Call for papers
Direito e Práxis’ Dossier: “Among norms, aesthetics and fictions: law and Brazilian cinema (1990–2020)”
Invited Editors: Bruna Mariz Bataglia Ferreira (PUC-Rio) and Flávia do Amaral Vieira (UFPA).
The Revista Direito e Práxis, an academic journal of the Postgraduate Program in Law of Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), invite researchers to send paper proposals to the Dossier “Among norms, aesthetics and fictions: law and Brazilian cinema (1990–2020)”, organized by the invited editors Bruna Mariz Bataglia Ferreira (PUC-Rio) and Flávia do Amaral Vieira (UFPA).
This dossier arises from the desire to follow the dialogue initiated after a seminar in Jan/2020 at Birkbeck, University of London, where we discussed the current Brazilian context and the interconnections between aesthetics, political philosophy and normativity from the feature film Bacurau. Thus, we invite interested researchers to submit contributions to the dossier with specific focus on the debate between law and contemporary Brazilian cinema (1990–2020).
Cinema, as an artistic expression, also reflects the social conditions of each time. Since the movement that became known as “Resumption of Brazilian Cinema” (Retomada do Cinema Brasileiro) — in the post-dictatorship period, where political opening provided a fertile ground for artistic creativity and the stimulation of film production — with fundamental works such as “Central Station” (1998), narratives that differentiated the representation of the country of yesteryear were valued. Likewise, the perception that neoliberalism deepened Brazil’s structural inequality, along with the escalation of violence in large cities, was portrayed in remarkable movies such as “ City of God “ (2002) and “The Elite Squad” I e II (2007; 2010). With the perspective of social transformation after the national public policies of poverty reduction in the 2000s, productions of the “post-ressumption” (pós-retomada) such as “The second mother” (2015) and “Neighboring sounds r” (2012) highlighted deep marks of Brazilian society, such as the revealing links between the colonial past and the abyss between social classes. In the most recent period, films such as “The Edge of Democracy” (2019) and “Bacurau” (2019), register the threat of neofascism. Along with the Brazilian cinema of more expressly politicized discourse, there are also experimental works and blockbuster comedies, sometimes financed by large television conglomerates, which also provide a fertile field for analysis.
Brazilian contemporary cinema theory has sought to understand this movement. The political and psychoanalytic role of cinema, with its function of subversion and social criticism, is one of the languages that can bring us closer to the senses of desire, and when we shift this look to understand Law as a human and a collective creation, we also notice its fictional nature. The creation of senses, imaginary, poetic, through image and sound, makes the cinema a medium that also reflects the Law, the social-juridical tools that (re)produce the social conditions in which we live. Furthermore, as a mass media, cinema has great potential for introjection, considering its capacity to interfere, influence and form social values and behaviors, producing political socialization. Cinema can both reify stereotypes and affirm prejudices that circulate socially and awaken us to the iniquities of power relations, to the structures and hidden interests underlying strategies of control and domination. Cinema is representation, but it is also the creation of (meta)narratives and imaginaries that allow social criticism, participation and transgression of the social order.
In addition to the range of publications in the field, the goal of the Dossier “Among norms, aesthetics and fictions: law and Brazilian cinema (1990–2020)” is to contribute presenting a state of the art of theoretical and methodological tools to think and transform reality and/with Law from the possible dialogues between these two fields of knowledge. Perspectives from philosophy, aesthetics, anthropology and sociology of image, among other related, in their intersections with law, are also included in this call.
***
Considering the structural gender inequalities in academy, and specifically that the number of articles submitted during the pandemic by women has been much lower than the number of articles submitted by men, we sought to set up a timeline to meet and expressly encourage women researchers to submit proposals for work, guaranteeing an extended deadline until January to allow women of multiple working hours a more adequate time.
***
The analyses must be carried out on a solid theoretical-methodological basis, with its assumptions expressly outlined. Proposals should be sent to [direitoecinema.dep@gmail.com] by 11th January of 2021 [NEW DEADLINE: 17TH JANUARY 2021], containing the following:
Title: subtitle
Name, e-mail, qualification and institutional affiliation. See model below:
Name Surname1
1 Name of the affiliate institution, city, state, country. E-mail: address. ORCID: https://orcid.org/XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
A summary of no more than 1,200 words clearly indicating the object of the work, its hypotheses, the method that will be used in the development of the research, the expected conclusions and the contribution of the research to the field.
A provisional structure of the text topics, including a list of eventual cases, experiences or theoretical proposals that will be analyzed.
The proposals accepted for development will receive considerations from the Editors. We expect to receive the final versions by May 2021.
For other submission rules, access: https://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/index.php/revistaceaju/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions
Schedule:
11/01/2021 — Deadline for paper proposals submission. (authors) [NEW DEADLINE: 17TH JANUARY 2021]
02/15/2021 — Deadline for editors to communicate decisions on submitted proposals.
05/17/2021 — Deadline to send the final version of articles. (authors)
07/26/2021 — Deadline to return to the authors with comments.
08/23/2021 — Deadline for authors to return with the final versions of their articles.
12/01/2021 — Publication of the dossier.