Chapter proposals are invited for The Handbook of Trans Cinema. Join confirmed contributors like Cáel M. Keegan, author of Lana and Lilly Wachowski: Sensing Transgender. We seek a broadly international group of scholarly contributors.
Past books have provided in-depth studies of transgender themes and filmmakers in selected works of cinema, e.g., Rebecca Bell-Metereau’s Transgender Cinema (2019), Eliza Steinbock’s Shimmering Images: Trans Cinema, Embodiment, and the Aesthetics of Change (2019), and Akkadia Ford’s Trans New Wave Cinema (2021). As a next step, The Handbook of Trans Cinema provides an encyclopedic overview of international trans cinema, with chapters examining the variety of genres of trans cinema from around the world, as well as the connections between these films and core concepts in trans studies and in film theory. Each chapter will provide a broad overview of its subject, with extensive references to both trans theory and film theory. In addition to giving surveys of the chapter’s topic, chapters will include in-depth discussion of at least three films. Abstracts for proposed chapters should include several references to both trans theory and film theory, and abstracts should list at least three films that will be explored in-depth.
Please see the list of high priority chapters at the end of this CFP. Proposals for other topics will also be considered, but all chapters will offer broad overviews of their subject, and not traditional scholarly analyses of a single film or filmmaker. To be most competitive, each chapter proposal should examine films from multiple countries and in multiple languages, with the exception of chapters in the handbook’s Part IV. “National Overviews of Trans Films,” which will each focus on a single country’s films. (See the listing of high priority chapters for the four parts of the book at the end of this CFP.)
The senior editor of The Handbook of Trans Cinema, Douglas Vakoch, has edited over two dozen books, including The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature (with Sabine Sharp, 2024) Transgender India: Understanding Third Gender Identities and Experiences (2022), and Transecology: Transgender Perspectives on Environment and Nature (2020).
Interested authors should submit a 300-word abstract, a 200-word biography, and a sample of a previously published chapter or article to https://bit.ly/HandbookofTransCinema no later than January 30, 2025. Proposals submitted by email will not be accepted. Abstracts and biographies should be submitted as Word documents, and previously published chapters or articles should be submitted as PDFs. Both Word files and PDFs should contain the author’s name in the file names. Please include your email address in your biography file so we can contact you with our decision about your proposal.
You are welcome to submit more than one abstract. If you decide to submit multiple abstracts for different chapters, please add a note at the top of each abstract to indicate whether you wish to be considered for writing only a single chapter, or whether you wish to be considered for writing more than one chapter.
The most competitive proposals will detail the author’s argument. It is not enough to describe what you plan to do in your chapter. You should summarize what you will conclude. For example, it’s not enough to say you will examine multiple films from diverse countries. List the specific films you propose to include and then explain what your analysis will demonstrate.
Authors will be notified whether their proposals are accepted by March 20, 2025. Partial first drafts are due by July 15, 2025; solid first drafts of full chapters are due by October 1, 2025; and final versions that cross-reference other chapters extensively are due December 1, 2025. All chapters must include at least one author with a PhD. In your 200-word biography, please note the year and university where you earned your doctorate. Only previously unpublished works will be considered.
For examples of abstracts for handbook chapters, see samples from the editor’s previous handbooks: The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature and The Routledge Handbook of Ecofeminism and Literature.
