CFP: Asian Ecocinema Studies: Edited Collection
Call for Chapter Contribution
Asian Ecocinema Studies: Edited Collection
Book Editors: Scott Slovic, Kiu-wai Chu, Winnie Yee.
We are seeking original articles for an edited collection about ecological and environmental issues in contemporary Asian cinema.
With increasing awareness of global environmental issues, and an attempt to address growing interests in the study of Asian films in relation to ecocritical theories and concepts, this book project seeks to expand the field of ecology and film towards a broader coverage in its Asian contexts. From cinematic depictions of Asian environmental crises, films revealing environmental impacts brought about by transnational networking and exchange, to artistic representations of human, nature, wilderness and ecology, ecological and environmental issues in Asia have increasingly been exposed to the outside world through fictional films, documentaries and various forms of media.
Specific recent environmental issues in wider Asian context
This book aims to focus on contemporary, region-specific ecological and environmental issues represented in films, such as consequences of Bhopal gas leak, Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Fukushima nuclear disaster, pollution and toxic issues, environmental challenges for Taiwanese aborigines, and cross-regional environmental problems.
New ecocritical approaches in Asian cinema
There is an emergence of new critical approaches that are shaping recent scholarships in ecological/environmental study of literature and film. Such approaches include neo-bioregional studies and eco-cosmopolitanism (Ursula Heise), slow violence and environmental justice (Rob Nixon), the study of affect (Deleuze and Guattari), the age of the Anthropocene (Dipesh Chakrabarty, Bruno Latour), Object-oriented Ontology and Speculative realism (Graham Harman, Timothy Morton), new materialist and posthumanist turn towards nonhuman agencies (Karen Barad, Jane Bennett, Stacy Alaimo, Cary Wolfe), and process-relational philosophy (William Connolly, Adrian Ivakhiv). This book aims to reflect efforts that have been made towards redressing the differences of approach and inadequacies of the scholarship in Asian film studies.
Exploring eco-film language and conventions, genres, and religio-philosophical implications
This book aims to explore how film genres define different ecocinemas, particularly with reference to specific Asian genres such as Martial art films, Japanese anime, Bollywood musical, and/or Thai experimental and independent art films. Do religious and philosophical traditions of Asia facilitate in defining different sets of eco-film language and conventions? Are some film conventions more likely to represent ecological consciousness/sensibility than others? How do slow cinema, long takes and film language in Asian film genres facilitate conveying ecological issues?
We seek contributions for book chapters that address one or more of the above mentioned issues. Broad topics may include, but not limited to:
– Nature/Post-nature
– New materialism/ material ecocriticism/ science and technology
– Interconnectedness, assemblage, networking
– Climate change, the age of the Anthropocene
– Pollution, toxicity, risk, slow violence, environmental crisis and sustainability
– Postcolonial ecocriticism
– Globalization, transnational networking and ecocosmopolitanism
-Comparative ecocinema studies, conceptualizing ecocinema in Asia
– Environmental aesthetics and ethics
– Animals, plant sentience, posthumanism, postanthropocentrism
– Body/nature, transcorporeality
– Study of scale
– Specific filmmakers/auteurs’ works
– Genre studies (documentaries, martial arts, sci-fi, horror, anime, etc.)
– Eco-Film festivals
– Audience reception studies
We currently have a number of confirmed contributors and several publishers have shown interest, but are particularly looking for contributors working on films produced in the following regions: Korea, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
Please submit a 300-500 word abstract, a brief bio, or any question to
Kiu-wai Chu @ kiuwaichu@gmail.com or Winnie Yee @ yeelmw@hku.hk. Deadline for proposal submission is 28 February, 2015. Full paper will be due in 15 August, 2015.
