*CFP* "ANIMAL, LITERATURE, CINEMA: A CRITICAL INTERFACE", CHAPTER BOOK

Critical studies on animal culture have not received enough attention. There still remain a dearth of critical underpinnings on the human relationship with animals. While religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism have been instrumental and orchestrated processes in anthropocentric-human cruelty to animals, the utility of animal for experiments, animal suffering and human dominance over animals, critical dimensions and various movements in animal rights and ethics continue to emerge. These movements are geared towards initiating animal welfare, liberation from human dominance and subjugation, thereby deconstructing the notion of anthropocentrism, speaking for non-humans and creating new spaces for the advocacy for the prevention of cruelty to animals. This advocacy stems from the fact that growing body of evidence, from the Arts and the Humanities, Ethology, and Neuroscience, as well as other fields, indicating that animals can experience suffering in ways similar to humans. Literary artists and cineastes have not been left out of this intellectual debate. 

Films such as Electrocuting an Elephant (1903), Ben-Hur (1959), The Birds (1963), The Godfather (1972), The Artist (2011) and literary works such as King Solomon’s Mines, Robinson Crusoe, Animal Farm among others, not only capture the plight of animals in/and through film and literary works but some of these filmic/literary texts are an advancement on the polemic(s) between anthropocentrism and biocentric-animal liberation. 

The questions that emanate in this collection are: what informs the culture of human domination over animals? Is there hope for the liberation of animals from human/anthropocentric subjugation? How can film and literature further create awareness on animal liberation? The collection of essays in this book examine diverse representations of the animal in literature and cinema and critical processes employed by literary artists and filmmakers in advancing the crusade for animal liberation. A study as this is imperative with the recent upsurge in animal liberation movements, subaltern studies and ecocriticism.

Contributions are welcome in the following themes and sub-themes:

• Animal as a Totem 
• Theories on Animals 
• Animal Ethics 
• Animal Intelligence 
• Animal Mind 
• Animal Rights 
• Human as an Animal 
• Animal in Popular Culture 
• Representation of Animals in Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood films 
• Animal in Poetry 
• Animal in Drama 
• Animal in Prose 
• Animal as Medium of Sacrifice 
• Ritualization of the Animal 
• Deification of Animals in Indigenous African and Asian Cultures 
• Performing the Animal on Stage 
• Animal as Food 
• Animals as Beast of Burden 
• Animal as a Pet

Guidelines for contributors

1. Contributors should submit e-copies of their manuscripts to the editors at animalliterature9@gmail.com and CC to pelmoraj@gmail.com, okpadahstephen@gmail.com and tafolabi@uvic.ca 
2. Manuscripts should be typed using MC-word, with double line spacing and not more than 20 pages (6000 to 8000 words). 
3. In order to guarantee a blind review, the names of the author(s), a short biography of the contributor(s), telephone number(s), email address(es) and institutional affiliations should appear on a separate page. 
4. Each article should be accompanied by an abstract of 200-250 words 
5. Referencing style should conform to APA 6th edition 
6. Receipt of manuscripts will be acknowledged. All manuscripts must reach the editor(s) on/before 30th of April 2019. 
7. The book will be published by a reputable publisher in the United States of America

Further Enquiries, contact:

Stephen Ogheneruro Okpadah, okpadahstephen@gmail.com

Dr P. Elmo Raj, pelmoraj@gmail.com