Call for contributions for a collective volume “Global Series: TV and the Political Imagination”

Call for contributions for a collective volume “Global Series: TV and the Political Imagination” under the direction of Anastasia Krutikova and Tatsiana Zhurauliova

ERC DEMOSERIES, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

This collective volume seeks to explore the vast potential of TV series and their role in shaping our moral and political perspectives on the world. Global Series: TV and the Political Imagination is part of the ERC Demoseries project, hosted by Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and responds to Sandra Laugier’s call for taking TV series seriously as “a new form of education...[that is] both political and moral” (Laugier 2022). TV series have the capacity to reflect complex social and political realities and can serve as shared representations of moral reasoning and values, prompting viewers to engage in ethical reflection and philosophical inquiry. By examining a diverse range of TV series from across the globe, the volume aims to highlight their power to act as common reference points in shaping public discourse and conversation.

This volume also seeks to respond to the increasing globalization of television due to the growing role of streaming services and the internationalization of the internet. Ramon Lobato has coined the term “the global geography of online television distribution”, which is characterized by the double logic of, on the one hand, increasingly shared offerings dominated by anglophone (primarily U.S.) productions, and, on the other hand, the importance of local offerings that target specific audiences in particular markets (Lobato, 2019). The latter has led to an increase in new local productions, which then become available to global audiences and enter the shared field of cultural references and representations. By focusing on international series, this volume aims to decenter the anglophone productions within the discourse on TV series and bring together scholarship on a wide body of local televisual productions. We invite contributions from different academic disciplines, including philosophy, political science, international relations, sociology, visual anthropology, history, and information and communication, media, and film studies, etc., with a particular interest in African, Asian, and Central and South American TV productions.

While the Demoseries project primarily focuses on television series set “behind the scenes” of democratic regimes facing terrorist threats in the U.S. and Western Europe, this volume aims to expand beyond the security genre. It seeks to consider the relationship between fictional TV representations and political discourses, as well as the ways in which TV series can serve as an educational tool on political issues. Possible topics include:

● TV series as a tool for moral and political education;

●  TV series between “soft power” and propaganda;

●  Fictional representations of “the behind the scenes” of political regimes

(democratic and non-democratic);

●  Geopolitical dimensions of TV fiction;

●  Serial representations of security threats;

●  TV fiction and discourses on gender equality, diversity, and inclusion, as well as inequality and exclusion;

●  Representations of social and political upheavals;

●  Televisual fictions and political violence;

●  Representations of political resistance and oppositional movements.

The volume is prepared within the framework of the University of Exeter Press’s new book series “TV-Philosophy”, which aims to bring TV to the forefront of scholarly investigation by presenting new perspectives on the unique TV experience. Supported by the ERC-funded project Demoseries, the series is co- edited by Sandra Laugier (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Robert Sinnerbrink (Macquarie University), and Martin Shuster (University of North Carolina at Charlotte). Please note that the press may decide to accept all, some, or none of the essays in the volume based on the results of the peer review.

Provisional calendar

Submissions that should include an abstract (500 words) and a brief bio (200 words): June 16, 2023

Selection of proposals: June 30, 2023

Receipt of full-length contributions (5,000-8,000 words): September 30, 2023

All communications concerning this volume should be addressed to contact@demoseries.eu

Bibliography

Laugier, Sandra, dir. Les séries. Laboratoires d’éveil politique (CNRS Éditions, 2023).

——. Nos vies en séries. Les séries, une nouvelle école de philosophie (Paris: Climats, 2019).

——. “Taking TV Series Seriously”, Open Philosophy 5, Topical issue: Ethics and Politics of TV Series (January 2022), pp. 250-253.

Lobato, Ramon. Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution (NYU, 2019).

Prokhorov, Alexander, Elena Prokhorova, Rimgaila Salys, eds. Russian TV Series in the Era of Transition: Genres, Technologies, Identities (Academic Studies Press, 2021).