*CFP* "MAKING A MURDERER: TRUE CRIME IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE", SPECIAL ISSUE, EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS CRIME FICTION STUDIES JOURNAL

“Everybody’s fascinated with the notion that there is a cause and effect,” claims notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, quoted in the Netflix original, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019) – that we can “put our finger on it,” and reassuringly rationalise the genesis of the uniquely modern phenomenon of the American serial killer. But when there is “absolutely nothing” in the background of a serial murderer that would lead one to believe they were “capable of committing murder,” how do we begin to acclimatise ourselves to this violent defect of contemporary history? More challengingly, how do we bring depth to our collective portrait of what constitutes a murderer, so that we may then self-exempt our compulsion to look more closely at these perversely familiar figures? 

Over the last 50 years, a plethora of books, magazines, film and television adaptations on the subject of true crime has captured – and held – the public imagination in a vice-like grip, ultimately achieving cult status in postwar-American society while furthermore granting the white male serial killer the kind of cultural capital usually awarded only to celebrities. With the enormous popularity of such series as Making a Murderer (2015) and Mindhunter (2017), however, it seems like now, more than ever, the uneasy question of why we continue to glorify killers by inserting them into mainstream media – and what exactly the appeal of this enduring genre and its mythologization of ultraviolent masculinities tells us about ‘who we are’ and the nature of American society itself – has acquired a new level of urgency, which, in turn, requires new depths of understanding. Likewise, with the growing Netflixisation of true crime, and the narrativization of true crime more broadly, now is the time to establish a study that evaluates the politics of the ever-increasing fine line between actual crime documentaries versus fictional shows that reference true crime.

*CFP* "MAKING A MURDERER: TRUE CRIME IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE", SPECIAL ISSUE, EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS CRIME FICTION STUDIES JOURNAL

“Everybody’s fascinated with the notion that there is a cause and effect,” claims notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, quoted in the Netflix original, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019) – that we can “put our finger on it,” and reassuringly rationalise the genesis of the uniquely modern phenomenon of the American serial killer. But when there is “absolutely nothing” in the background of a serial murderer that would lead one to believe they were “capable of committing murder,” how do we begin to acclimatise ourselves to this violent defect of contemporary history? More challengingly, how do we bring depth to our collective portrait of what constitutes a murderer, so that we may then self-exempt our compulsion to look more closely at these perversely familiar figures? 

Over the last 50 years, a plethora of books, magazines, film and television adaptations on the subject of true crime has captured – and held – the public imagination in a vice-like grip, ultimately achieving cult status in postwar-American society while furthermore granting the white male serial killer the kind of cultural capital usually awarded only to celebrities. 

*CFP* "DETECTING EUROPE IN CONTEMPORARY CRIME NARRATIVES: PRINT FICTION, FILM, AND TELEVISION", INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

International Conference

Detecting Europe in contemporary crime narratives: print fiction, film, and television

21-23 June 2021

Link Campus University

Via del Casale di San Pio V 44 – Rome

Among the different expressions of popular culture, no other genre more than crime – meant as a composite made up of many different variants or subgenres -- has proved able to travel and expand its reach into international markets and with audiences. Nor has any other genre been more adept at laying bare the conflicts and contradictions – social, political and historical – that characterise contemporary European societies. The Detecting Europe conference offers an open forum to explore and discuss how narratives of crime and investigation, as well as their production and reception, have helped define the major industrial, commercial, thematic and stylistic trends of European popular culture since 1989, fostering both the transnational circulation of its products and the appearance of new transcultural representations in line with the emergence of new social identities. We welcome proposals that interrogate the notion of Europeanness as a critical category, and its viability for the study of contemporary popular culture, both in print and screen media. We wish to explore both the scope and limits of the interrelated notions of transnational identity and cosmopolitanism when applied to the works of European crime fiction, including print fiction, film, and TV.

