Deadline September 30, 2004
NOTE: Look at fandome section for a library connection.
The editors of The Pro-Wrestling Book are seeking essays on all aspects of rofessional Wrestling. The book's starting point is that wrestling, notwithstanding its 'low' cultural status, is an important topic for analysis both for its intrinsic qualities and for what it tells us about culture and entertainment. The book proposes to deal with wrestling in broad terms, inevitably exploring the powerful WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) organisation, but also looking at other styles and traditions. Accordingly, the book will consider the historical development of wrestling and the role it has played in different cultures. It will also discuss the aesthetics of different forms as well as the relationship between pro-wrestling and media (especially television). The sexual and racial politics of wrestling will be debated and also the ways in which pro-wrestling has been received and evaluated by audiences and critics.
It is intended that The Pro-Wrestling Book will draw upon a range of different approaches, including media studies, cultural studies, film and television studies, sports studies, sociology and gender studies. Listed below are some of the topics we think should be covered, but we welcome proposals on any aspect of professional wrestling:
-National/Stylistic variants - Indie/Mainstream, 'Hardcore', lucha libre, puroresu, British style(s).
-Wrestling and representation/representations of wrestling - gender, ethnicity, cultural identity, films and TV about wrestling.
-Stardom and Performance - The Rock, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Kendo Nagasaki, Jyushin 'Thunder' Liger.
-Fandom, Consumption and trans-media - fanzines, internet, merchandising, wrestling games, 'Marks' and 'Smarts'
Please send abstracts of not more than 500 words to leon.hunt@brunel.ac.uk and peter.hutchings@northumbria.ac.uk. Deadline September 30th 2004.
