SCMS CFP: Celebrity and Illness

SCMS 2016 CFP

Sick Celebrity: Making Sense of Fame and Illness

Celebrities may become iconic of specific illnesses (such as HIV/Aids or
cancer) or causes of death (such as suicide or car crash). They may also
become the face of illness through cinematic portrayals. Significant
research has interrogated celebrity death, fan mourning, and collective
memory. This panel seeks to advance research on fame, celebrity, death,
and fandom by specifically addressing celebrity physical and mental
illness.

We welcome proposals on topics such as:

–      – Cinematic representations of illness that interrogate
fame/celebrity

–      – Celebrity as the face of an illness, whether by having or
advocating on behalf of the condition

–       – Discourses of celebrity illness/treatment impacting audiences

–       – Fan reactions to celebrity illness/treatment

–       – Celebrity bodies or minds as ill, unhealthy, or pathological

Please submit abstracts of 250-450 words to Spring Duvall,
spring.duvall@salem.edu <mailto:spring.duvall@salem.edu>, by Friday,
August 21.

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Dr. Spring-Serenity Duvall
2015 Visiting Fulbright Research Chair in Transnational Studies
Brock University, Ontario
Assistant Professor
Communications
Salem College
Winston-Salem, NC