[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rendering it outdated or not in tune with the concerns of young women in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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