|
We are pleased to announce that CMCS has been in the news again. Please find the latest media coverage along with updates on featured conferences and publications below. Accepted CMCS conference delegates are encouraged to register for the early bird deadline Monday, February 29, 2016. Guidelines to short listed candidates will be sent shortly. For conference enquiries, contact Dr Jackie Raphael and Dr Celia Lam at celeb_studies@gmail.com.
---
Conference Registrations
3rd International Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS) Conference
Bridging Gaps: What are the media, publicists and celebrities selling?
Red Room, Four Points, Barcelona
July 3 – 5, 2016
Opening Keynote Speaker:
• Professor P. David Marshall, Deakin University
Roundtable Key Speakers:
• Dr Nathan Farrell, Bournemouth University
• Dr Jackie Raphael, Curtin University
Workshop Key Speakers:
• Dr Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs, The University of Salford
• Dr Celia Lam, University of Notre Dame Australia
Registration for delegates and guests are below the CFP http://cmc-centre.com/conferences/barcelona/
3rd International Celebrity Studies Conference: Authenticating Celebrity
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam
June 28 - 30, 2016
Keynote Speakers:
• David Giles, University of Winchester
• Joke Hermes, University of Amsterdam
• Jo Littler, City University London
• Alice E. Marwick, Fordham University
• Ginette Vincendeau, King’s College London
Registration details: http://celebritystudiesconference.com/registration/
Call for Papers
4th Annual Fan Studies Network Conference 2016
University of East Anglia, Norwich
June 25 - 26, 2016
Keynote Speaker:
Call for Contributors:
From Dennis Cutchins <dennis_cutchins@byu.edu>
Hooray for Hollywood: A Cultural Encyclopedia of America’s Dream Factory, edited by Bob Batchelor, Norma Jones, and Kathleen Turner
Hollywood has long influenced popular culture, both as a source of entertainment and as the subject of legends. Written for high school and college students, as well as intelligent general readers yearning for factual, well-research and well-written material, this encyclopedia examines the history and mystery of Hollywood, focusing on the presence of Hollywood in the American popular imagination. Entries will focus on individuals (actors, directors, writers, and producers), films, television shows, technologies, and issues surrounding contemporary Hollywood.
We need writers RIGHT NOW!
We also have compensation for some of the entries!
Send a CV and the editors will provide a list of entries in search of writers.
Bob Batchelor at cultpopculture@gmail.com, Norma Jones at normajones@smartypop.com, Kathleen Turner at turner8kathleen@gmail.com
Call for Contributors:
The Lost Generation: An Encyclopedia
Editors: Bob Batchelor and Kathleen M. Turner
The Lost Generation: An Encyclopedia brings to life the Jazz Age and the artists, writers, and influential figures that made it one of the nation’s most interesting and compelling periods. Since commentators often use the Lost Generation in comparison with our own age, the reference work enables readers and researchers engaged with the topic a means of understanding the comparison, as well as the contrasting ideas driving that era and our own.
Each article will include the name and affiliation of the contributor in the byline of the entry. This project will be published by Rowman & Littlefield. We are currently making assignments, deadlines will be on a rolling basis.
Please express interest to both editors. We encourage graduate students, advanced undergraduates, faculty and staff members, and writers/journalists interested in the period to write for this important reference work.
Bob Batchelor (cultpopculture@gmail.com) and Kathleen M. Turner (kturner@aurora.edu).
Send a CV and the editors will provide a list of entries in search of writers.
Call for Authors / Proposals:
Bob Batchelor edits 5 book series for Rowman & Littlefield, proposals and/or queries about possible books, should be sent directly to him. Book proposals must include a sample chapter and other details available at the R&L site.
Other specific interests: Call for Editors:
The Encyclopedia of Marvel Superheroes
The Encyclopedia of Marvel Villains
The Encyclopedia of DC Superheroes
The Encyclopedia of DC Villains
The 100 Greatest Comedy Albums
The 100 Greatest Characters in Young Adult Literature
Pulitzer Prize Winners on Film
Cultural History of the NYT Bestseller List
Series:
Contemporary American Literature (The Cultural History of Comic Books, Faulkner, Morrison, Richard Ford, John Irving, etc.)
Great Authors/Great Works
Sports Icons and Issues in Popular Culture
100 Greatest…
The Cultural History of Television (particularly The Office & Lost)
Additional CFPs: http://smartypop.com/
Call For Papers
National Populists: Right-wing Celebrity Politicians in Contemporary
Europe (Special Issue of Celebrity Studies)
Guest Editors:
Neil Ewen, University of Winchester, UK.
David Zeglen, George Mason University, USA.
