Call for Papers THE FUTURE OF GENOCIDE AND REPRESSION Area “Film and Science: Fictions, Documentaries, and Beyond” October 30-November 2, 2008 Chicago, Illinois <http://www.filmandhistory.org/>www.filmandhistory.org First-Round Deadline: November 1, 2007 The atrocities and injustices of communism, imperialism, Nazism, and religious fanaticism have become models for how film and television portray the future of totalitarian regimestheir economic exploitation, genetic engineering, indoctrination, oppression, genocide. References to current or historical repressive policies appear in the dialogue, images, plots, and soundtracks of films like Alien Nation, Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaiden’s Tale, The Island, 1984, Ultraviolet, V for Vendetta, and X-Men. This area examines how cinema and television connect human rights abuses in future societies with past or present crimes against humanity. Panel presentations can interpret how individual films, programs, or series draw these parallels and advocate forms resistance to such policies. Papers also could compare and contrast how several films, programs, or series have handled the same topic. Another approach might analyze the influence of genre (i.e. action adventure, comedy, drama, horror, science fiction, etc) on the portrayal of these themes. Paper topics might include ecological decimation, encounters between indigenous and alien societies, eugenic attempts to create inferior and superior classes, euthanasia, genocide, medical experimentation, robotics, technological surveillance, terrorism, and war. Please send your 200 word proposal by November 1, 2007 to Lawrence Baron, Chair, “Future of Genocide and Repression” Area Department of History, San Diego State University San Diego, CA 92182 USA Phone: 619-594-5338 Email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask] Panel proposals for up to four presenters are also welcome, but each presenter must submit his or her own paper proposal. Deadline for first-round proposals: November 1, 2007 This area, comprising multiple panels, is a part of the 2008 biennial Film & History Conference, sponsored by The Center for the Study of Film and History. Speakers will include founder John O’Connor and editor Peter C. Rollins (in a ceremony to celebrate the transfer to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh); Wheeler Winston Dixon, author of Visions of the Apocalypse, Disaster and Memory, and Lost in the Fifties: Recovering Phantom Hollywood; Emmy award-winning writer and producer John Rubin, and special-effects legend Stan Winston, our Keynote Speaker. For updates and registration information about the upcoming meeting, see the Film & History website (http://www.filmandhistory.org). ---- Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex podcast: http://www.screenlex.org