CFP “Feel the Force”: The first 50 years of Star Wars (12/31/2026; PopCRN Online 5/4-5/2027)

“Feel the Force”: The first 50 years of Star Wars 4-5 May 2027

deadline for submissions:
December 31, 2026

full name / name of organization:
PopCRN - The Popular Culture Research Network

contact email:
popcrn@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/03/18/%E2%80%9Cfeel-the-force%E2%80%9D-the-first-50-years-of-star-wars-4-5-may-2027


“Feel the Force”: The first 50 years of Star Wars

A PopCRN Conference

Join us for a free virtual conference exploring the Star Wars universe and its enduring cultural impact to be held online from 4th-5th May 2027.

From a surprise blockbuster to a galactic empire of multimedia dominance, Star Wars has fundamentally reshaped popular culture, spawned generations of devoted fans, and continues to spark passionate debates about sequels, prequels, spinoffs, and what George Lucas really meant to say. Is Jar Jar Binks a Sith Lord? Are the Ewoks cute and cuddly? Which is the best trilogy? And what order should you watch them in? We want to hear all the academic debates from across the galaxy!

We welcome both individual papers, panels and round table discussions from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage papers from academic padawans, postgraduate researchers and early career researchers. Selected papers will have the opportunity to be published in a planned book.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• "I find your lack of faith disturbing" – Fandom, canon wars, and the discourse around Disney's sequel trilogy.
• "These are not the droids you're looking for" – The role of robots, androids and AI in Star Wars narratives and our contemporary moment.
• "I am your father" – Paternity, family structures and generational trauma in the Skywalker saga.
• "Do or do not, there is no try" – Yoda, philosophy, and wisdom.
• "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" – Nostalgia, retrofuturism and the invention of the past.
• "The Force will be with you, always" – Spirituality, religion and mythology.
• "Laugh it up, fuzzball" – Comedy, camp and levity.
• "That's no moon" – Scale, technology and the sublime in science fiction cinema.
• "I love you." "I know." – Romantic narratives and toxic masculinity in space opera.
• "The garbage'll do!" – Consumption, waste and sustainability in Star Wars merchandising.
• "This is the way" – Community, belonging and parasocial relationships in television fandom.
• The Imperial March – Empire, corruption and war in the Star Wars universe.
• "The Resistance will rise" – Class struggle, labour and economic systems in Star Wars worldbuilding.
• "Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine" – Death, resurrection and immortality narratives.
• "I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe" – Labour, precarity and the gig economy in space.
• "That's no way to treat a lady!" – Manners, civility and social codes across species and cultures.

Please email inquiries to popcrn@une.edu.au

Website: www.popcrn.org

Please submit abstracts (200 words) and author details via our online portal By 31st December 2026.

Notification of abstract acceptance is 31st January 2027.

Registration is free. The conference is welcoming of early career researchers, postgraduates, Indigenous scholars, people with diverse identities and other Star Wars enthusiasts.

You can also submit via the QR code below or through the URLs below

Submit here - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8jjzaWnS732QsFE

Register here - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7TGWUYZidtlxVLU

CFP “Living in a Material World”: The 1980s in Popular Culture (7/31/2026; PopCRN 11/26-27/2026)

“Living in a Material World”: The 1980s in Popular Culture
deadline for submissions: July 31, 2026

full name / name of organization: 

PopCRN - The Popular Culture Research Network

contact email: 

popcrn@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/04/02/%E2%80%9Cliving-in-a-material-world%E2%80%9D-the-1980s-in-popular-culture.

Call for Papers

“Living in a Material World”: The 1980s in Popular Culture

 

PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) will be holding a free virtual symposium exploring the 1980s in popular culture to be held 26-27 November 2026.

The 1980s was the decade of excess, technological innovation, and political upheaval. This conference aims to explore both the popular culture of the 1980s and how the 1980s have been depicted in the popular culture of other eras.

The 1980s was the era of MTV, the personal computer, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of neoliberalism, Live Aid, the Falklands War, the Iran-Contra affair, the assassination of John Lennon, the AIDS crisis, Chernobyl, the end of the Cold War, the birth of hip-hop, Madonna’s Like a Virgin, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the Walkman, Rubik’s Cubes, shoulder pads, punk, glam metal, synthesizers, VHS tapes, The Breakfast Club, Top Gun, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Blade Runner, Pac-Man, the Challenger disaster, the rise of video game culture, The Simpsons, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 24-hour news networks, the invention of the World Wide Web, the election of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, the Tiananmen Square protests, the creation of CNN, the rise of Japanese consumer technology, the Space Shuttle program, the rise of Wall Street culture, yuppies, the DeLorean, New Romanticism, breakdancing, Miami Vice, The Cosby Show, He-Man, Transformers, the emergence of cyberpunk, Ghostbusters, The Goonies, Nintendo, Trivial Pursuit, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and many more.

