*CFP* "RELIVING THE CRASH: GLOBAL RECESSION NARRATIVES IN FILM AND TELEVISION", SCHOLARLY ANTHOLOGY

MacBain & Boyd Publishers invites articles for a scholarly anthology about post-recessionary narratives in global film and television, titled Reliving the Crash: Global Recession Narratives in Film and Television. Under a new editorship (Dr. Lauren J. DeCarvalho, The University of Denver), the projected release date is April 2020. Eight chapters have already been accepted and revised. The new editor is still looking for six more chapters to include, especially from scholars whose work reflect a more international focus.  

When the U.S. housing bubble burst in 2007 and was soon followed by the failure of major banks and a global financial recession from 2007-2009, social anxieties arose around the real and ubiquitous problems of stable employment, home ownership, investments, financial solvency, and the role of free market capitalism. Although the U.S. economy has since recovered, even enjoying near-record lows in unemployment, countries like Greece and Italy have not fared so well and instead continue to face financial hardship. Additionally, the social scars of the Great Recession (as this global financial recession became known as) very much remain across the world. A collective sense of scarcity around jobs persists, and individuals whose homes were foreclosed on or who lost their investments, pensions, or retirement plans are still trying to recover. Issues of race and gender have been recognized by many, including prominent scholars Diane Negra and Yvonne Tasker, as problematizing economic inequality and lack of opportunities to reestablish financial wealth or savings.

Within narrative film, documentary, and television since 2007, there have been multifarious identifications of the victims of the Great Recession and its perpetrators. While mainstream depictions stemming from Hollywood tend to dominate the big and small screens, the ramifications of the Great Recession transgress the borders of the United States. To provide a deeper context of post-recessionary narratives and their roles around the world, this anthology adopts an intersectional lens in its exploration of historical and contemporary film and television. Examining film and television history, we can see that issues of socioeconomic inequality and collective trauma from economic depressions and recessions have been frequently featured onscreen. Film and television often step in to express a sense of collective trauma, but it is crucial to consider whether such portrayals—not just in and by Hollywood but instead around the world—address the realities of the most recent global recession in ways similar to past depictions of the Great Depression or previous economic hard times.

Questions to be addressed by contributing scholars might include the following:

• Since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2007, how have film and television portrayed a gendered and racialized economic system? 
• How has capitalism, and the possibility of financial gains or hardship, been masculinized in recent or historical, post-recessionary narratives? 
• How have film and television represented cultural shifts in anxieties and ideologies typical of postfeminism and justified by the post-recessionary era? 
• How have austerity measures been portrayed in film and television? 
• What are the critiques of capitalism that appear in film and television contemporaneously as well as historically? 
• How can we best understand recent recession history through critical readings of film and television? 
• How do ability, age, gender, nationality, race, and sexuality play into narratives about labor and socioeconomic disenfranchisement?

Contributors are welcome to define "post-recession" in broader terms that may incorporate contemporary as well as historical narratives of recession and socioeconomic disenfranchisement. Since this anthology has an international focus, a strong priority will be given to submissions that focus on film and television produced and consumed outside the United States.

Please submit articles to lauren.decarvalho@du.edu and include “Reliving the Crash” in the subject line. Be sure to submit only Word (.doc or .docx) documents, complete with a cover sheet that includes one’s name, academic title, and institutional affiliation. (NOTE: Contributors must hold a doctorate in their field of study and have a faculty appointment at a university or college.) The word count for submitted manuscripts should be between 5,000 and 7,500. Contributors should adhere strictly to the author-date system of The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.). Any questions should be directed, using the email address above, to Dr. Lauren J. DeCarvalho at the University of Denver.

Deadline: Friday, November 15, 2019