Teaching Adaptations Symposium – Call For Papers

Teaching Adaptations Symposium
Monday 4-Tuesday 5 February, 2013
University of Tasmania, Hobart

Conference Organisers: Imelda Whelehan and Felix Wilson

Deadline for submissions: 10 September 2012

Call For Papers

Film, television, theatre and video game adaptations of literary and other
texts are an expanding area of study for undergraduate and postgraduate
students, across literature, film, performance, media, cultural and
communications studies programs. While there are an increasing number of
theoretical perspectives being published in the field, there is less awareness
of what teaching adaptations involves at disciplinary and cross-disciplinary
study. Sometimes approaches to adaptations are taught within a broader
unit structure in which the status of text as adaptation is given little
attention.

Why do we teach the study of adaptations in the Arts and Humanities and
how do we teach it? As an interdisciplinary field of study, it is often hard
to locate where adaptation studies is taught and to measure its impact on
existing disciplines. This symposium aims to explore adaptation studies in
Australia and beyond; to share experiences about where we teach it and
how we teach it; to reflect on the philosophy of sharing via open education
resources and explore the virtues and challenges of communities of practice
in teaching. It will showcase innovative pedagogic practices and consider
the research/teaching nexus as well as question the changing boundaries
of academic disciplines and new critical contexts. The two-day event will
also include the official launch of the world’s first adaptations open access
repository of learning and teaching materials, which aims to encourage the
sharing and development of resources in adaptation studies.

Papers are invited on any aspect of adaptation studies and its relationship
to teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. While the call is
open, panel and paper suggestions might fall in topics such as:

  • Adaptations and disciplinarity
  • Adaptations and curriculum design
  • Authors and auteurs
  • Screenwriting and creative practice
  • Canons and classics
  • Adaptations and assessment innovation
  • Studying the popular
  • Open education resources and adaptations
  • Communities of practice and adaptation studies
  • Using adaptations as ‘study aids’
  • Remakes and remaking
  • Adaptation on stage
  • Reading and viewing in the twenty-first century
  • Cross-cultural adaptations
  • Teaching the adaptation industry

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to Imelda.whelehan@utas.edu.au by 10 September 2012.

This symposium will mark the end of the OLT funded project ‘Bridging the Gap: Teaching Adaptations Across the Disciplines and Sharing Content for Curriculum Renewal’ (Lead Investigator, Prof Imelda Whelehan, (UTAS); co-investigators, Prof David Sadler (UTAS), Dr Lisa Fletcher (UTAS), Dr Chris Worth (Monash), A/Prof Frances Bonner (UQ), A/Prof Jason Jacobs (UQ), Dr Hila Shachar (UWA); Project Officer, Felix Wilson).

The aim of the project is to promote the curricular enhancement of the study of adaptations and associated program development from a cross-disciplinary perspective. This will be achieved through the creation of a community of practice of academics across a number of disciplinary areas who deploy adaptation course components as part of their curriculum. At the heart of the project lies an ambition to create an accessible and navigable repository of open teaching resources for students and scholars in the area. To find out more visit the project web page.