[Commlist] Call for Papers: ‘Discarded Bodies and the Crisis in Indian Cinema’

Call for Papers: Film International

Special Issue: ‘Discarded Bodies and the Crisis in Indian Cinema’

View the full call here>>

https://www.intellectbooks.com/film-international-journal-of-world-cinema#call-for-papers 
<https://www.intellectbooks.com/film-international-journal-of-world-cinema#call-for-papers>

This Special Issue focuses on discard studies as an emerging 
interdisciplinary area of research that focuses on wider social, 
political, economic, cultural and material systems and practices through 
which certain groups of people are devalued, ignored, killed, cast out, 
removed, excluded and left behind. Although discard studies and waste 
studies carry forward a complex and incommensurate relationship and 
often overlap, they are not synonymous (Liboiron and Lepawsky 2022: 4). 
In this context, Max Liboiron (2018) differentiates waste studies from 
discard studies based on the idea that while waste studies focuses on 
material waste, such as trash and rubbish, discard studies encompasses 
people, places, future ways of life and more. Discard zones are 
designated by a small, privileged group that determines how a particular 
space, body or place can be considered disposable. Thus, the 
legitimization of something once treated as non-disposable into 
something immediately disposable involves a political transaction.

The practice of discarding encompasses the displacement of Adivasis, 
Indigenous or marginalized people due to modern development, resource 
extraction and other forms of capitalist accumulation. Further, 
discarding, discrimination and exclusion based on religion, race, caste, 
sex, gender, politics, colour, etc. can also be put into this category. 
The practice of discarding a certain group of people is an ever-existing 
social crisis, which often goes unnoticed as its effect is not easily 
tangible, perceptible and often lacks mainstream media representation. 
Such practice involves complex socio-political aspects and is aggravated 
and aided by various types of power, like discursive, material and 
institutional. Such discarding is intensified during any specific 
unrest, crisis or turmoil. For example, during public health crises or 
pandemics like COVID-19, we witness how a particular group of people is 
turned away from proper health care and safety while some others had 
such privilege. There is no doubt that such discrimination will be 
prevalent during a potential future crisis caused by climate change, 
which will, as Dipesh Chakrabarty writes, ‘accentuate the logic of 
inequality’ (2009: 221) between the privileged and the poor, 
marginalized and other discarded bodies. Besides, with the rising 
migration worldwide and the border politics of globalization, certain 
groups of people will not only be discarded but also become human waste 
(Bauman 2004). Discard studies, therefore, reflects not just on people 
but also on places/spaces, exploring the discourse on how certain 
spaces/places/bodies are abandoned and considered ‘sacrifice zones’ 
(Liboiron 2018). For example, zones such as those surrounding mining 
areas, dams and industries lead to ecological crises for certain groups 
of species who are exposed and vulnerable to them.

In recent years, discard studies has received significant scholarly 
attention. For example, Marco Armiero, in his book Wasteocene (2021), 
engages with such practices on a broader scale and describes the 
‘Wasteocene’ as a ‘wasting relationship’ that is planetary in scope and 
produces ‘wasted people and places’ (2021: 2). Further, there is also a 
dedicated website (Worldwide Waste), which focuses exclusively on this 
specific area. However, Max Liboiron and Josh Lepawsky, in their 
groundbreaking book Discard Studies: Wasting, Systems, and Power (2022), 
observe that the more attention is being given to this area, the ‘more 
crucial’ it becomes to contextualize such problems and practices (2022: 
6). For instance, if the Global South can be seen as a dumping yard for 
the Global North in general, within the Global North, the 
underprivileged, ghettoized communities are forced to live in proximity 
with discarded areas. Similarly, within the Global South, the 
underprivileged are often exposed to residing in close proximity to 
discarded zones. The phenomenon, however, is much larger than such a 
simplistic perspective. In this context, however, this Special Issue 
seeks contributions of research articles that explore varied discourses 
on how discarded individuals/bodies are treated, essentialized, 
represented and visualized in Indian cinema and popular media. It also 
aims to examine the interrelations between the presence of discarded 
elements within our society and its contribution to the sustainability 
question. We look forward to submissions addressing topics including but 
not limited to:

  *

    Indian mainstream cinema and discard studies

  *

    Regional cinema and discarded bodies

  *

    Indian cinema and SDGs

  *

    Cinema and sustainability question

  *

    Indian cinema, necropolitics and biopolitics

  *

    Politics of representation

  *

    Cinematic historiography and discarded bodies

  *

    Discard, ecology and cinema

  *

    Neoliberalism and discourses on discarded spaces/bodies/zones

  *

    Discarding induced precarity, vulnerability, and environmental
    (in)justice.

Submission guidelines

We invite extended abstracts of 500 words, along with a short bio-note 
of about 150 words including the name, contact details, major 
publications and institutional affiliation. The authors of the selected 
abstracts will then be invited to write and submit the completed 
articles (up to 30 pages or 6000–8000 words, double-spaced, including 
references). Please note that accepted abstracts do not guarantee 
publication in the issue. This will also depend on a double-blind peer 
review of completed essays.

Submit your abstracts no later than 15 January 2026to this Special 
Issue’s common mail id: (specialissueadj /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(specialissueadj /at/ gmail.com)>. Please mention 'Abstract submission 
FINT: Discard Studies' as the subject of your mail. In case of any 
queries, please contact this Special Issue’s co-editors, Dr Debajyoti 
Biswas at (deb61594 /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(deb61594 /at/ gmail.com)>, Abhijit Maity 
at (abhijit /at/ lsr.du.ac.in) <mailto:(abhijit /at/ lsr.du.ac.in)>and Dr Joydev Maity 
at (joydevmaity1993 /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(joydevmaity1993 /at/ gmail.com)>.


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