[Air-L] CFP – Zombies in the Academy book anthology

[Chris Moore]

Call for papers:  book chapters for the interdisciplinary anthology
“Zombies in the Academy: living death in higher education”

Editors: Andrew Whelan, Chris Moore and Ruth Walker

This book takes up the momentum provided by the recent resurgence of
interest in zombie culture  to explore the relevance of the zombie
trope to discussions of scholarly practice itself. The zombie is an
extraordinarily rich and evocative popular cultural form, and
zombidity, zombification and necromancy can function as compelling
elements in a conceptual repertoire for both explaining and critically
‘enlivening’ the debates around a broad variety of cultural and
institutional phenomena evident in the contemporary university. We
propose to canvas a range of critical accounts of the contemporary
university as a living dead culture. We are therefore seeking
interdisciplinary proposals for papers that investigate the political,
cultural, organisational, and pedagogical state of the university,
through applying the metaphor of zombiedom to both the form and
content of professional academic work.

We invite submissions from a range of scholars - notably in cultural
and communication studies, but also popular culture, anthropology,
sociology, film, game and literary studies, political science,
philosophy and education - who would be prepared to submit chapters
that examine the zombie trope and its relation to higher education
from a variety of perspectives.

The editors of “Zombies in the Academy” have an agreement for
publication with Intellect Press UK for 2012. The anthology will be
structured in three sections around the broad general topics of:

1. corporatisation, bureaucratisation, and zombification of higher education;
2. technology, digital media and moribund content distribution
infecting the university;
3. zombie literacies and living dead pedagogies.

Paper proposals that would fit into these sections would include
essays that might:
•	investigate the current conditions of the academy under pressure
from the ‘zombie processes’ variously described as ‘audit culture’ or
the ‘McDonaldisation’ of higher education;
•	explore the uncanny value of the figure of the zombie as a component
in critical pedagogical accounts (zombie concepts, undead labour in
Marxist theory etc.), including in such accounts as they are applied
to the university itself;
•	analyse the theme of zombies and the academic gaze through the
narratives and mechanics of particular films, games, texts or graphic
novels;
•	name the attenuated conditions of work in the sector with reference
to its various forms of ‘zombidity’;
•	evaluate the perceived decomposition of academic standards;
•	discuss the zombie contagion model as an explanatory device for the
circulation of content across multiple media platforms, including into
and out of the classroom;
•	explore pedagogical activities that use or reflect zombie content;
•	critically investigate the rise of ‘zombie literacies’ - as an
epidemic circulated by an unthinking student horde, and/or the undead
ivory tower itself;
•	address the corpse like inertia and atavism of academic distinction
and social closure (journal rankings, peer review, tenure etc.) in the
face of the apparently ‘lifelike’ models of research production beyond
the walls of the academy;
•	reassess the metaphor of zombiedom, considering how it can be
construed not only as a negative critique, but also as a possibly
desirable,  advantageous or alternative adaptive strategy in academic
contexts.

Abstracts for proposed book chapters should be 1000 words.  Authors
are asked to include brief biographical details along with their
proposals, including name, academic affiliation and previous
publications.

Deadline for submissions is 15th December 2010. Please select the most
appropriate book section theme for your paper, and submit proposals as
an emailed .doc attachment to the following editors:

For papers on the corporatisation and zombification of higher education:
- Andrew Whelan, PhD.  Department of Sociology, Sciences, Media and
Communication, University of Wollongong. Email: awhelan at uow.edu.au

For papers on technology, digital media and contagion:
- Chris Moore, PhD. Centre for Memory, Imagination & Invention,
Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University. Email:
moorenet at gmail.com

For papers on zombie literacies and pedagogies:
- Ruth Walker, PhD. Learning Development, University of Wollongong.
Email: rwalker at uow.edu.au


Anticipated timeline:
- proposals due December 15th 2010 (1000 words)
- contributors notified January 15th 2011
- chapters due July 1st 2011 (6,000 - 9,000 words)
- edited full manuscript to publishers December 2011
- book publication 2012


-- 
Dr Christopher Moore
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Memory, Imagination and Invention
School of Communication and Creative Arts, Faculty of Arts and Education
Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway Burwood VIC 3125 Australia
c.moore at deakin.edu.au
moorenet at gmail.com
03 9244 6438
Twitter: CL_Moore
Scribd: Moorenet