CFP: ISLANDS AND AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA

Focus:

Islands have been extensively represented in cinema, television and various forms of video. Local community film and video productions and documentaries by outside producers have often looked at the minutiae of island life and the nuances of living on islands. There is also the expedition genre, representing journeys to islands (with the outsider’s impressions as the key topic). YouTube has many examples of personal travel videos. Many fictional and documentary productions have utilised familiar tropes of island paradises and their opposite, island ‘hells’ – places of confinement, menace and despair. Island paradises have been the subject of comedy and romance whereas hellish islands have been featured in genres such as horror, action and SciFi. Reality television has also drawn on these paradigms and a number of music videos have also represented islands in various ways.

Proposals:

Proposals from researchers from any Humanities field are invited that address one or more of the following topics:

• The representation of actual islands in one or multiple audiovisual texts
• The representation of fictional islands in one or multiple audiovisual texts
• The representation of islands in particular genres and/or national cinemas
• The relationship of island-themed audiovisual productions to broader social political factors and histories
• Gender issues in island themed audiovisual productions
• Colonial and postcolonial discourses in island-themed audiovisual productions
• Island community media productions and/or organisations
• Ethnographic approaches to island themed audiovisual productions
• Reconstructions of historical island life in audiovisual productions
• Issues of film/video style with regard to representations of islands

Proposals (300-400 words long) should be sent to Dr Firouz Gaini FirouzG@setur.fo and Dr Philip Hayward prhshima@gmail.com

An early acceptance program is in place, for those wishing to apply for travel funding. All proposals received by August 20th 2023 will be considered and replied to by September 21st 2023. Final deadline for submissions of proposals will be January 30th 2024.

NB cheaper accommodation in Torshavn tends to book out early, so the earliest possible submission of proposals is advised.

There will be a special issue of Shima on the topic of Islands and Audiovisual media published in late 2024. Conference delegates are invited to submit extended versions of their accepted papers for consideration for publication by August 1st (absolute latest) and may submit these prior to the conference for online publication in advance of the special issue (at the editor’s discretion) – contact Dr Philip Hayward at prhshima@gmail.com for further information.