CFP – 2017 MLA Convention
Remediating Boundaries between Children’s Print and Digital Media

At the outset of their landmark work, Remediation: Understanding New Media, Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin explain the “double logic” of remediation accordingly: “Our culture wants both to multiply its media and to erase all traces of mediation: ideally, it wants to erase its media in the very act of multiplying them.” Indeed, our culture is increasingly “hypermediated,” even as we see more and more calls for immediacy.

With this observation in mind, I seek papers that examine the boundaries between print and digital cultures for/of/by children and young adults. It has been over 15 years since Eliza T. Dresang first proclaimed the “radical change” offered by the so-called Digital Revolution. What characteristics, trends, tendencies, possibilities, and pitfalls define digital children’s culture today, and what is its connection to its print counterpart? How do print texts reveal the impact of digital media—or resist it? How do print texts inform our reading of digital texts and vice versa?

This panel seeks to explore the ongoing relationship between print and digital forms in children’s and young adult literature and culture. Papers may cover adaptation and remediation, intermediality, digital narratives, e-books and other digital delivery platforms, user-generated content, and transmedia storytelling. Submissions considering digital cinema (including CGI and computer animation), video games, viral videos, and other new media content are especially welcome.

This session is guaranteed for the 2017 MLA Convention in Philadelphia. Please send proposals of 350-500 words (including a working bibliography) to Pete Kunze at pkunze@utexas.edu byTuesday, March 15. Inquiries welcome!