The History of Sub-Saharan African Literatures on Film

Cinematic adaptations of sub-Saharan African literatures draw from a wide range of genres from West African folktales to Zulu legends, from Hausa popular literature to graphic novels, war narratives or Afro Bubblegum art. Departing from the notion that, like literature and cinema, cinematic adaptations are influenced by historical moments and political, social and economic transitions, The History of Sub-Saharan African Literatures on Film seeks chapter proposals that examine adaptations of African literatures–in their multilingual and multicultural contexts–in order to provide a comprehensive volume that spans linguistic regions and will serve as a resource to specialists and non-specialists alike. The volume aims to be a sort of adaptation archive and thus strongly urges chapter proposals that focus on Afrophone and Europhone countries throughout the sub-Saharan region. Moreover, if we consider adaptation as “réécriture” (re-writing) (Tcheuyap 2005), our study of multiple rewritings across time and space seeks to contribute to a rewriting or a rethinking of history, a reformulation of theories and even a rethinking or new direction for adaptation studies.

In individual chapters, the historical, political, social and/or economic contexts should frame discussions about, for instance, aesthetic choices in adaptation, what adaptation might bring to the discussion, or the choice itself of what to adapt to the screen and which screen, who chooses to adapt and why. Authors might focus on the aspect of storytelling through montage, framing, setting or on filmmaking as language, other language choices in films, music in adaptations, readership and viewership, and whether or how adaptation approaches have changed in response to or as a result of a particular historical moment or event. Contributors may choose to take up additional questions, such as: How have authorial approaches, storytelling techniques and media changed throughout the region’s cinematic history? How do storytellers deploy narrative techniques, approach narrative units and structures, and how do narrative styles merge or differ with regard to the choice of medium? What do filmmakers’ narrative choices bring to adaptation and what do those choices tell us about adaptation? Further, if African filmmaking has relied on the discourses and theoretical positioning in African literatures, how has the medium of film articulated those discourses and theories and expanded upon them? Altered them? How much has adaptation played a role in this process? Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged, including from the fields of postcolonial theory, cultural studies, literary theory, translation theory, queer theory.

Chapters should situate adaptation within a particular historical, political, social or economic moment or time period, such as:

– First generation African filmmaking and adaptation, the Algiers Charter (1969) and political and aesthetic aims of African cinema, including the adaptation of myths, folktales, legends, plays, short stories and novels

– Adaptation, revolutions and revolutionary aesthetics and techniques; national identity and politics

– Popular media – popular theatre, market literature, video production; adaptation and Nollywood, Kannywood, Ghallywood, and in video production in Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Cameroon, Tanzania

– Adaptations of war narratives, child soldier narratives

-Adaptations and African screen media in the 21st century, modes of production, distribution, or of viewing

– Film languages, local and international actors, professional and non-professional actors, co-productions, global collaborations

Please submit a 250-300-word abstract with your name, title and affiliation to the editor, Dr. Sara Hanaburgh hanaburs@stjohns.edu by September 1, 2019. Include “Call for Book Chapters” in email subject. Accepted abstracts will be notified by September 20. Submission of full chapters (5,000-8,000 words) by February 20, 2020.

This book is under contract with Bloomsbury as part of the growing series, The History of World Literatures on Film, eds. Greg Semenza and Robert Hasenfratz.

Sara Hanaburgh, Ph. D

Assistant Professor of French

Department of Languages and Literatures

Faculty Mentor, International House

St. John’s University (Queens, NY)

hanaburs@stjohns.edu

Panel Co-Directors: Leonardo Nole’ and Joseph Boisvere

Theorizing Transmediality in its Transnational Contexts

The study of literature has always relied upon the traversal of borders of various kinds, both inter and intra nationally. This panel will engage with issues of literary study across geographical and cultural borders as well as the boundaries between literary and audio-visual media in the contemporary digital age. As the field of screen studies has been informed by theoretical frameworks originating in the field of literary studies, we ask how the interpretation of literary texts is informed by disciplines that are only now, in the digital age, being born. As digital technologies intensify movement of media across traditional notions of borders between various communities, how can we model the traversal of literary analysis across not only such borders but the bounds of medium? In the digital age of increasing access to literary and audio/visual materials, how is transmediality related to transnational and transcultural transposition? We welcome papers that discuss the engagement with texts both on the page and on the screen from a theoretical or hermeneutical perspective as well as papers that apply this logic to specific case studies.

Deadline for submissions: September 30, 2019.

