The research of migrant or diasporic cinema represents a well-established
tradition in film studies today. The analysis of movies representing migrants,
narrating the story of migration, centered on displaced individuals and
communities affected by the influx of migrants has produced insightful
scholarship. From the influential concept proposed by Hamid Naficy (2001),
explaining the formation of ”exilic and diasporic” practices in recent cinema,
to the mapping of the cultural impact of migration, as is the case of the
volume edited by Eva Rueschmann (2003), the issues of traversing from one
culture to another and the various representations of the “Others” in movies
remain an important part of academic debates.
Some recurrent approaches in recent literature view these experiences
from the perspective of the formation of self-identity, representation of
otherness and marginality, of transnational mobility, economic inequity or
multicultural interactions. Previous works on these topics, like the edited
volume by Daniela Berghahn and Claudia Sternberg (2010), have discussed extensively
the transformative power of migration in contemporary European societies. The
movement of diasporic populations, especially the flow of migrants from “New
Europe” (countries like Poland or Romania) to the “Old Europe” (mostly Western
countries), together with its complex transnational effects, either political,
economic or social have been widely used as cinema subjects. The repercussions
of migration in terms of self-representations, the representation of alterity
and the social identities, have also been integrated into many research
subjectscovering the effects of post-colonialism and post-communism.
Some of the topics published about the way in which cinema represents
the post-Cold War Europe, when some of the largest migration processes have happened,
have sometimes emphasized negative dimensions. Innumerable films, for example,
about the lives of immigrants in the West have showcased the pervasive effects
of criminal phenomena such as prostitution and other forms of sexual
exploitation, disenfranchised and homeless migrants turning to criminal
activities or the trauma of dislocation and the impossibility of integration.
Today, these anxieties related to the violence and negative dimensions
of migration are reiterated in many media narratives. Media representations
either exaggerate the threat of “migrant caravans” or cultivate the fears of
local communities, incited by scares about unruly foreign barbarians supposedly
raping and killing, disrupting their “normal lives” or engaged in a menacing
take-over of the “civilized West.” All these themes have entered the public and
political discourse and moviemakers have frequently included them in their
productions. Responding to such negative stereotypes, researchers have
increasingly focused on the darker aspects of migration in cinema. There are
now many relevant discussions exploring the complex and sometimes problematic
relationships between host countries and influxes of migrants and the related
challenges of racism, xenophobia, inequality and illegal movement of people, as
illustrated by the discussions on migration and mobility edited by Nilgün
Bayraktar (2016). As Central and Eastern Europe has been confronted with one of
the most important geopolitical and demographic transformations in recent years,
with a massive wave of migrants coming from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other
places fleeing war, poverty and political repression, these issues have become part of media
discourses and cinematic representations. Yet once again, this has resulted in
a very narrow way of dealing with this phenomenon, concentrating on notions
like “Fortress Europe” (e.g. Loshitzky, 2010), or the more conflictual paradigm
of the “clash of cultures,” treating the manifestations of migration in binary
terms.
In order to overcome the limitations of these interpretations, based on
the oppositions that sometimes have, in fact, been invented by negative media
narratives, frequently based on stereotypical portrayals or, alternatively,
manipulations of reality and facts, another point of view is necessary. While
the commonplace of dealing with migration is often related to violence, sexual
aggression, or an imminent threat to “order,” the notion of “breaking the
boundaries” should be changed from the “traditional othering” to a more
inclusive understanding (Rings, 2016).
The current call for papers is intended as an effort to refocus the
current scholarship of the cinema on migration to provide a change of paradigm
in researching representations of migration. This is an invitation to academics
and practitioners who study issues related to migration from multiple
perspectives. Here we are proposing two main notions: that of the poetics of
the borders and meeting points. The “borders” and the “meeting points” are not
defined in terms of contrasting identities, separating cultures and societies.
Instead, they are oriented toward dealing with shared emotions, spaces,
representations, and experiences and go beyond the stereotypical trope of
locals meeting strangers, and “us” versus “them,” instead emphasizing the
quality of the contact and discovery of the Other (regardless of change
happening or not). We are searching for narratives that are not mainly about
widely perceived negative aspects of migration, such as conflicts, sexual exploitation,
harassment, and trafficking, and we seek to move beyond the concept that “they
are coming/we are leaving.”
This is not yet another research project about how people feel when
migrating; nor is it about describing a particular socio-political act.
Although chronologically based on the films of the last decade, analyzing the
effects of the mass exodus taking place after 2010 and its effects in recent
cinematic productions, it is about looking for the relevant impact in this
decade (2010-2019) on changing border interactions as well as local, regional
and global transformations, including the problems related to the so-called
Arab Spring, the war in Syria, the EU expansion process, Grexit, Brexit, and
the Mediterranean and Balkan Route migrant crises. But mostly it is about what
happens when people on the move meet each other in mobile/fluid contexts. The
metaphor of the “meeting point” is used here in order to redefine not only the
spaces of contact, but also to close the emotional, psychological and cultural
chiasmus between these meetings.
This call is not limited to film studies specialists as we invite
scholarly contributions from any discipline (political sciences or history, for
example) or methodological approach (including practitioners) who are
interested in providing a new view on the manifestation of migration in media
representations (including photography and video installations). The main goal
of this special issue on migration is to open the definitions of border
crossing beyond the existing literature and the submission of innovative
approaches from beyond the methodological framework of film theory are
encouraged.
Possible topics of interest include the following key concepts, but are
not limited to:
- Border crossing and meeting points in cinema representations, narratives and character development
- Border-crossing between media in the context of representing border transgressions and interactions
- Narratives at the borders
- Aesthetic functions of borders
- Political border-crossings and overcoming other ideological barriers
- Border-crossing in terms of self-representation and representation of others
- Border-crossing and reconfiguration of otherness
- Meeting-points in terms of urban spaces (including representations of one’s own identity and identity of others within the city-space)
- Meeting-points of memory and recovery from traumatic memories
- Cinematic meeting points: borders, hotels, private houses/spaces, motorways, restaurants
- Themes and recurrent motifs related to borders, interactions, communities in various media representations
- The absence of otherness
- Cultural practices based on solidarity, shared values and integrative cooperation
- Methodological issues related to media representations of border-crossing, including the notion of migratory media
- Comparative media representations (between cinema and other forms of cultural production)
Ekphrasis is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Babeş-Bolyai University, indexed by ESCI (former Thomson Reuters), ERIH plus, EBSCO, NSD.
Instructions for authors:
We welcome proposals for papers from theoretical approaches and
practice-based researchers or artists.
Deadline for proposal submission: November 1st, 2019.
Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2020
Final submission deadline: March 15, 2020
For further details, please contact Doru Pop, email:
doru.pop@ubbcluj.ro, or Mirna Solic, email mirna.solic@glasgow.ac.uk
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