Location: Massachusetts, United States
Call for Papers Deadline: 2008-09-15

Postfeminism and the Future(s) of Feminist Film and Media Studies

40th Anniversary Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
Feb. 26-March 1, 2009
Hyatt Regency-Boston, Massachusetts



Postfeminism (approximately 1981-present) is increasingly visible as a theoretical platform. Recent scholarship has been devoted to the influence of postfeminism upon popular culture, film and media studies, such as Yvonne Tasker and Diane Negra's Interrogating Postfeminism (2007). In a recent issue of Cinema Journal (vol. 44, no. 2, winter 2005), Tasker and Negra ask, "how do we address and make sense of a postfeminist media culture that repeatedly and loudly insists that feminism is no longer relevant because it has somehow succeeded? Second, how might our scholarship be updated so as to retain the strength and political commitment associated with earlier traditions of feminist writing and filmmaking?" (Tasker and Negra, "In Focus: Postfeminism and Contemporary Media Studies," p. 108)
This panel, in the Women's Studies and Film sections of the 2009 NeMLA convention, seeks to address these as well as other questions raised by the advent of postfeminism for film and media studies. Does postfeminism ring the death knell of feminist film and media theory, especially since according to Tasker and Negra, "we find ourselves at a moment when+conventional feminist critiques are in real danger of irrelevance" (109)? Does postfeminist film and media undo, deny and/or further feminist film and media theory? This panel welcomes papers about all aspects of postfeminism in film and media studies (including cinema, television, visual art, gaming, blogging, popular culture studies, new media, etc.) as well as literature. We are especially interested in papers that engage the feminist/postfeminist debate and attempt to bridge that divide.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:
-performances of gender and/or race in recent postfeminist film (i.e. "The Hot Chick"; "White Chicks")
-postfeminist directors, writers, artists, bloggers, etc.
-postfeminist representations of "career" women
-postfeminist "retreatism" (to cite Tasker and Negra's term, p. 109) in film, literature, television (i.e. "Knocked Up"; "13 Going on 30")
-postfeminism and "slacker" culture
-postfeminist portrayals of female adolescents/young adults (i.e. "Mean Girls"; "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen"; "Juno"; "The Virgin Suicides"; "Uptown Girls"; "Gossip Girl"; "Veronica Mars")
-postfeminism and pop culture
-postfeminism and "third wave" feminism
-postfeminism and cultural studies
- postfeminist costume/historical drama
-postfeminism and reality television (i.e. "The Real Housewives of Orange County"; "The Real Housewives of New York City"; "The Millionaire Matchmaker"; "America's Next Top Model"; "America's Next Prom Queen"; "The Simple Life"; "Bridezillas"; "The Hills"; "The Bachelorette")
-postfeminism and spectatorship studies (i.e. the "guilty" and/or "girly" pleasures produced by postfeminist film, television, etc.)
-postfeminist horror, sci-fi, and thrillers
-postfeminist representations of female police officers/lawyers, particularly on television (i.e. "The Closer"; "Saving Grace"; "Damages"; "Ally McBeal")
-postfeminist blogs/blogging
-postfeminist literature (i.e. fiction; self-help; advice)

Please send 250-500 word abstracts by September 15, 2008, to Marcelline Block, mblock@princeton.edu.

Please include with your abstract:

Name and Affiliation
Brief (1 page) CV
Email Address
Postal Address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 media fee)

The complete call for papers for the 2009 convention will be posted in June: www.nemla.org
Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA panel; however, panelists can only present one paper. Convention participants may present a paper at a panel or seminar and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.
Marcelline Block
Princeton University
Dept. of French and Italian
305 East Pyne Hall
Princeton, NJ 08540

Email: mblock@princeton.edu
Visit the website at http://www.nemla.org