[csaa-forum] cfp: Off-Screen Spaces: Regionalism & Globalised Cultures

[Ned Rossiter]

SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS

AHRB Centre for British Film and Television Studies in association with
The Centre for Media Research, University of Ulster

OFF-SCREEN SPACES: REGIONALISM AND GLOBALISED CULTURES
AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FILM, TELEVISION AND MEDIA: CULTURES 
AND POLICIES
http://www.bftv.ac.uk/events/osscall2.htm

Wednesday 28 - Friday 30 July 2004

University of Ulster, Coleraine (Portrush Campus)

This major international conference will explore the relationship 
between 'global' popular culture and various definitions of 'local' 
culture. Crucial to an understanding of this relationship is the 
concept of 'the region' as it has become reconfigured by global 
economic and cultural forces. Regional cultures exist in relation and 
in opposition to dominant national cultures and interact with them in 
complex and contradictory ways.

National cultures are themselves often posited as 'regional' cultures 
in opposition to the global and the concept of 'critical regionalism' 
has been canvassed as a challenge to global conformity or 
homogeneity. On the other hand, in line with the strategies of 
multinational corporations more generally, multinational software 
manufacturers have divided the global market into 'regions' for the 
purpose of controlling the DVD market. This would suggest that, 
despite the potential of regional cultures to offer alternatives to 
the global market, there is in fact nothing intrinsically challenging 
or radical in the concept of the region.

The conference will explore the complex and contradictory 
relationships among the local, the regional, the national and the 
global and assess the implications for both media representation and 
local, national and transnational audio-visual policy. Central to 
discussions will be the concept of comparative film studies and a 
number of papers will address the rationale and theoretical 
implications of comparative media research.

The conference also encourages papers that explore the role that new 
ICTs play in shaping regional digital cultures and politics. How, for 
instance, have social movements adopted new technologies in order to 
become organised in ways that challenge national borders? What 
responses have the state and supranational entities had to such 
practices? How have new media industries redefined cartographies of 
production, distribution and consumption and what are some of the new 
antagonisms and collaborations that attend such socio-technical 
formations? The conference is interested in both theoretical and 
reflexive empirical responses to questions along these lines.


PROGRAMME:

Confirmed speakers so far include:
John Tomlinson, Ien Ang, Toby Miller, John Hill, Ned Rossiter,
Valentina Vitali, Desmond Bell, Máire Messenger Davies and Paul Willemen.


Conference sessions will include the following themes:
Regional Cultures
Digital Cultures & the role of ICTs
Ukania and the Cultural Break-up of Britain
National Cinemas
Irish Cinema (and other small Anglophone Cinemas)
Globalised Hollywood
Comparative Film/Media Studies


There are two special plenary sessions:
Regional Policy and the BBC Charter Renewal Debate (with Pat 
Loughrey, Director, BBC Regions and Nations)
Four Years of the Film Council (with John Hill from the Film Council)


CONFERENCE FEES:

Fees (with two nights accommodation)	£130.00

Fees only					£90.00

Fees include breakfast, tea & coffee, light lunch and evening meals 
on Wednesday and Thursday.

Please note that paper presenters need to register for the conference 
and pay the registration fee.  Cheques made payable to University of 
Ulster

Due date for abstracts: June 11, 2004


ABSTRACTS AND ENQUIRIES TO:

Janet Mackle						Martin Mcloone
Conference Co-ordinator 				Conference Organiser
Cultural Development		Centre for Media Research
Tel: 028 7032 4683
University of Ulster
Coleraine
Northern Ireland
BT52 1SA
e-mail: spacesconf at ulster.ac.uk


The Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) funds postgraduate and 
advanced research within the UK's higher education institutions and 
provides funding for museums, galleries and collections that are 
based in, or attached to, HEIs within England. The AHRB supports 
research within a huge subject domain - from 'traditional' humanities 
subjects, such as history, modern languages and English literature, 
to music and the creative and performing arts. The AHRB makes awards 
on the basis of academic excellence and is not responsible for the 
views or research outcomes expressed by its award holders.

Hosted by Birkbeck College, the AHRB Centre for British Film and 
Television Studies - www.bftv.ac.uk - is funded for a period of five 
years under the AHRB Research Centres Scheme and is a partnership of 
eight institutions.
-- 
Ned Rossiter
Senior Lecturer in Media Studies (Digital Media)
Centre for Media Research
University of Ulster
Cromore Road
Coleraine
Northern Ireland
BT52 1SA

tel. +44 (028) 7032 3275
fax. +44 (028) 7032 4964
email: n.rossiter at ulster.ac.uk