[ecrea] Call for Papers: Fame-inism: Feminism and Global Celebrity Culture Special Issue of Celebrity Studies

Call for Papers: Fame-inism: Feminism and Global Celebrity Culture

Special Issue of Celebrity Studies

Guest Editors:
Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs, University of Salford, UK
Natasha Patterson, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada
Camilla A. Sears, Thompson Rivers University, Canada

For this special issue of Celebrity Studies, the editors are seeking 
proposals on the topic of feminism and celebrity culture. In recent 
years, contemporary celebrity culture has broached the topic of 
feminism, and increasingly, celebrities – men and women – are expected 
to make very public subscriptions to or rejections of a feminist 
identity. For instance, popular magazines like Cosmopolitan, provides “A 
Handy Guide to Celebrity Feminists” – and ask questions like, Where do 
our favourite celebrities stand on feminism? Without question, celebrity 
culture has become an important site for the production of meaning or 
understanding about feminism, especially in light of the commonly held 
belief that the struggles of the feminist movement – gender equality, 
equal pay, and so on – have been achieved, rendering it outdated or not 
in tune with the concerns of young women in contemporary society. In 
this way, the concept of “postfeminism” has been a useful tool for 
thinking about how feminism is framed within popular culture. Yet, these 
ongoing debates about what feminism is, or is not, or who can claim 
membership, as writ large in celebrity culture and through celebrities, 
clearly demonstrates that the movement still carries importance and 
resonates with audiences. And in such a way, it seems key for scholars 
to attend to the question, what does feminism look like in this culture?

While we welcome proposals that attend to these issues from a Western 
perspective, our goal for this special issue is to reflect a diverse 
array of perspectives in terms of content and location. Therefore, this 
special issue aims to explore discursive struggles over the meaning of 
feminism and celebrity culture in both Western and non-Western contexts.

Suggested paper topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Thinking beyond Western borders – what can studies of celebrities 
cross-culturally, tell us about the state of feminism globally?

• How do feminist theories/frameworks help us to understand or 
critically interrogate celebrity culture? What inequalities or power 
dynamics invite feminist critiques of celebrity culture?

• The concept of (white) celebrity feminism and how this idea has gained 
ground globally via social media, particularly through the politics of 
the feminist celebrity philanthropist (e.g. #HeforShe/Emma Watson).

• The relationship between surveillance culture and female celebrities; 
the policing of public figures

• The rise of “ordinary” celebrities through the global circulation of 
reality TV formats and social media such as “localebrities” or 
“micro-celebrities”

• Intersectional analyses of celebrity feminists/feminism

• The rise of the “male celebrity feminist”

• How does celebrity and sexuality intersect globally?  Explore the 
rising fame and star quality of female actors within the adult 
pornographic genre – and their connections to a feminist identity

Interested authors should send a 500 word proposal and 200-word 
biography to (fameinism /at/ gmail.com) by January 15, 2016. Please direct 
general enquiries to this email address as well. Acceptance notices will 
be sent out by February 15 2015. For accepted proposals, completed 
essays of 6000-8000 words will be due no later than June 1, 2016. Final 
publication of the special issue is expected late 2017. Only previously 
unpublished essays will be considered.

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