In recent years, the aura of celebrity has proven attractive to neo-nationalist politicians who have become influential, and in some cases dominant, players in the construction of their own regional hegemonies. This special issue of Celebrity Studies brings together articles that focus on the ways that different populist/neo-nationalist politicians in Europe both from the central (the United Kingdom and France) and the periphery (Russia, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia) have utilized celebrity to convert their mythological narratives into forms of legitimacy through the media. While the socio-economic levels, cultural contexts, and media ecologies of European countries vary widely between themselves, this special issue will suggest that the common democratic dream of Europe which is, of course, currently under urgent threat provided rich terrain for the growth of celebrity politics. As Europe fragments, and as a result of the alienation and anxiety provoked by neoliberalism, many European groups have become increasingly vulnerable to radical forms of solidarity exploited by populist politicians who understand, and show a mastery of, their own affective power as celebrities. These case studies, through the interrogation of the celebrity politician within the political economy of the particular national context, will consider what ways, and to what extent, celebrity's intersection with official political action is changing the ways Europe's nations are imagined and governed in the era of neoliberal globalization.
We are seeking one further article to complete a special issue that already comprises pieces by a diverse group of established and emerging scholars on Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, Nigel Farage, Marine Le Pen, Slobodan, MiloÅ¡eviÄ, Viktor Orbán, and Vladimir Putin. We would be particularly interested in proposals on the following figures: Silvio Berlusconi, Pim Fortuyn, JÃrg Haider, Pia Kjærsgaard, Frauke Petry, and Geert Wilders.
Interested authors should send a proposal (approx. 500 words) and a short biography to Dr. Neil Ewen ( neil.ewen@winchester.ac.uk < mailto:neil.ewen@winchester.ac.uk>) by 11 March 2016, and will receive responses by 18 March. The completed article (6000-8000 words) will be due 1 July 2016. Only previously unpublished essays will be
considered.
Featured Publications:
Celebrity Studies
Volume 7, Issue 1
Special edition “The Blonde Issue”
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcel20/7/1#.VsnfWzf2brc
Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media
Issue 8: Winter/Spring 2016
Special Issue: “Fifty Shades of Grey”
http://intensitiescultmedia.com/issue-8-winterspring-2016/
Media Coverage:
CMCS director Dr Samita Nandy has been covered for informed opinions on BBC, Jimmy Kimmel Live show, and the Snoop Dogg petition in Humber News. Read the news report here: http://humbernews.ca/thousands-sign-petition-to-have-snoop-dogg-narrate-planet-earth/
CMCS seminar panelist and Ryerson University’s Sal Greco shares comments on the news. Visit https://samitanandy.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/entertainment-vs-information-in-popular-culture/ to read.
Media Coverage:
CMCS editorial board member Nidhi Shrivastava publishes her latest commentary on Indian higher education and Bollywood films in Anokhi Media. Her latest publications are available for reading here:
Part 1 http://anokhimedia.com/magazine/is-academic-pressure-threatening-the-lives-of-indias-students-part-1
Part 2 http://anokhimedia.com/magazine/is-the-caste-system-behind-the-recent-rise-of-student-suicides-part-ii
Career Tips:
From University Affairs columnist and CMCS media workshop panelist Dr Jennifer Polk (www.fromphdtolife.com)
11 Things You Can Do to Mentor and Support Other PhDs
One of the things that struck me when I was first starting out my "ok now what?" phase was just how willing other professionals were to help me out. They were glad to offer their advice and share their own stories. This was surprising to me because I was afraid of reaching out to strangers and even people I already knew, to ask them to talk to me. Once I started actually doing informational interviews, I realized just how much my own fears had no basic in reality!
I'm no longer surprised by this willingness of more experienced professionals to help, guide, and otherwise support more junior folk. I'm building a career doing just that! Instead, I've thought lots over the years about how I can facilitate graduate students and PhDs connecting with each other. I want to share with you some of the things I do and have done, and make suggestions about how you can get involved in this, whether it's in the context of career transition or supporting dissertators and other academics.
1. Be an accountability partner or writing buddy.
Consider linking up with another person to keep yourselves accountable or make doing your work a bit more fun. I meet each week over Skype with a PhD in Perth, Australia who's also working on a book. We keep ourselves accountable and offer suggestions as needed. But it's also fun to chat with someone going through a similar process. In our case it's writing short books for self-publication, but your project could be dissertating, studying for comps, or working on job applications.
2. Create and moderate a private, closed Facebook support group.
I'm currently in a FB group created by a friend of mine. She's a professor and many of the group members are also professors. In the fall term, the point of the group was to write at least 2 sentences a day on whatever project we were working on. Then we had to report back to the group each day. It was a fun way to keep accountable and get a bit of inspiration to do a very manageable amount of work on a regular basis! This is a volunteer effort on my friend's part.
3. Host and facilitate a reading group or similar guided learning and feedback experience.
This can be a peer-to-peer effort, and I bet a bunch of you are already involved in readings groups within your departments or in book clubs outside academia. You can get creative with this idea, like Nadia Jaber did. When she was a student, she launched the PhD Career Ladder Program. The instructions are online and any student can start a local group. As the website says, "it requires little more than a meeting space, some ambition, and the dedication to your future success." Fantastic! You learn from and support each other. This can be done virtually, of course.
4. Launch a regular pub night or networking event.
This is what I do with Versatile PhD Toronto. It's an informal pub night that a couple of us organize and host each month. We get a good turnout each time, anywhere from 5-6 when the weather's atrocious to 20+ people some months! There are several "Versatile PhD" meetup groups in the US -- all lead by voluntees -- and Michelle Erickson from PhDs at Work hosts more formal networking events in a few US cities. There's no reason you can't start your own event, using an existing brand or not.
