The Power of Shame in Film and Media
Due Date: 04-03-2026
We invite abstract submissions for a dual-scope publication project examining shame as a social, cultural, political, and spectatorial force in film and media. The first is Shame, Power and Cultural Identity in Media, an edited volume for Bloomsbury’s series Watching with Shame: Affects and Ethics in Media Spectatorship, and the second is a special issue of Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind. Shame is a deeply ambivalent emotion—self-reflective and socially regulated, adaptive and destructive—that operates across representation, spectatorship, identity, and power. In media contexts, shame can function as a mechanism of social control and political othering, but also as a catalyst for resistance, ethical reflection, and social critique.
We welcome theoretical and methodological contributions from across the humanities, social sciences, psychology, philosophy, media and cultural studies, and related fields. Submissions may address film, television, digital media, online cultures, or any other media forms.
Contributions engaging diverse cultural, geopolitical, and sociohistorical contexts, including the Global South, are particularly encouraged.
Abstract deadline: 3 April 2026
Abstract length: 300 words (+ up to 5 key references)
Indicative length once abstracts are accepted:
– Book chapters: 6,000–8,000 words
– Journal articles: up to 8,000 words
Abstracts should be anonymized and will be considered for both publications (contributors may indicate a strong preference). Abstracts should be submitted to all three editors.
Editors’ contact details:
Mette Kramer: kramermette1@gmail.com
Catalin Brylla: cbrylla@yahoo.com
Karen Adkins: kmookins@msn.com
Please find the full CFP here.