CFP: Obama-Mania

Looking for essays about President Barack Obama in Popular Culture for a book anthology

Title of manuscript: Obama-Mania: Critical Essays on Representations of President Barak Obama in Popular Culture

Contact:

ObamaInPopularCulture@gmail.com

Editors: Derrais Carter & Nicholas Yanes

Publisher: McFarland

Deadline for Abstracts: May 25th, 2009

Description of the Book:

The 2008 Presidential Elections was one of the most intensely debated and commented on race in modern history. The passionate standpoints expressed in this election not only stems from ideological conflicts, but from Barack Obama’s uniqueness as a Presidential candidate. This book collects specific examinations of President Obama in popular culture with the hope of creating a scholarly record of Obama’s presence in popular media free of historical revisionism. With this in mind, Obama-Mania will bring together essays that examine how Barack Obama’s image has been used in comic books, music, television shows, movies, and how talk shows and radio programs have commented on Obama’s campaign and election. In short, the focus of this book is not specifically on Obama and the politics surrounding the 2008 Presidential election, but on the conversation between popular culture and President Obama.

Expectations for Proposals and Essays:

Ideal proposals will contain a clear thesis, an abstract which is two to three paragraphs long and a list of potential sources. Additionally, we want a clear thesis, not an overview of a medium. For instance, if one is to talk about Obama in comic books, we will not accept a paper discussing every Obama comic book appearance. Additionally, if a person wants to write about the President’s influence on music, we will not accept an essay simply documenting every song which was used in the campaign or that makes reference to Obama. We are looking for papers of academic quality.

The collection will include 10 to 12 essays between 6250 and 7500 words - this includes each work’s bibliography. Essays need to be in MLA format – parenthetical citations, not footnotes. And it is up to the author(s) to get permission to reprint copyrighted material.

Proposed Topics:

1) Comic Books & Science Fiction: Depictions of Obama as Superhuman

2) Music: How have musicians addressed Obama and the 2008 Election

3) Television and Film

a. Movies: The Cinematography of Change

b. Scripted Fictional Television: How Escapist Television Predicted and Has Been Influenced by Political Reality

4) Non-Fiction Political Programs: News Shows and Radio Programs

5) Internet: To Obama Girl and Beyond