[csaa-forum] The Face Reader - call for papers Transformations

[Warwick Mules]

CFP - Edited Collection: "The Face Reader."

The Transformations Journal Editorial Collective invites submissions
for an edited collection focusing on questions of the face and
technology, provisionally titled ³The Face Reader: Contemporary
Writings on the Face and Technology.²

The face is a vital element in the grand narratives of being for
contemporary Western culture. It is the face that appears first when
the human is examined; it is the face that we peer into, that we search
for, and project signs upon. We greet each other, as human beings, and
we look into each other¹s face. We read what is written there, and
perhaps even what has been erased. Yet, simultaneously, the face is
also a kind of public relations exercise for clandestine technological
becomings, for it is through an ever-complexifying system of
technological and pharmacological Œcures¹ that the perfected, cosmetic,
clear image of the human face is achieved and represented. The face is
everywhere in the media, on stage, on screen; it sits at the centre of
a vast apparatus encompassing lights, cameras, action, mirrors, make-up
artists and white-coated lab-technicians furtively grinding foetuses
into expensive white paste. The face is the Œdisplay home¹ for the
future of the human; the face is where appearance starts, or takes
hold. And as we all know, appearances can be deceiving.

For this collection, we invite proposals for papers that will examine
the status of the face in contemporary culture, especially as it
relates to technology. Papers could address (but would need not be
limited to) any aspect of the following topics:

- The face in cosmetic culture: Botox, Restylane, anti-aging
technologies, and make-over culture

- The close-up in film and the face in the media; the face of the star
and celebrity

- Reconstructive facial surgery; face transplants

- Facial recognition software; technologies of surveillance

- The face in new media; Second Life, virtual faces and the avatar

- Hiding the face; facelessness and the burqa


Please send 500-1000 word proposals plus a short bio to Grayson Cooke
at g.cooke at cqu.edu.au by 15th September 2008. Enquiries about related topics
are welcome.


Dr Grayson Cooke
CQUniversity Australia
Bundaberg Campus
University Drive
Bundaberg QLD 4670


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