Editors: Dr Giuliana Monteverde and Dr Victoria McCollum (Ulster University)
We invite abstracts for chapters that explore protest and resistance in relation to Brexit Britain and the Trump-era United States. We are interested in media created in response to these seismic periods of political change, media created in the period leading up to them, and media that more broadly deals with themes related to populism, politics, and power. As well as discussing media that can be seen as protest or resistance, this collection will consider media forms that fail to resist, or those that merely hint at protest. In doing this we can also consider the responsibility of media creators to engage in and respond to political shifts and crises.
As well as focusing on media texts themselves, the discourses around them, and the political potentials within them, we wish to consider the broader ramifications and responsibilities of living through periods of extreme political turmoil. Do we bring these texts and conversations into our classrooms? Do we discuss them with family and friends? What is the role of popular media in creating and facilitating conversations about social injustice, political participation, and critical literacy? Our definition of ‘media’ is broad, including: Television and Film (all genres); Radio and Podcasts; Social Media, Memes and Viral Videos; Political Commentary and Punditry; and Print Media, Political Cartoons and Published Polemics.
How does comedy call attention to, and call out, dominant narratives and political injustices? How do documentary and political news-shows present issues from an ‘objective’ (aka masculine, straight, white, middle-class) perspective? How do political dramas create a reality with higher stakes than that which is playing out across the UK and US? What does it mean that the President of the USA uses a social media platform as his main form of communication?
Below is a list of suggested themes and texts; please feel free to submit abstracts addressing these or to propose relevant subject matter from your own research and teaching.
- Anti-Immigration and Building Walls
- Black Lives Matter: NFL Protests & White Supremacists in the Streets
- Comedy Panel Shows: Have I Got News for You; Mock the Week
- Documentary: Grayson Perry: Divided Britain; Brexit: The Movie; Brexit Means Brexit: The Unofficial Version
- Dystopian Drama: The Handmaid’s Tale; The Man in the High Castle; Black Mirror; Westworld; The Leftovers
- Economics on Screen: I, Daniel Blake; The Big Short; Inside Job
- Gender and The Glass Cliff: Theresa May, Arlene Foster, Nicola Sturgeon
- Hashtag Resistance: #Resist #LoveTrumpsHate #NotMyPresident
- Late Night US Talk Shows: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; The Late Show With Stephen Colbert; Jimmy Kimmel Live!; The Late Late Show with James Corden; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; The Daily Show; Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
- ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn!’: Political Protest through Memes
- Podcasting Politics
- Political Drama: House of Cards; Game of Thrones; The Good Wife; Scandal; The Death of Stalin
- Political Horror: Get Out; The Purge; American Horror Story
- Politics in Animation: Zootopia; South Park; Rick and Morty
- Politics on British TV: Daily Politics; Question Time; Andrew Marr
- Post-Brexit Hate-Crime: Homophobia, Islamophobia, and Transphobia
- Predictions, Polls and Pundits: Referendum/Election Coverage
- Pride: LGBTQ Solidarity
- Stranger than Fiction: Satire and Political Comedy
- Solidarity: Deportations, Social Media and Boycotting
- Teaching Trump: TV Studies and Fake News
- The Special Relationship: Nigel Farage and British “Legitimacy” in Trumpland/The intersections of Brexit and Trump’s USA
- The War on Women continued: Reproductive Health, Female Leaders, and Postfeminist Complicity
- The White Working Class: Discourses of class around Brexit and Trump
- Trump & Twitter: Responding to the President in 140 characters or less
- Unlikely Leaders and Reluctant Media: Jeremy Corbyn, Theresa May, and Donald Trump
We welcome submissions from scholars in full-time, part-time or temporary positions, Masters and PhD students, Early Career Academics, Postdoctoral Candidates, and Independent Scholars.
Submission Guidelines: 300 word abstracts with a 50 word biography due: Friday 19th October 2018. Notifications made by: 25th October 2018. Accepted and completed papers (5000 words with author-date referencing) due: Monday 3rd June 2019.
Please send inquiries and abstracts to editors: resistbook@mail.com
