Call for Short Articles and Digital Media Projects

on Queer and Psychoanalytical Considerations of

“The Screen”

 

“Only the subject – the human subject, the subject of the desire that is the essence of man-is not, unlike the animal, entirely caught up in this imaginary capture. He maps himself in it. How? In so far as he isolates the function of the screen and plays with it.  Man, in effect, knows how to play with the mask as that beyond which there is the gaze.  The screen is here the locus of mediation.”
- Jacques Lacan, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis

The Qouch, an online publication of The Queer Psychoanalysis Society, is looking for short articles and digital media projects for an on-going series on “The Screen”. We are interested in exploring the various functions of the concept of the screen from film theory and media studies to psychoanalytic concepts of “screen memory” and “projection” as they relate to modern theories and practices of gender and sexuality. We are especially looking for work that ponders one or several of the metaphorical implications of the screen in queer and/or psychoanalytical terms; the screen as a site of projection, the screen as a veil between subject and object, the screen as a sifting mechanism that separates elements, and the screen as the process of detection, among other possibilities.

We invite completed short articles (500 to 2000 words) and digital media projects or queries, proposals, and abstracts for projects to be sent to theqouch@gmail.com We also ask that you send a short bio introducing your background and work. The Qouch publishes on a rolling basis and there is no deadline for submissions. We also invite other projects on queer studies and psychoanalysis not on the subject of “The Screen” for our regular posts.

Some possible themes include, but are not limited to:

Film and Media Studies

The Silver Screen: Queer and psychoanalytical examinations of film and television, including analyses of individual films, genres, and evolutions in viewership. We are especially interested in work that revisits and reassesses foundational work in gender and film study. Is there still a Celluloid Closet in the post- Brokeback era? What would Laura Mulvey say about Magic Mike?

Screen Culture: In the field of Digital Humanities, Screen Culture refers to the various forms of digital media and social networking consumed on computers, smart phones, and ipods among other devices. How has screen culture impacted queer culture and how can we use psychoanalytic and/or queer approaches to study it? How has the emergence of screen culture perhaps queered interactions and communities in mainstream society?

Psychoanalytic Concepts:

Screen Memory: In his 1899 paper “Screen Memories” on the repression of childhood memory, Freud defines the screen memory as “one which owes its value as a memory not to its own content but to the relation between that content and some other that has been suppressed.” How is memory a process of screening and reassembling experience upon a screen of fantasy and desire?

Projection: How does the psychological mechanism of projection use the bodies of others as screens for visualizing one’s own desire and fantasy?

The Screen as repression

Queer Studies and Culture

Security Screening: In the post 9/11 world, “screening” brings up the idea of background screening and body screening, which are particularly perilous for people of non-normative gender and sexual identity. How do cultural anxieties about gender and sexuality influence the process of screening for threatening “others”?

Medical Screening: In the lgbt community, “screening” also brings up the practice of screening for HIV. How does the threat of HIV and AIDS-phobia cause us to not only screen blood, but to also screen the sexuality of others for threatening or undesirable qualities? How can we think of the practice of “cruising” both online and in the clubs as a process of screening?

All other visions of “The Screen” not listed are openly and enthusiastically encouraged!