CfP: Media & Security Cultures - Special issue & Symposium

Call for papers:
Continuum: the journal of media and cultural studies
Media & Security Cultures: Continuum Special Issue & Symposium
Edited by John Tebbutt (La Trobe University)
& R. Harindranath (University of Melbourne)
Continuum & the editors invite scholars currently researching in this field to
contribute to the special edition and an associated symposium supported by
the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University.
Submission deadline for draft articles: Friday, December 18th.
Post to: john.tebbutt ATlatrobe.edu.au and R. Harindranath rhari AT unimelb.edu.au

Accepted contributors are invited to a roundtable Symposium to present their
work and engage in discussions on the theme and its implications for future
research in media, journalism and cultural studies. The Symposium will be held in
Melbourne, Australia late February, 2010.
The Editors take a abroad approach to the theme. Contributions are invited from
scholars from fields including law, justice studies, and political communication.
Some themes for consideration include:
Security & violence as symbols and representations of excess.
The response to '9/11' generated an excess of security. Guantanamo Bay is a key
symbol. Literally 'extraterritorial', the prison was designed to place human beings
beyond the rule of law. What images & discourse are mediated within a culture of
excess? How does this culture impact on media practices and media legislation?
Media events as security culture
Mediatised events such as the torture of Abu Ghraib prisoners challenge how
cultural theorists analyse the relationship between security and its representation.
But what of more mundane representations? How are everyday events of security
cultures mediatised? What is the role of CCTV, internet 'chatter', border checks &
other boundary patrols? What is the role of such representations in governance?
Ethics, Aesthetics and Politics of Mediated Violence
This Continuum edition aims to go beyond media/violence research paradigm to
include new configurations & historical iconographies of tragedy/terror,
disaster/emergency, torture/porn, memory/trauma, allegory/ethics,
shock/boredom, security/non-violence. How do genealogies of security & violence,
play out in contemporary film & television representations? What of documentary
& news? What can they say in a social space saturated with images of the real?