[Commlist] CfP for Inter-disciplinary Symposium on Survival Media, University of St Andrews

Since the early 2000s, a wide range of 'survival' media has been 
created, watched, played and explored. Alongside the rise in the 
production of survival media, this popularity is also evidenced by the 
prevalence of survival narratives in more traditionally established 
genres such as horror, disaster and thrillers. From reality TV shows 
like Survivor, survival icons such as Bear Grylls and Ray Mears, to 
video games such as The Long Dark, to documentaries such as Grizzly Man, 
from advertising campaigns, to films such as Trapped, 127 Hours, The 
Revenant; this symposium examines what can be learnt from examining 
these narratives which foreground human survival. What does the 
popularity of survival narratives in contemporary media tell us about 
the realities and concerns of individual and collective survival across 
the world? Positioning survival media as a 21st century global 
phenomenon, how can we understand the challenges of our survival in the 
contemporary world such as climate change by exploring the landscapes 
and terrains imagined by survival media?
This symposium aims to engage with these questions and bring together 
all who are who working on survival media across the disciplines. 
Inviting works on survival films, reality and fictional television, 
literature, video games, advertising and other forms to a symposium, all 
work will be shared in a day-long event on April 30th 2019 at the 
University of St Andrews. We invite conference-style papers of 20 
minutes, more informal 5 minute interventions and debates, and other 
more experimental presentations of both academic and practice-based 
work. There will also be a survival media-themed activity followed by a 
plenary Q&A. The symposium is designed to facilitate discussion on this 
engaging topic, aid inter-disciplinary networking and provoke new 
questions on the notion of ‘survival’.
We invite papers focused on the following issues and that foreground 
human survival and more:
Climate change, the Anthropocene and Eco-cinema Spaces of survival and 
world creation Narratives of survival Survival as an inter-disciplinary 
topic Aesthetics of survival Politics and ideology of survival The 
‘surviving’ body Gender and identity in survival
Proposals of no more than 250 words and a 50 word bio should be sent no 
later than February 22nd 2019 to: Cassice Last- (cl225 /at/ st-andrews.ac.uk) 
and Shruti Narayanswamy- (sn52 /at/ st-andrews.ac.uk)
There are a few travel bursaries available for PG students and ECRs 
which will be assigned by a lottery system.
This conference is brought to you with financial support from the St 
Leonard's Doctoral and Postgraduate College Community Fund, the 
University of St Andrews CAPOD GRADskills Innovation Grant / PG 
Conference Fund and the BAFTSS Event Grant Scheme.

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