CFP: Muslims in the Movies (edited collection)

Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology

Editor: Kristian Petersen

Narrative Description

Muslims in the movies are most often caricatures of life – sensational and incomplete –  relying on worn representational formulas, which reproduce stereotypes about Islam. Recent Hollywood films continue to fail in expanding the recognizable characteristics of Muslims on screen, often reifying a dichotomy between “good” and “bad” Muslims and limiting the narrative domain to issues of national security, war, and terrorism. The resultant vilification of Muslims in the United States is indebted to the cinematic production of “Islam,” which is the closest site of proximity of a Muslim encounter for many Americans. The structural framework of these portrayals and the socio-political consequences of representations have been mapped out in preliminary terms in previous scholarship. However, much of this work seems to be motivated by similar analytical concerns, echoes conclusions, and adds little substantive depth in our overall understanding of Islam in cinema. Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology extends this work by expanding the boundaries of our investigation, asking new questions of the filmic archive, and magnifying our analysis of particular cultural productions.

These essays set “Islam” as the visual, narrative, social, political, or historical horizon within which they analyze cinematic cultures. We do not put forth a normative category of Islam and try to defend it but rather examine the multitude of ways Islam is deployed in the production of films. We probe the affective operations that filmic interpretations of Islam produce, the dispositional locations from which they are assembled, and try to discern the public sentiments they were meant to elicit. This approach ends with competing images of what the tradition is, how Muslim identity is formulated around it, and the manners in which it structures aspects of social life. Collectively, we investigate the variety of definitional accounts of Islam within their respective contexts.

Muslim identity is necessarily central to our project. While we are interested in how Muslim identities are represented and deployed in filmic cultures, we seek to understand the constructive assumptions and social consequences of these portrayals rather than police the boundaries of what is acceptable. Hollywood’s long history of negative images of Muslims are still within our analytical terrain but we hope to think about Muslim identity outside of this limited archive. We move beyond scholarship that is focused on western representation by investigating national and regional cinemas in Muslim majority societies. These perspectives provide new domains of Muslim identity formation and construction situated within drastically different social, linguistic, and cultural contexts. Multiple international designations of who is a Muslim, their distinctive characteristics, and how they express their personalities, generate a cinematic catalog of greater depth, nuance, and diversity. Overall, the essays explore depictions of Muslims and Islam and their ideological function in Western cinema, as well as retrieve how Muslim identities and the tradition are imagined and represented in Muslim majority cinematic cultures.

Our studies use films as a platform for asking questions about various dimensions of Islam and Muslims in modern society. Conversely, we place images, stories, and production settings within perspectives found in a wide spectrum of locally interpreted Islamic discourses and practices to delineate the multiple layers and elements visually and audibly portrayed on screen. Through critical theoretical approaches, we examine how Islam, as variously defined, pervades the global history of classical and modern cinema. Altogether, we explore issues of identity, cultural production, and representation though the depiction of Islam and Muslims on screen and how audiences respond to these portrayals. The interdisciplinary collection provides a global examination of the multiple roles Islam plays in film.

 

Proposals

The volume welcome proposals for chapters on a range of critical issues and themes related to the central focus on Muslims in film.

Comparative or historical studies, as well as shorter detailed analyses of specific films are both encouraged.

 

Full submissions can range from 4,000–10,000 words.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

– Stereotypes and anti-Muslim racism

– History of national cinema cultures

– African film

– South Asian film

– Southeast Asian film

– Central Asian film

– Middle Eastern film

– South American film

– North American film

– European film

– Classic Hollywood

– Documentaries

– Transnational filmmaking

– Independent films

– Literary adaptations

– Genre studies

– Auteur studies

– Production history

– Television film

– Historical epics

– Silent Films

– Ethnographic films

– Sexuality

– Race

– Gender, Femininities, Masculinities

– Homosexuality

– Film festivals

– Protests

– Law and censorship

– Politics

– War

– Colonialism

– Professional associations

– Markets and economics

– Cinema press and film writing

– Music

– Audience reception

– Fandom

– Translation and subtitles

– Advertising and print culture

– Archives, education, and preservation

– Non-Muslim minorities in Muslim majority contexts

 

Please send an abstract (300-500 words), estimated length, and CV to [email protected].

Feel free to direct any questions to Kristian Petersen before submission.

 

1. CFP Abstract deadline: December 15, 2016

2. Response of Acceptance: January 1, 2017

3. Full Draft Submissions Due: October 1, 2017

4. Final Revised Submissions Due: January 15, 2018

 

Editor

Kristian Petersen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where he serves as the co-director of the Islamic Studies Program. He has worked closely with the Journal of Religion & Film and has previously published articles on media representations and Muslim identity. He is currently working on a book, The Cinematic Lives of Muslims, which explores the multiple ways Muslims are imagined on screen.

Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology will be published in the Mizan Series with ILEX Foundation and distributed by Harvard University Press.

Call for Papers can be found in PDF format here.