Hi FEAST!
I'm passing along the CFP for a panel at the NeMLA. The organizer is a philosopher-turned-musicologist, and the topic might be of interest to you, colleagues or students interested in queer theory and
pop culture.
CFP : Seminar on “What’s Queer about Musical Theatre?”
45th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
Deadline: September 30, 2013
Conference Dates: April 3-6, 2014
http://www.nemla.org/convention/2014/cfp.html
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Host: Susquehanna University
D.A. Miller, in his 1998 essay “Place for Us,” described the formal characteristics of Musical Theatre as a queer environment. Filled with shame, hiding,
secrets, and longing, Miller identifies many characteristics of the Musical that are stereotypically associated with queer sexual identities. Much has changed since 1998 and the ‘queerness’ of the Musical has been explored in many different ways, from historical
analysis of the queer subjects that produced Musicals to the coming of more queer characters within the subject matter of the Musical itself. This seminar aims to return to Miller’s essay as a point of departure into the new field of Affect Theory in order
to revise what is queer in Musical Theatre today in terms of its affective status as 'musical' expression.
As “Glee” and “Smash” continue to rewrite the LGBT narrative of identity politics through music, the Musical has become increasingly ‘mainstream’ and
perhaps losing some of its queerness in the sense that Miller described. In what ways does this ‘queerness’ show itself in Musical Theatre, if at all? The goal of this seminar is to bring many methods of analysis into dialogue with each other to form an interdisciplinary
and transdisciplinary focusing on the affective influence of making something a Musical rather than a ‘straight’ play – and the possible aesthetic and political ramifications of embedding music into a narrative.
Please submit the following materials to Christopher Culp, University at Buffalo, SUNY - cmculp at gmail.com
Abstract of no more than 300 words in a .doc or .docx file
In body of email:
Name and Affiliation
100-200 word bio
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements
__________
Melissa A. Mosko, PhD
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Canisius College
Churchill Tower 702
x2742