Flashbacks – Nostalgic media and mediated forms of nostalgia

« Flashbacks – nostalgic media and mediated form of nostalgia » : tel est le titre d’un appel à communication lancé par des chercheurs de l’Institut de communication, média et journalisme de l’université de Genève en prévision d’un colloque qui aura lieu les 1 » et 14 septembre prochain. Cette proposition nous invite apparemment à poser une question : quel rapport au temps les médias entretiennent-ils ? Ou, pour le dire précisément : comment les appréhender à travers l’idée de nostalgie, c’est-à-dire d’un désir de retour à un état passé ? Si le texte que nous reproduisons ci-dessous s’intéresse aux cas du cinéma (The Artist) ou de la télévision (Mad men), il semble tout à fait possible de répondre à ses questions en se fondant sur la bande dessinée, et ce tant du point de vue de sa lecture (dans Avis d’orage en fin de journée, Clément Rosset consacre ainsi de nombreuses pages à une nostalgie qu’il distingue de ce qu’il nomme « mélancolie ») que de sa production (que penser par exemple de la vogue des « intégrales » et de leurs dossiers critiques qui fleurent parfois la nostalgie comme dans le cas de ceux qui accompagnent Les Petits hommes de Seron). Il conviendra dans tous les cas de compléter ces deux pistes avant le 6 mai prochain.

 

Flashbacks – Nostalgic media and mediated forms of nostalgia  

Call for papers – International conference

 13-14 September 2012

Institute of Communication, Media and Journalism studies

University of Geneva – Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences – Department of Sociology

Deadline for proposals: May 6, 2012

Send abstracts of max. 500 words, bibliography and biographical statement to:

flashbacks2012@gmail.com

Confirmed speakers: Prof. Daniel Dayan, Prof. Ute Holl, Prof. Andrew Hoskins

Media are time machines. They remember and forget. Media screen and record parts of memory and history as well as they maintain collective memories and contribute to historical narratives by (re)shaping events, happenings or other incidents. Media also tend to remind their own past by re-using archive-images in the present, for example. In this sense, media seem to be nostalgic of the past as well as of their own one. Nostalgiaas a concept, feeling or expression is not new. The notion has been introduced by a doctor in Switzerland (17th century) to describe the phenomenon of homesickness. Related to nostalgia is also the idea of melancholia or yearning. These days, there seems to be a BOOM of nostalgia: The Artist (revival of the silent film) or television series like Mad Men – exploring aesthetics and social life of the sixties – are examples of what we could name nostalgic media (makers). Digital photography on cell phones gets a polaroid-touch; the retro design becomes digitized. Advertising for watches or cars is linked to nostalgic forms of family tradition. Fans of the fifties organise parties and fashion events to feel like being part of the past in the present. Being nostalgic and remembering pieces of the past also includes forgetting. What kind of memories are discriminated? Can media really be nostalgic? Which specific forms of nostalgia appear in contemporary society and why? Can people be nostalgic if they did not experience the past they pretend being nostalgic of? What kind of politics of nostalgia exist? What is the impact of nostalgia on the media market and its influence on economy? Finally, given the arbitrary (?) use of the past in all its imaginable variations and cultural systems, is it still possible to use the wordnostalgia or should there be a neologism describing the transformation of the past in(to) the digital era? Could it even be possible to be simply nostalgic of nostalgia; finally describing the eternal research for (lost) identity?

 This international conference aims to explore nostalgia as a (mass) media phenomena and also seeks forcontributions that treat any other mediated forms of nostalgia.

 Topics may include, but will not be limited to, the following:

  • nostalgia and (mass)media
  • publics, web- and fan-communities
  • audiovisual narratives, screening, recording
  • seriality, flashbacks and temporality
  • news, journalism, (printed) press
  • broadcast revivals, archive discoveries
  • political past, political systems, (n)ostalgia, institutions
  • special nostalgic broadcast (home country, culinary traditions etc.)
  • photography, comics, video games and new technologies

Mediated forms of nostalgia :

  • architecture, (product)-design and fashion
  • psychological aspects and history of nostalgia
  • migration, home-comers, homesickness
  • geographical maps, tourist attractions and villages
  • folklore, traditions, regional nostalgia
  • museums, exhibitions and contemporary art
  • flea markets, vintage stores and fairs, parties, concerts

Economy, marketing and nostalgia

  • Vintage-retro branding
  • retro-design (cars, watches, furniture)
  • advertising, marketing and luxury products
  • music and arts business

Theories and methodologies

  • nostalgic media studies and critical approaches
  • the come-back of philosophers and thinkers “of the past” in
  • science, arts and other research domains

Deadline for proposals: May 6, 2012

Send abstracts of max. 500 words, bibliography and biographical statement to:

flashbacks2012@gmail.com

Participants will have to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses. Travel information as well as a list of affordable hotels and other accommodations will be posted on the conference-website in June.

Participation fees will be announced but will not exceed 100 CHF (and less for students).

 For any other inquiries feel free to contact Katharina Niemeyer (Katharina.Niemeyer@unige.ch /katharinaniemeyer@gmail.com).

 Responsable : Katharina Niemeyer

Benoît Berthou

Université Paris 13, LABSIC Directeur de la revue Comicalités. Etudes de culture graphique Rédacteur en chef des Carnets de la bande dessinée

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Publié par

Benoît Berthou

Université Paris 13, LABSIC Directeur de la revue Comicalités. Etudes de culture graphique Rédacteur en chef des Carnets de la bande dessinée

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