Call for Chapter Proposals:

Zoom: Performance, Precarity, and Performativity in the Age of COVID-19
Co-Editors: Mark Nunes & Cassandra Ozog

Deadline for abstract, summary and bio submission: January 31, 2022

In March of 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous countries across the globe declared nationwide shutdowns that resulted in profound changes in the daily life of millions of individuals. While many workers in the hospitality and travel industries were suddenly left unemployed, countless others found themselves working—and playing—through video chat software platforms. And of those platforms, Zoom quickly emerged as the default modality for remote engagement, rapidly morphing from brand name to eponymous generic—a verb and a place and mode of being all at once. In an era of COVID-19, our relationships and experiences are deeply intertwined with our ability to “zoom.”

Now, as we enter our third year of the pandemic (and our nth wave of outbreak), much of the newness of Zoom and other video conferencing platforms has become a matter of banal practice. Yet we have witnessed during this period of mandated telepresence new forms of artistic innovations, new modes of pedagogy, and new ways of social organizing. And we have also seen new forms (and exacerbated existing forms) of exploitation, inequity, social isolation and precarity. As the initial hype and dread has faded, the moment presents itself for a more in-depth critical analysis of the past two years of living with Zoom.

This collection of essays will explore the impacts and implications of Zoom and other video conferencing platforms on economic, artistic, social, political, and cultural practices. We invite contributions that explore the experiences of our new cultural reality of Zoom through a variety of disciplines and areas of investigation including, but not limited to:

• Teleworking and Hypercapitalism
• Mediating Race, Gender, and Sexuality
• Trolling in the age of Zoom-Bombing
• Screens as Permeable Borders
• Intersectionality, Power, and Telepresence
• Positionality, Privilege, and Access
• “Zoom-Outs” and Techlash Movements
• Surveillance and Hypervisibility
• Place, Performance, and Mediated Copresence
• Connection, Isolation and Mental Health

While we welcome a wide range of topics, we anticipate organizing this collection of essays around the following sections:

• Theorizations of Zoom
• Artistic/Literary Performance
• Zooming Academia
• The Politics of Zoom
• Access
• Performative Publicity/Privacy

Prospective contributors should email a brief abstract, a one-page chapter summary, and a brief biography by January 31, 2022 to nunesm@appstate.edu and cassandra.ozog@uregina.ca. We anticipate requiring full chapters (6000-8000 words) from accepted authors by August, 2022.

Co-Editors:

Mark Nunes
Appalachian State University
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Boone, North Carolina, USA
nunesm@appstate.edu
https://interdisciplinary.appstate.edu/faculty/dr-mark-nunes

Cassandra Ozog
University of Regina
Sociology & Social Studies
Saskatchewan, Canada
cassandra.ozog@uregina.ca
https://www.uregina.ca/arts/sociology-social-studies/faculty-staff/faculty/Ozog-Cassandra.html