*CFP* "STRANGERS AND TRESPASSERS IN CONTEMPORARY WOMEN'S CRIME FICTION (2000-2020)", SPECIAL ISSUE, PAPERS ON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE JOURNAL

Crime fiction is a “strange” genre situated at the paradoxical coordinates of best-selling success and academic marginality, whose multifarious manifestations trespass genre and gender boundaries. In spite of the highly masculinized associations of the mystery genre, the work of influential female writers has always been part of this tradition, starting with the pioneering contributions of Agatha Christie, Patricia Wentworth, Dorothy Sayers and Ruth Rendell. These writers and the many who have successfully followed in their literary footsteps have proved that the investigation of crime is also a suitable job for a woman. Trespassing symbolic spaces, and navigating and contending the phallocentrism of investigative work is inherent in this writing, which often requires a form of strangeness on the part of its protagonists. Contemporary authors often place their characters in this unstable position from which they challenge gender roles, while subverting notions about women’s independence and intellectual prowess. This appropriation of strangeness as a strategic analytical device can be traced in the works of, among others, Megan Abbott, Gillian Flynn, Tana French, Elizabeth Hand, Paula Hawkins, Val McDermid, Denise Mina and Gloria White, in novels that could be classified according to countless labels ranging from domestic noir to cozy, hard-boiled or forensic, to mention but a few.

*CFP* "READING INTO MURDER: INTERPRETIVE ESSAYS ON SELECT CULT TEXTS", EDITED BOOK

The book will be a collection of critical papers on  select cult texts.

The aim shall be to present a broad view and an in-depth scholarship on the highest level of crime, murder, and its interpretation, detection and/or denouement in the select cult/classic works of literature, drama, fiction, poetry, ranging works from Greek tragedy, Elizabethan revenge tragedy and Jacobian tragedy, Browning's poetry, classic British detective fiction, modernist English verse drama, Bengali detective fiction, European and American fiction (Umberto Eco from Italy; Arnaldur Indriðason from Iceland, Jed Rubenfeld from USA and Latin American fiction by Gabriel Garcia Marquez from Colombia and Orhan Pamuk from Istanbul) through most pertinent/relevant theoretical lenses.

The literary texts selected for study are the following:

*CFP* "THE DETECTIVES: CRITICAL ESSAYS ON SELECT ENGLISH AND BENGALI DETECTIVE FICTION", EDITED VOLUME

In the popular fiction genre, the appeal and attraction of the reader is paramount and consistent. The event of crime and the solving of it through what the father of detective fiction Edgar Allen Poe called "ratiocination" is a result of the paradigm shift towards empiricism, the faculty of thinking and reasoning under influence of the Cartesian and Enlightenment tradition. Later with the advancements in psychoanalysis following Freud which probed into the inner workings of the human mind and forensic science with its back-tracing and interpretation of hidden physiological and spatial evidence further propelled the development and popularity of crime fiction, especially detective fiction and also derivatives like police procedurals, American hard boil fiction, espionage, sensational and crime thrillers. During the flourish of British classic detective fiction master story plotters set it to the highest benchmark. This influenced and inspired later fiction. The genre also saw adaptations and re-presentation in film and television with equal popularity.

In India, during British colonization, especially in the Bengal presidency, cultural transmission acted as a catalyst for the production and popular reception of imitative detective fiction in the early years and later subversion and appropriation through intelligent weavings of indigenous cultural nuances and traditions, thus manifesting a postcolonial approach.

*CFP* "TRUE CRIME IN AMERICAN MEDIA", CHAPTER BOOK

A new edited collection on true crime in 21st century American visual and audio media invites proposals for chapters. 

This new book seeks to present original scholarship on the structure, themes and consumption of true crime in today’s visual/audio media landscape.

From sober documentary film through ‘binge-worthy’ streaming of podcasts and television series, true crime appears in a wide variety of styles and attracts an equally varied array of responses.  This book hopes to reflect as many approaches as possible.

