in tangible form, such as pulp comics and magazines? How does 
the medium interact with and influence our relationship to the content?
Influenced strongly by McLuhan’s notion of the medium, this themed issue 
of Trash Culture Journal (or for a possible book publication) aims to 
discuss how certain technologies and media have influenced and shaped 
the structure and development of content described as trash, and how 
certain trash content has influenced the construction of various 
mediums. Do we conceive of all elements of trash in the same way 
regardless of how they are disseminated, or does the medium incorporated 
truly alter the existential nature of the object/content itself? Are we 
more forgiving of content depending on the medium used to communicate 
it, or does content remain trash in all mediums? As we look to a 
dramatic shift in the way in which individuals consume their media, away 
from the broadcast model towards greater interconnectivity and 
participation, how do forms of trash reflect or reject this 
technological shift?

We are looking for academic papers (5000-8000 words) that address but 
are not limited to:

-Assorted mediums of trash
-Thing Theory and the philosophy of things and objects
-Visual translation of trash content
-Technological Determinism and trash culture
-Print media/mediums and trash: books, comic books
-Electronic mediums: internet, phones, gaming consoles (Nintendo, 
PlayStation, Gameboy)
-Visual mediums: television, cinemas, theatres
-Newspapers and the ‘tabloidization’ of culture through print media
-Musical Trash: records (vinyls), CDs, mp3, ipod, instruments
-Pornography: Playboy Magazine, internet, books, comics
-Marxism and theories of mediums
-Fan fiction clubs, and online
-Television as ‘idiot box’
-Older methods of Trash
-Histories of trash mediums
-Hierarchies of Trash (Comic, Radio, Television, Internet)
-Youtube and Viral Culture
-Philosophical approaches to content creation in the media
-Sociological theories of consumption
-Culture Industries and the re-shaping of consumption habits

As well as this, theorists relevant to this theme include:

-Marshall McLuhan
-Karl Marx
-Theodor Adorno
-Max Horkheimer
-Raymond Williams
-Henry Jenkins
-Hannah Arendt
-Noam Chomsky
-Slavoj Zizek
-Etc.

Please send completed papers or queries to (trashculturejournal /at/ gmail.com) 
by December 1, 2014, along with a brief bio and 5-6 key words. See 
attached flyer.



---------------
ECREA-Mailing list
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier and ECREA.
--
To subscribe, post or unsubscribe, please visit
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
--
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Chaussée de Waterloo 1151, 1180 Uccle, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
---------------