Northeast
Popular/America Culture Association
2014 Conference
Providence College,
24-25 October 2014
A final update on our sessions for this weekend's conference. The complete schedule (updated as of 12 October) can be accessed at http://nepca.wordpress.com/fall-conference/2014-conference-tentative-schedule/. A map of the campus is available at http://www.providence.edu/visit/maps/Pages/default.aspx.
Friday, 24 October
SESSION II: Friday, October 24, 2:45–4:15 pm
PANEL THIRTEEN | LIBRARY LL01 | SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY &
LEGEND: HORROR AND THE FANTASTIC
CHAIR: Faye Ringel, United States Coast Guard Academy
1. “ ‘You’re a Trickster Singular, Rachel Morgan’:
Collective and Individual Magic in Kim Harrison’s The Hollows Series”
Amie Doughty, SUNY – Oneonta
Amie Doughty is Associate Professor
and Chair of the English Department at SUNY Oneonta and a three-time presenter
in our area. Her primary area of research is children’s and young adult
fantasy, and she is author of the books Folktales
Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children (2006) and “Throw the book away”: Reading versus
Experience in Children’s Fantasy (2013), both published by McFarland. Amie
is also the Area Chair of the Children's Literature and Culture area of the
Popular Culture Association.
2. “Just Desserts: NBC’s Hannibal
and the Evolution of Cultural Morality”
Douglas Howard, Suffolk County Community College
Douglas L. Howard is Academic Chair
of the English Department on the Ammerman Campus at Suffolk County Community
College and a newcomer to our area. He has published and presented on
literature, film, and television. He is also the editor of Dexter: Investigating Cutting Edge Television and the co-editor of The Essential Sopranos Reader. His paper
today looks at another cult television program and is called “Just Desserts:
NBC’s Hannibal and the Evolution of
Cultural Morality”.
3. “ ‘Monstrosity Will Be Called For’: Holly Black and
Melissa Marr’s Urban Gothic Fairy Tale”
Rhonda Nicol, Illinois State University
Rhonda Nicol also makes her first
appearance in our area this year. She is an instructional assistant professor
of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at Illinois State University. Her
research focuses upon issues of gender, power, and identity in contemporary
fantasy, and she has published essays on works such as Harry Potter, Twilight, Supernatural, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
4. “Horrific Science and the Great Unseen in the Fiction of
Francis Stevens”
Sabrina Starnaman, University of Texas at Dallas
Sabrina Starnaman, another newcomer
to our area, is a literary studies professor at The University of Texas at
Dallas. Her work focuses on Progressive Era (1880-1930) texts that involve
women, urbanism, and disability, and today’s paper arises from her interest in
the history of science and women writers who are doing things they aren’t
supposed to—like writing dark horror fantasy stories in 1919.
Saturday, 25 October
SESSION IV, Saturday, October 25, 9:00–10:30 am
PANEL TWENTY-FOUR | HARKINS 104 | SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY
& LEGEND: CREATURE FEATURES
CHAIR: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
1. “Dracula: Monster of Masculinity”
Michael Paul Pecora, Worcester State University
Michael Paul Pecora is a recent graduate
of Worcester State University, receiving his master’s degree in 2014. He has
worked as a teacher in the Worcester Public School system and will be pursuing
his Ph.D. in English Literature beginning in 2015. His primary scholarly
interests are Early Modern English Literature, as well as Contemporary
Fantasy/Sci-fi, where he focuses his studies on gender, society, and
masculinity. Aside from his work in the scholarly field, Michael is also a poet
and writer of fiction, as well as a classical guitarist and music instructor.
2. “Nature Selects the Horla: Darwinian Influences on Guy de
Maupassant’s Horror Tale”
Sharon Yang, Worcester State University
Sharon Yang is a longtime supporter
of our area. She is a Full Professor in the English Department at Worcester
State University and teaches courses in Renaissance literature,
nineteenth-century British literature (including the Gothic), and Film and
Literature. Sharon has published and
presented in these fields, including her book Goddesses, Mages, and Wise Women:
The Female Pastoral Guide in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century English
Drama (2011) and her collection The
X-Files and Literature: Unweaving the Story, Unraveling the Lie to Find the
Truth (2007). She is currently
working on editing a collection of essays with Dr. Kathleen Healey called Gothic Landscapes: Changing Eras, Changing Cultures, Changing
Anxieties, which will include a more in-depth version of her paper today on
“The Horla”.
3. “Like Lovecraft for the Little Ones: ParaNorman’s Gothic New England”
Faye Ringel, US Coast Guard Academy & Jenna Randall,
Independent Scholar
Combing efforts, Faye Ringel, the founder
of our area, and newcomer Jenna Randall offer insight into a recent film. Faye is
Professor Emerita of Humanities, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and taught English
there for over 25 years. She is the author of New England’s Gothic Literature: History and Folklore of the
Supernatural and many articles in reference books and scholarly journals on
this subject. Faye is especially knowledgeable about the works of Rhode
Islander H. P. Lovecraft, and she has it on good authority that she is the
reincarnation of his wife Sonia. (Don’t believe this? Ask Faye.) Her
co-presenter, Jenna, gets paid to listen to audiobooks all day. When she’s not
doing that, she’s chasing her 3 sons around. And when she’s not doing that, she’s
conspiring with Faye to take over the world, one paper presentation at a time.
4. “Cyborgs in Western Science Fiction: Triumphs and
Tribulations in Human-Machine Relations”
Petra Vannucci-Henkel, University of Denver
Petra
Vannucci-Henkel has had to withdraw her paper.