While the central focus will be on American films and series of the 21st century, the collection would also benefit from discussions on the global reach and/or influences of such media, so proposals on such topics are welcomed.

*CFP* "MEMORY, AFFECTS AND EMOTIONS", INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY ONLINE CONFERENCE

Affects, emotions and perceptions have always been at the center of philosophical discussion. Yet the so called “Affective turn” in social studies and humanities is relatively a new phenomenon inspired by Deleuze and Guattari´s influential works among others. Affective turn challenges the still dominant representational approach in semiotics, discourse analysis and text analyses of all kind. Its goal is to overcome human exceptionalism together with the domination of the word-based language over the other forms of expression in the process of creating meaning and knowledge altogether. Brian Massumi in The Politics of Affect (2015) defines affect as “being right where you are – more intensely” based on the bodily experiences of the relations with the world.

He compares affect with hope that can motivate one´s contribution to formation of a just and more inclusive society, the urgent transformation that has to start with the changes in ontology. The aim of the present conference is to create an academically challenging and productive space for discussion of affect based research practices throughout disciplines. We are particularly interested in exploring the potential of affective turn in the memory studies. As an interdisciplinary conference, we consider it important to discuss possible differences and similarities in the definitions of the affects as well as in the approaches to their studies and their application in research practice.

*CFP* “DATA ANALYTICS FOR DETECTING AND COMBATING CONLINE CRIME AND TERRORISM”, CHAPTER BOOK

Increased usage of social media led to the formation of online communities of terrorist groups for discussing many violent plans. These online communities present big data to researchers to identify hidden patterns and behaviours to generate actionable intelligence which can be useful for security agencies. Recruiting new people over online social media is an emerging trend which presents how the internet is exploited by terrorist groups

Objective

Terrorism is a global issue which is affecting many nations directly or indirectly. Online social media have given a vital platform for terrorists to form online communities and to operate remotely. Jihadist groups such as ISIS are most popular over online social media such as Twitter, YouTube or Facebook for radicalizing their agendas and sharing violent content or videos.

*CFP* “GENTRIFICATION AND CRIME. NEW CONFIGURATIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE CITY”, SPECIAL ISSUE, ASOCIAZIONE LOCUS

The tension between the visible city and the invisible city produces an increasingly marginalized society. The end of the Fordist pact constituted a break between the modern and postmodern city, laying the foundations for the most radical paradigm shift that the urban phenomenon has experienced in the last four decades. A specific pervasiveness has influenced different levels of the social structure, and this phenomenon has characterized the advent of the neoliberal new economy.

On a political level, the power of the city governments has been limited; on the other hand, on a social level, the depauperation of the social capital has emerged. The conjuncture between these two phenomena has therefore led to new forms of territorial production. The urban space is no longer characterized by the centrality of a single actor which the relational system rotates. On the contrary, an atomization of both the interests and the organization of daily life is taking place. Neoliberalism thus becomes the key to understanding the contemporary urban phenomenon.

*CFP* "PRODUCERS, DISTRIBUTORS AND AUDIENCES OF EUROPEAN CRIME NARRATIVES", EURONOIR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

EURONOIR- Producers, distributors and audiences of European crime narratives 

International conference

30 September to October 2 2019

Aalborg University

 Although a widely popular genre for over a century, crime narratives are presently experiencing an unprecedented popularity all across Europe. In the fields of literature and television, we are witnessing a deluge of episodes and series utilizing crime and violence as a central source of inspiration. Reaching into the shadows of societal construction, these narratives do more than simply fascinate readers and viewers with fantasies of extreme brutality; at best, they express a remarkable tension in social engagement worthy of a critical and scholarly response. More than any other narrative genre, the crime genre has proven able to travel across the European continent and beyond, becoming a vehicle for cultural exchange and debate (Nestingen 2008).