High priority chapters include:
Part I. Genres
Drama as Trans Cinema
Comedy as Trans Cinema
Romantic Comedy as Trans Cinema
Historical Trans Cinema
Westerns as Trans Cinema
Action Adventure Trans Cinema
Asian Epic Trans Cinema
Martial Arts Trans Cinema
War Trans Cinema
Disaster Trans Cinema
Horror Trans Cinema
Thriller Trans Cinema
Mystery Trans Cinema
True Crime Trans Cinema
Noir Trans Cinema
Spy Trans Cinema
Science Fiction Trans Cinema
Isekai (異世界) Trans Cinema
Superhero Trans Cinema
Fantasy Trans Cinema
Musical Trans Cinema
Animation as Trans Cinema
Anime (アニメ) as Trans Cinema
Fan Fiction Trans Cinema
Biopic Trans Cinema
Documentary Trans Cinema
Travelogues as Trans Cinema
Coming-of-Age Trans Cinema
Sports Trans Cinema
Silent Trans Cinema
Experimental Trans Cinema
Part II. Trans Concepts
Abjection and Trans Cinema
Activism and Trans Cinema
The Anthropocene and Trans Cinema
Anthropology and Trans Cinema
Aging and Trans Cinema
Archives and Trans Cinema
Asian Studies and Trans Cinema
Biopolitics and Trans Cinema
Black Studies and Trans Cinema
Camp and Trans Cinema
Children and Trans Cinema
Colonialism and Trans Cinema
Cross-dressing and Trans Cinema
Culture and Trans Cinema
Diaspora and Trans Cinema
Disability and Trans Cinema
Education and Trans Cinema
Ethnicity and Trans Cinema
Fungibility and Trans Cinema
Gender Dysphoria and Trans Cinema
Glocalization and Trans Cinema
Hispanic Studies and Trans Cinema
Historicity and Trans Cinema
Human Rights and Trans Cinema
Identity and Trans Cinema
Inclusion and Trans Cinema
Intimacy and Trans Cinema
La Loca and Trans Cinema
Lines of Flight and Trans Cinema
Medicalization and Trans Cinema
Monstrosity and Trans Cinema
Nature and Trans Cinema
Nomad Science and Trans Cinema
Normality and Trans Cinema
Passing and Trans Cinema
Performativity and Trans Cinema
Politics and Trans Cinema
Race and Trans Cinema
Religion and Trans Cinema
Reveal and Trans Cinema
Subalternity and Trans Cinema
Subjectivity and Trans Cinema
Temporality and Trans Cinema
Tipping Point and Trans Cinema
Tranimals and Trans Cinema
Transability and Trans Cinema
The Transgender Gaze and Trans Cinema
Transphobia and Trans Cinema
Trans-poetics and Trans Cinema
Visibility and Trans Cinema
Waste and Trans Cinema
Whiteness and Trans Cinema
Wrong Body and Trans Cinema
Young Adults and Trans Cinema
Part III. Film Theories and Concepts
Anthology Films and Trans Films
Apparatus Theory and Trans Films
Auteur Theory and Trans Films
Counter Cinema and Trans Films
Critical Theory and Trans Films
Diasporic Cinema and Trans Films
Ethnographic Films and Trans Films
Existentialism and Trans Films
Experimental Cinema and Trans Films
Feminism and Trans Films
Formalism and Trans Films
The Frankfurt School and Trans Films
Genre Theory and Trans Films
German Expressionism and Trans Films
Humor and Trans Films
Intimacy Coordination and Trans Cinema
Italian Neo-Realism and Trans Films
Marxism and Trans Films
Modernism and Trans Films
Music and Trans Films
New Wave Cinema and Trans Films
Phenomenology and Trans Films
Postcolonialism and Trans Films
Posthumanism and Trans Films
Postmodernism and Trans Films
Post-Structuralism and Trans Films
Psychoanalysis and Trans Films
Pure Cinema and Trans Films
Queer Film Theory and Trans Films
Realism and Trans Films
Rhetoric and Trans Films
Silent Cinema and Trans Films
Sound and Trans Films
Soviet Montage and Trans Films
Structuralism and Trans Films
Subjective Cinema and Trans Films
Surrealist Cinema and Trans Films
Visual Arts and Trans Films
Vulgar Auteurism and Trans Films
Part IV. National Overviews of Trans Films
(National Overviews Are Also Encouraged and Warmly Invited for Other Countries Not Listed)
Trans Cinema from Argentina
Trans Cinema from Australia
Trans Cinema from Brazil
Trans Cinema from Canada
Trans Cinema from Chile
Trans Cinema from China
Trans Cinema from Egypt
Trans Cinema from France
Trans Cinema from Germany
Trans Cinema from Ghana
Trans Cinema from Hong Kong
Trans Cinema from India
Trans Cinema from Indonesia
Trans Cinema from Iran
Trans Cinema from Iraq
Trans Cinema from Israel
Trans Cinema from Italy
Trans Cinema from Japan
Trans Cinema from Mexico
Trans Cinema from New Zealand
Trans Cinema from Nigeria
Trans Cinema from Norway
Trans Cinema from Poland
Trans Cinema from Russia
Trans Cinema from South Africa
Trans Cinema from South Korea
Trans Cinema from Spain
Trans Cinema from Sweden
Trans Cinema from Switzerland
Trans Cinema from Taiwan
Trans Cinema from the United Kingdom
Trans Cinema from the United States