SESSION VI: Saturday, October 25, 1:30–3:00 pm
PANEL THIRTY-EIGHT | LIBRARY LL01| SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY,
& LEGEND: MANUFACTURING MONSTERS
CHAIR: Michael Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
1. “Harvesting the Little Sisters: Sexualization and
the Exploitation of Children in the BioShock Series”
Ashley Barry, Independent Scholar
Ashley Barry, Independent Scholar
Ashley Barry currently works at a
publishing house in Boston and recently earned a Master’s degree in children’s
literature at Simmons College. Having written a number of Facebook posts about
complex narratives in video games, her favorite professor from her undergraduate
institution reached out and encouraged her to present at the NEPCA conference.
2. “Scopophilia and
Ocular Mutilation: Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Vision for Pretty Deadly”
Katy Rex, Independent Scholar [ADDED]
Katy Rex, Independent Scholar [ADDED]
Katy Rex is
an independent scholar and writes comics analysis at End of the Universe
Comics <http://endoftheuniversecomics.com/>, Comics Bulletin <http://comicsbulletin.com/>,
and Bloody Disgusting <http://bloody-disgusting.com/>. She also runs
a podcast at endoftheuniversecomics.com featuring academic and creator
interviews focusing on the topics of both comics and music.
3. “Should Your Car Kill You?”
Don Vescio, Worcester State University
Don Vescio is a member of Worcester
State University’s Department of English, where he teaches courses in critical
theory and rhetoric. Prior to this, Don served, for ten years, as Worcester
State’s Vice President of Information Technologies; he then became Vice
President for the newly formed division of Enrollment Management. Don’s
research interests include the connections between contemporary critical theory
and data networks, information design, and predictive analytics in the
humanities.
4. “The Cosmic Gaze: Polyocularity in H. P.
Lovecraft-Related Visual Culture”
Nathaniel Wallace, Ohio University
Our final presenter this afternoon
is Nathaniel Wallace, a PhD candidate at the Ohio University school of
Interdisciplinary Arts, where his focus is on the visual arts and film. His academic
credentials also include an AAS in interactive media from Columbus State, a BA
in political science from the Ohio State University, and an MA in political
science from Ohio University, where he concentrated on international relations.
Nathaniel’s recent work centers on the writings of Rhode Island author H. P.
Lovecraft and their afterlives, and he is currently finishing his dissertation,
“H. P. Lovecraft’s Literary Supernatural Horror in Visual Culture,” and working
on related creative projects, including a video game adaptation of Lovecraft’s
unpublished novella “The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath”. Nathaniel’s presentation today is entitled “The
Cosmic Gaze: Polyocularity in H.P. Lovecraft-Related Visual Culture”.
SESSION VII: Saturday, October 26, 3:15–4:45 pm
PANEL FORTY-EIGHT|
HARKINS 331 | SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, & LEGEND: SCIENCE
AND SCIENCE FICTION
CHAIR: Sabrina Starnaman, University of Texas – Dallas
1. “Identifying Frankenstein’s Creature in Nature”
Janna Andrews, Arcadia University
Janna Andrews was originally born
and raised in San Antonio, and she is currently a sophomore at Arcadia
University, where she is pursuing a double major in creative writing and
graphic design. Fascinated with the created world around us, she holds a
passion for nature and expresses that love through words and images. An
illustrator, writer, and coffee aficionado, she is working towards a career in
book design and travel writing.
2. “ ‘I Miss Science Class’: Emasculating Scientists in The Walking Dead”
Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
Kristine Larsen, a six-year veteran
of our area, is Professor of Astronomy at Central Connecticut State University,
and her research focuses on the intersections between science and society, including
science and popular culture. She is the author of Stephen Hawking: A Biography and Cosmology 101 and co-editor of The
Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who and The Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman.
3. “Did Chris Carter Want to Kill His Franchise? A Feminist
Reading of The X-Files: I Want to Believe”
April Selley, Union College
April Selley, a Rhode Island native
and previous presenter in our area, received her BA in English at Providence
College and earned a PhD in English and American Literature from Brown
University. She now teaches American Literature and the Writing of Fiction in
the English Department at Union College in Schenectady, New York. She, also,
has been a Fulbright Lecturer in Portugal and in Japan. Her published work
encompasses scholarly articles on a variety of subjects, such as Poe,
Dickinson, fellow Rhode Islander Lovecraft, Fitzgerald, and Star Trek, and an impressive literary output,
which includes over forty poems and eight short stories, as well as creative
nonfiction and flash fictions, both in print and online. April has also delivered
many papers at regional, national and international Popular Culture Association
Conferences, mostly on the subject of Star
Trek, but, today, she turns her attention towards a different franchise and
asks: “Did Chris Carter Want to Kill His Franchise? A Feminist Reading of The X-Files: I Want to Believe”.
4. “Echoes of Frankenstein
in the Comics: Recasting the Story in Humor Comics”
Michael Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Michael Torregrossa is also Rhode
Island born and bred and holds degrees in Medieval Studies from both Rhode
Island College and University of Connecticut (Storrs). A scholar of both the
medieval and the modern, he is the current Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror,
and Legend Area Chair, a position he has held since 2009. Michael’s present
research focuses on monsters, and he will present a paper entitled “A
Transylvanian Count in Camelot? Investigating the Draculas of the Modern Matter
of Britain” next month at Wheaton College as part of the 2014 Meeting of the
New England Region of the American Conference for Irish Studies.