As a result, the generic concept noir is now common among producers, distributors and audiences of crime fiction, and increasingly noir narratives have been located in recognizable places and regions across Europe. Several labels have been coined in order to identify different strands of EURONOIR by means of geographical qualifiers such as Mediterranean, Tartan, Catalan, Nordic etc. (Hansen, Turnbull and Peacock 2018). Besides evoking transborder cultural exchange, crime narratives are today a strategic means in European place branding on local, regional, national and transnational levels of communication.

*CFP* "REALITIES, ALTERNATIVES AND POSSIBILITIES", INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN STUDIES

International Conference on Urban Studies

"Realities, Alternatives and Possibilities"

11 May, 2019 – London, UK

Organised by: London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research

London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Sydney, Shanghai, Dubai are leading global hubs of finance and commerce, research and development, education and media, art and culture, entertainment and tourism. They consist of an intriguing and yet irresistible mixture of past and present, history and commercialism, monuments and leisure culture. Contrasts and paradoxes present these megacities as exceptional phenomena of artificiality and naturalness, livelihood and unpredictability, whose horizontal and vertical mobility has imposed an unmistakable tempo upon the course of the world and has shaped particular physical and mental geographies.

*CFP* "THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NORTH: CANADIAN HORROR MEDIA", EDITED COLLECTION

Horror stories speak of our fears.  In doing so, horror stories also speak of our everyday, our “normal,” as this ordinariness is quickly thrown into disarray.  Things That Go Bump in the North will look at Canadian horror across media – from fiction, film, and television to games, graphic novels, and web series.  This edited collection considers what Canadian horror texts can tell us about Canadian culture, media, history, and politics.  Things That Go Bump in the North aims to see horror stories as stories about nation, as sites for critical reflection on the meanings and uses of “Canada” in this genre – and what we are terrified to lose, or perhaps keep.

This collection deliberately uses “Canadian” and of “horror” loosely in order to more fully explore the cultural work of horror stories.  By “Canadian,” we seek texts that are by, in, and/or about Canada or Canadians; “horror” includes inflections like the gothic and the grotesque, the silly and the supernatural.  We encourage diverse submissions from a range of critical approaches and research methods; we are particularly excited about work that addresses Indigenous, diasporic, and other underrepresented productions and perspectives. 

*CFP* CRIME, MEDIA, CULTURE: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, SAGE JOURNALS

Crime, Media, Culture is a fully peer reviewed, international journal providing the primary vehicle for exchange between scholars who are working at the intersections of criminological and cultural inquiry. It promotes a broad cross-disciplinary understanding of the relationship between crime, criminal justice, media and culture.  The journal explores a range of media forms (including traditional media, new and alternative media, and surveillance technologies) and has a special focus on cultural criminology and its concerns with image, representation, meaning and style. While CMC embraces submissions across a range of research perspectives and methodological orientations, CMC encourages especially work that develops cultural, critical, and qualitative understandings of the crime, media, culture nexus.

The crime/media/culture nexus speaks to many whose work is embedded in theories of social relations and social change, and therefore maintains high relevance across the full spectrum of social sciences and humanities. Crime, Media, Culture provides a unique and much needed forum for serious debate underpinned by empirically novel and/or theoretically rigorous research.

*CFP* EDITED COLLECTION ON MEDIA, INCARCERATION, PRISONS

Prisons, prisoners, and crime are attracting unprecedented levels of interest from both predictable sources (tabloid media) to more unexpected (such as the prison setting of Paddington 2).

Globally, but especially in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, the real life prison population is rising dramatically. The fictional presentations of prison, which may be prurient and sexploitative, high minded or fantastical, is matched by the barely factual and highly sensationalized prison of reality television. Orange is the New Black is only the latest example of the compulsion media of all types have to look inside the prison.

This proposed book is for an edited collection of international contributors. Its focus on the (real or imagined) spaces of the prison and prisoners and the stories told about prisons and justice in media both fictional and non-fictional media and perhaps more importantly in the uncertain space between both. Reality television, tabloid media, crime and horror films, soap opera and pornography are all possible areas of focus.