250-word abstracts must be submitted online through the NeMLA website at https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/18091 [cfplist.com], before September 30, 2019. Individual presentations should not be longer than 7-8 minutes, in order to have enough time for the discussion.

The Graduate Center’s Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) seeks contributors to its blog, Visible Pedagogy for academic year 2019-2020. Contributing writers will craft a series of posts over the course of the Fall semester on a topic they define, and Guest Editors will curate a series on a topic of their choice with writers they recruit.

The choice of topic is open, but the proposed series of posts should be linked by a unifying theme or rationale. For instance, new instructors might reflect on the challenges of teaching for the first time, while more experienced ones might think more deeply about a particular aspect of pedagogy, including methods, approaches, or technologies. Writers may also consider a particular question or challenge within higher education to explore in relation to their classroom practices. Applicants are encouraged to look at the past series of topics covered by our contributing writers, as well as this recent post by the editor.

Authors must be interested writing for a general audience in higher education and be willing to engage with the TLC Staff in the editorial process. Basic familiarity with Google docs and WordPress is preferred. Selected writers and editors will be asked to meet with TLC Director, Luke Waltzer, and Visible Pedagogy Editor, Kaitlin Mondello, at the start of the fall.

Interested applicants should email the materials below to Visible Pedagogy Editor Kaitlin Mondello at tlc@gc.cuny.edu by Monday, June 17. Posting will begin in September.

Application procedures for the two programs are below.

1. Contributing Writers

Selected writers will commit to writing, revising, and publishing 3 blog posts of approximately 500-750 words for the Fall 2019 semester.

Please email a merged pdf or Word doc. with the following materials:

• a 250-500 word description of your proposed series of posts, its rationale, and your reasons for wanting to write it
• a sample of your non-or-para academic writing (preferably, a previous blog post or other public-facing writing on a digital platform), not to exceed 1500 words
• CV

2. Guest Editors Series

To apply as a guest editor, you should follow the same guidelines above for contributing writers, including proposing a series of related posts around a specific topic, BUT rather than author all the posts yourself, you will recruit three other writers to write one post each on your topic. These writers must meet the same eligibility requirements as other contributing writers. You will be responsible for writing your own introductory post to the series and to work with the other three writers on their posts for continuity and quality. Groups of more than four will be considered if there is a desire to co-edit or co-author.

The VP editor and TLC staff will work closely with the Guest Editors and their contributing writers. Editors and writers may be from the same department, but interdisciplinary perspectives are welcomed. Guest editors should secure commitments and topics from their contributing writers PRIOR to submitting the application to the TLC. Please include the names, disciplines, and topics for each contributing writer in your application for a Guest Editor series.

This program is modeled on proposing a conference panel or guest editing a special edition of a journal, and is designed to give graduate students additional experience and practice with these forms, as well as to examine a single topic from multiple perspectives.

Criteria for Selection

All applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• The clarity, creativity, and feasibility of the proposed series
• The style and quality of the writing
• The originality of the viewpoint(s) being represented
• The role of the proposed series in the balance of perspectives and disciplines on the blog

To qualify, all applicants must be enrolled at the Graduate Center during the Fall 2019 semester. This opportunity is open to both Doctoral and Masters students.

Compensation

Contributing writers and guest editors will be paid an honoraria to be determined before the start of the fall semester. All funds will be disbursed as a lump sum as financial aid.

About VP

Visible Pedagogy is a blog dedicated to advancing and expanding conversations about teaching and learning at CUNY, edited by the staff of the Teaching & Learning Center at The Graduate Center, and collaboratively authored by CUNY faculty, staff, and students.

We are interested in both the theory and practice of teaching and learning. Our Reflective Practice series brings these ideas together as CUNY instructors reflect critically on ideas, issues, or challenges they’ve encountered in their teaching careers and their classrooms.

University of Pittsburgh
Film and Media Studies Graduate Conference CFP
Limits of Cinema / Cinema Limited?
September 27-28, 2019
Keynote: Jeffrey Sconce (Northwestern University)

The cinematic medium has been historically shaped through several negotiations with its own limits and those imposed on it. Regulatory scrutiny of the moving image began as early as the peepshows of the Kinetoscope parlors. Formal censorship was soon implemented in many countries as a legal infrastructure serving in the moral guidance of youth and other demographics deemed vulnerable to irresponsible depictions of crimes and sex, as well as political propaganda. Continue reading Due May 30 | CfP – Limits of Cinema / Cinema Limited? →