NYC 2019 CMCS 8th International Conference (Web)

Venue: Terrace Club, New York City, USA
Time: 30.08.-01.09.2019
Abstracts – extended – by: 18.03.2019

Keynote Speakers:

• Andrew Zolides (Xavier Univ.): Celebrity and Digital Narrative Practice
• Basuli Deb (Rutgers Univ. and CUNY): From MeToo to UsToo: Celebrity Counterpublics to Migrant Counterpublics
• Alex Symons (LIMS College): “Cultural Citizenship” in the Digital Age: Activism and Risks for Comedians in America

In the recent past, there has been an increased interest in exploring intersections of life writing and studies of celebrity culture. Storytelling is central to effective branding in fame. Furthermore, the use of biographical elements has been recognized as a rhetorical device in writing op-eds, personal essays, and public speaking that often raise awareness on critical issues in popular media. Biography, as Lola Romanucci-Ross points out, is mainly a useful symbolic tool for reflecting, rotating and reversing real-life situations. Like biography, autobiography, memoirs, and testimonials play crucial roles in mapping social facts.

The impacts of glamorous forms of storytelling in scandals, gossip, and rumor become so crucial that they are often studied as sociological data, regardless of whether they enable actual social change. For pop culture enthusiasts and social observers, celebrities may or may not be actual role models in telling meaningful stories and constructing subjectivity. Yet, fans and students often invest affective and intellectual labor when it comes to accepting, negotiating or contesting what appears to be significant in understandings of popular figures. Celebrity scholars are equally familiar with the complexities of engaging with and researching “glossy topics”. … read more (Web)