[csaa-forum] Call for Papers - Political Documentary Cinema in Latin America

[Antonio Traverso]

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CALL FOR PAPERS
Academic Journal Special Issue


Political Documentary Cinema in Latin America: Concepts, Histories, Experiences

Latin American political documentary has had a long history of tracing periods of crisis and reflecting upon questions of ideology, ethnic struggle, indigenous and women’s movements, national identity, memory, and trauma, while its socially committed nature often finds artistic expression in the social and political aspirations of particular communities. As such, Latin American political documentaries consistently make demands on spectators that require them to question their own assumptions about social reality, history, economic development, morality, political allegiance, and class-consciousness. While scholarship in English about Latin American narrative cinema—both historical and contemporary—is abundant, the same cannot be said about studies of the region’s social and political documentary cinema. In 1990 Julianne Burton wrote that ‘[d]espite the thematic, stylistic and “generic” variety of Latin American documentary [
] and its broad social and cultural impact, the existing literature on Latin American documentary practices is sparse indeed.’ Two decades later, despite an explosion of documentary practice in the continent during the 1990s and 2000s, the paucity of scholarship on this subject continues. 

In an attempt to expand this emergent area of study, we invite essays that engage with historical, stylistic and/or theoretical issues in Latin American political documentary for inclusion in a special issue of a refereed academic journal. We are especially interested in essays that contribute to key theoretical debates in global documentary film theory through analysis of specific Latin American political documentaries. Essays may theorize Latin American political documentary cinema from a regional or continental perspective, or focus on films, filmmakers and/or film movements of any historical period and specifically from the following countries and regions: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Perú, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Central America and the Caribbean. Also welcome are essays on the work of diasporic Latin American political documentarians and original interviews with documentary filmmakers from any Latin American country. 

Expressions of interest to be emailed by July 31, 2010. EOI should include author’s name, affiliation, and email address, and indicate the country, filmmakers/films/film movement, and theme to be addressed in the proposed essay.

Accepted proposal will have a deadline of 30 October 2010 for the submission of completed essays. Essays must be written in English and be of a length of 6 to 8 thousand words.

For submission of EOI and queries, please contact:

Antonio Traverso (Curtin University, Australia)		
a.traverso at curtin.edu.au			








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