Hi All, TransMissions: Journal of Film and Media Studies published Call for Papers for its' new issue devoted to realtions between war and technology. Please find CfP below. Best Regards, Magda Zdrodowska -------------------------------------------------------------------- Call for Papers for 2017 vol.2, issue 1 War&Technology Edited by: Joanna Walewska (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland) Human Terrain System was a programme designed in 2005 to provide knowledge about foreign populations as well as to increase cultural understanding between US forces and Iraqis and Afghans and therefore reduce American and civilian casualties. Supporters of the programme claimed that U.S. soldiers and marines become better at winning local populations’ hearts and minds during “counterinsurgency operations”. On the other hand, opponents of this costly and ethically doubtful endeavour argued that by harnessing socio-cultural knowledge to the demands of military strategy, the Human Terrain System seeks to militarize the social sciences. After two centuries of a rather tempestuous relationship of anthropology and ethnography with the military, now, at the beginning of the 21st century the need became plain to seek their advice and assistance, bringing about what is described as “a cultural turn.” At the time when the anthropological and psychological milieu rejected this type of cooperation as a non-ethical and undesirable breach of independence in the area of knowledge they are pursuing, it has become evident that Human Terrain System is a key concept not only during the anti-insurgency military actions but also on the frontiers of cyberwar. The concept appears one more time in the documents leaked by Edward Snowden 2013, concerning on-line actions developed by the American National Security Agency (NSA) and the British intelligence bureau, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), against supporters of WikiLeaks, The Pirate Bay portal and hacktivist groups such as Anonymous. It seems that the online world is becoming a battlefield, where the members of different non-violent, hactivist group appear to be representatives of „foreign cultures”, which need to be engaged by such means of psychological warfare as deception and social camouflage. In the next issue of “TransMissions” we would like to reflect on the problem of ‘cultural turn’ in military, but also on the use of methodology and tools of cultural and media studies emplyed to ‘diffuse’ the narratives on war. We would like to encourage scholars representing different disciplines to reflect on different aspects of contemporary war and conflicts, with particular focus on the mediation of a war or, in other words, its different modi of existence, and its representation in and coverage by media. Therefore, we have the pleasure of inviting all interested scholars active in such fields as media studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, media archaeology, history of technology, and film studies to contribute to the “TransMissions” Issue on contemporary war and technology. We shall be happy to receive theoretical as well as research-based papers covering analogue or electronic technologies used by collectives and individuals that might include the following topics (but not exclusively): - drones - militarization of everyday life - mobile technologies as survival tools during humanitarian crisis resulting from war and conflicts - investigative journalism and war - the future of war - representation of war in media arts and popular culture - media coverage of war and crises - film coverage of war and crises - military technologies and materials and their civilian applications - conflicts and political crisis and its bottom-up management by social media platforms - social media as a tool for obtaining „forensic evidence” of war crimes We expect 300-500 word abstracts to be sent to magda.zdrodowska@uj.edu.pl till 15 December 2016. The issue is due to be published in Summer 2017. Publication schedule: Submission of abstracts: 15 December 2016 Notification of abstract acceptance: 31 December 2016 Submission of full papers: 28 February 2017 Notification of papers acceptance: 31 March 2017 Publication date: Summer 2017