5. Host or participate in a Twitter chat.
Remember when we all used listservs to stay in touch with scholarly colleagues? Do we still do that? (Probably!) But there are other ways of facilitating and participating in similar sorts of conversations. Over the years I've come to love Twitter as a communication and community-building tool. Just over two years ago I started #withaPhD chat, a twice-monthly live discussion open to all. We've built a solid community and I've personally had a blast! There are several reasons why I do the chat, from the business-strategy ones to the it's-just-fun ones. I think the chat has helped participants meet new people, learn new things, and feel like they aren't alone, whether they are in graduate school or already out, #withaPhD or without!
6. Participate in a relevant LinkedIn group, or start one of your own.
I don't do this very much but plenty of people find great value in participating in groups on LinkedIn. There's a group of academic coaches that first connected through LinkedIn and now teleconference each month for professional development and networking purposes. Recruiters and hiring managers may see your active participation in this kind of professional setting and reach out for networking or even to suggest you apply for a job! Stranger things have happened. You can learn a lot by engaging with professionals or share your expertise and options on current issues in your target industry. You can help others as well as help yourself by doing this.
7. Write a blog or contribute a guest post about your experiences. Or how about a podcast?
Why not? My own Transition Q & A series is an amazing resource for students, recent grads, and others. I'd like to think they are helping to change the conversation in academia, but I don't know :). Every transition story or career journey is unique and in this complicated, fast-changing work world, the more stories the better. Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to write a Transition Q & A post, or check out PhDs at Work, Versatile PhD, Chronicle Vitae, Beyond Academia, or podcasts such as Rock Your Research, Scholarpreneur, W.E.T., or Viva Survivors. Reading or listening to other people's stories can often be a gateway to informational interviews, so if you write or record something, you can think of yourself as providing an important bridging service to PhDs!
8. Reach out to former professors, offering to talk with their students
There's often a big disconnect between graduate students/academia and PhD alumni. On the one hand, this makes sense, because there's often a big psychological disconnect between the Ivory Tower and the "real world." But on the other hand, this is terrible because us alumni don't suddenly disappear and don't suddenly stop having things of value to contribute. Many professors would welcome their former students getting back in touch. We can change the system one email at a time. Some professors do want to help but know they are personally unable to provide the kind of career guidance that you may be in a perfect place to offer! Check if your alma mater's career centre or alumni services already has a mentor program set up, and see if you can participate.
9. Give talks, workshops, and participate on panels.
I'd like to think that departments and schools of graduate studies would love to have you come in to talk to their students, about a variety of subjects. Why not propose it? You never know! This is something I most often do in exchange for payment, but don't feel you need to charge if you don't want to. Career services may also be happy to bring you in to give advice targeted to a particular subset of students and recent graduates. If your PhD discipline's association comes to your town, see if there's a career event you can participate in. A handful of history PhDs will be on hand as "advisors" during the AHA Career Fair in Atlanta this Saturday. I'm co-hosting the event. Come hang out if you're there. And do suggest yourself as a panelist for Beyond the Professoriate, the online conference I'll host in the spring.
10. Teach an online course or deliver a webinar on your area of expertise.
If you find you enjoy doing informational interviews -- as the interviewee -- or putting on workshops for your fellow graduate students, can be relatively easily transfer your content to an online platform to potentially reach even more people. You don't even have to use your webcam if you're feeling shy -- voice with presentation is a legitimate way of delivering content these days. Check out some examples over at BiteSize Bio and think back to previous Beyond the Professoriate conferences. Or maybe you collaborate with other people to launch a series or webinars, like an online summit. (If you do, include me!)
11. Write a book.
No, I don't mean turn your dissertation into a scholarly tome -- although, feel free! What I mean instead is take what you've learned as a graduate student, teacher, researcher, or other professional and share it with the wider reading public. You don't need a PhD or a professorship to have great information and advice to offer. Maybe you wrote your humanities dissertation in 6 months and want to let others know what helped you do that, or maybe you have an insider view of how hiring works in a particular sector and know you can save PhDs a LOT of time and trouble by telling them how they can better prepare their applications. See Melanie Nelson's Navigating the Path to Industry. Your book needn't be long or academic in the least! Or consider editing a collection of essays or interviews, like the people responsible for Moving On and The Unruly PhD.
Upcoming Career Events
http://fromphdtolife.com/events/
Past Career Events
http://fromphdtolife.com/talks-and-presentations/
Thank you for being a part of our growing research community. If you would like to share contributions, ideas or suggestions, contact us at info@cmc-centre.com. For conference matters, send an email to celeb_studies@gmail.com. In the meantime, visit our website (www.cmc-centre.com) and connect with us to join our conversations on social media. If you do not have Twitter, check highlights of this month's conversations here: https://storify.com/celeb_studies/cmcs-february-2016
Have a wonderful weekend!
Dr Louis Massey
Advisory Board Member and Communication Manager
Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS)
  
|