We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers. We also welcome submissions for papers, panels and round tables. Papers from this conference will have the opportunity to be published in an edited book.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• "Greed is good." – The financial excess and corporate culture of the 1980s.
• "I want my MTV." – The rise of music television and the visualisation of pop music.
• "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." – Gender, romance, and independence in 1980s film.
• "I pity the fool!" – The rise of wrestling, action heroes, and hyper-masculinity.
• "Do you really want to hurt me?" – LGBTQ+ identities and culture in the 1980s.
• “The dream is alive.”– The Space Shuttle program and its impact on popular imagination.
• "Gotta catch ‘em all!" – Toys, video games, and marketing to children in the 1980s.
• "This is your brain on drugs." – The War on Drugs and moral panics.
• "We’re not gonna take it!" – Punk, rebellion, and counterculture.
• "Tear down this wall!" – The Cold War in popular culture.
• "The computer is personal." – The rise of home computing and digital culture.
• "The more you know." – Education, media, and the spread of information in the 1980s.
• "Life moves pretty fast." – Youth culture and coming-of-age narratives in 1980s cinema.
• "I ain’t afraid of no ghosts!" – Science fiction, horror, and the supernatural in 1980s media.
• "Power dressing." – Fashion, materialism, and aesthetics of the decade.

Please submit by your proposed abstract by 31st July 2026

• Submit here - https://tinyurl.com/2hyksxn8
• Register here - tinyurl.com/mrxeys35
• Queries to popcrn@une.edu.au

Stay up to date with PopCRN on our social pages & website

• www.popcrn.org
• X (ex-Twitter) - https://twitter.com/PopcultureUne
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071540522655
• Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/popcrn.bsky.social
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14503409/

Last updated April 3, 2025

CFP Child's Play in Popular Culture: History, representations and consumption (11/30/2025; PopCRN 4/30-5/1/2026)

Of potential interest:

Child's Play in Popular Culture: History, representations and consumption

deadline for submissions: 

November 30, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

PopCRN - The Popular Culture Research Network

contact email: 

popcrn@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/04/01/childs-play-in-popular-culture-history-representations-and-consumption.

Call for Papers

Child's Play in Popular Culture: History, representations and consumption

PopCRN – The Popular Culture Network invites scholars to explore the diverse representations of childhood in popular culture at a virtual symposium to be held online on 30 April – 1 May 2026.

From dolls and board games to digital playgrounds and interactive media, the concept of play has been a defining aspect of childhood across cultures and historical periods. Popular culture has both shaped and been shaped by children’s play, reflecting broader societal values, anxieties, and technological advancements.

This conference, Child’s Play in Popular Culture: History, Representations, and Consumption, invites scholars, researchers, and practitioners to explore the multifaceted ways in which play is constructed, represented, and consumed in popular media and culture.

We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers. Presenters will have the opportunity to submit their work for consideration in a refereed book publication.

Topics can include, but are not restricted to:

• "Life must be lived as play." – The history of children’s games and toys in popular culture
• "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." –Representations of play in literature, film, television, and digital media
• "Play is the highest form of research." - Play and pedagogy: the intersection of entertainment and education
• "Toys are put on this Earth to be played with by a child." – Commercialization and commodification of childhood through toys and games
• "Girls can do anything!" –Gender, race, and class in play culture
• "The future of play is digital." – The influence of technology on play: from board games to virtual worlds
• "Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." – Fan cultures, nostalgia, and adult engagement with childhood play
• "It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt." – Risk, danger, and moral panics around children’s play
• "If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." – Play as resistance: subversive and transgressive forms of play
• "The world’s playgrounds are as diverse as its cultures." – Global and cross-cultural perspectives on child’s play in popular culture

Please submit by your proposed abstract by 30th November 2025

• Submit here - https://tinyurl.com/2hyksxn8
• Register here - tinyurl.com/mrxeys35
• Queries to popcrn@une.edu.au

Stay up to date with PopCRN on our social pages & website

• www.popcrn.org
• X (ex-Twitter) - https://twitter.com/PopcultureUne
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071540522655
• Bluesky  - https://bsky.app/profile/popcrn.bsky.social
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14503409/

Last updated April 3, 2025

CFP The Magic Kingdom: Exploring Disney’s Impact on Popular Culture (6/30/2025; online 9/4-5-2025)

The Magic Kingdom: Exploring Disney’s Impact on Popular Culture

deadline for submissions: 

June 30, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

PopCRN - The Popular Culture Research Network

contact email: 

popcrn@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/11/14/the-magic-kingdom-exploring-disney%E2%80%99s-impact-on-popular-culture.

PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) is back with a virtual conference exploring all things Disney, to be held online on Thursday 4th and Friday 5th of September 2025.

Since the Walt Disney was founded his eponymous film studio in 1923, the Disney brand has been a mainstay of popular entertainment. The iconic Micky and Minnie Mouse head the line-up of an impressive array of characters and actors that have become cultural icons. Today Disney is a conglomerate of entertainment businesses, investing in theme parks, sports television, a cruise line, resort destinations, National Geographic Expeditions, clothing, games, and publishing.

We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage papers from postgraduate researchers and early career researchers. Presenters will be given the opportunity to submit their presentations as articles to a special edition of the International Journal of Disney Studies.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• "Today is a good day to try" – Optimism in Disney.
• "Some people are worth melting for" – Friendship in Disney.
• "Can anybody be happy if they aren’t free?" – The philosophy of Disney.
• "Remember who you are" – Identity and meaning in Disney.
• "Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten” – The importance of family in Disney.
• "When I look at you, I can feel it. And I, I look at you and…I'm home" – Domesticity in Disney
• "Life's a little bit messy. We all make mistakes. No matter what type of animal you are, change starts with you" – Representations of animals in Disney
• "If you're going hard enough left, you'll find yourself turning right" – Ideology in Disney
• "Everything is possible. Even the impossible" – Disney’s technological breakthroughs.
• "Whatever choice you make, let it come from your heart" – Love in the Disneyworld.
• "Ladies do not start fights, but they can finish them" – Representations of gender in Disney.
• "If you're going hard enough left, you'll find yourself turning right" – Disney and the political sphere.
• "You're mad. Bonkers. Off your head. But I'll tell you a secret, all the best people are"- Disney and classical literature.
• "The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand?" – Positivity in Disney.
• "Can anybody be happy if they aren’t free?" – Philosophy and Disney
• "Being young and beautiful is not a crime, you know" – The princess / evil stepmother dichotomy in Disney.
• "A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early" – Depictions of royalty in Disney
• "All it takes is faith and trust" – Religion and Disney
• "I don’t see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad" – The dark side of Disney.
• "Everybody’s got problems. The world is full of problems” – Global politics and Disney.
• “Why are you threatened by anyone different than you?" – Disney and diversity.
• “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. Find the fun aaaaaaaand, snap! The job’s a game!” Representations of work and labour in Disney
• “Just keep swimming…just keep swimming” – From cruises to hotels; Disney in the Leisuresphere.
• “You’re never too old for a Disney Movies” – Disney Fandom
• "Hakuna Matata" – The music of Disney
• “To infinity, and beyond!” – The eternal success of Disney.

Please submit via our portal - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8jjzaWnS732QsFE

• Abstracts (200 words)
• Biography (100 words)

To submit to the journal: https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1FBqwXuomrgKKx0

To register for the conference, Registration is free for everyone: https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7TGWUYZidtlxVLU

Queries to popcrn@une.edu.au

categories

american

fan studies and fandom

film and television

interdisciplinary

popular culture

Last updated January 5, 2025

CFP PopCRN 1950s in Popular Culture Conference (1/31/2025; online 3/28-29/2025)

History and Nostalgia: The 1950s in popular culture

deadline for submissions:
January 31, 2025

full name / name of organization:
PopCRN - the Popular Culture Research Network

contact email:
PopCRN@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/10/04/history-and-nostalgia-the-1950s-in-popular-culture

PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) will be holding a free virtual symposium exploring the 1950s in popular culture. Held online on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th of March 2025.

The 1950s was the decade where the world began to recover from the tragedy of the Second World War. This conference aims to explore both the popular culture of the 1950s, and how the 1950s have been depicted in the popular culture of other eras.

The 1950s was the era of the teenager, the atomic bomb, the space race, the Queen’s coronation, the Cuban revolution, the Korean War, the French Fifth republic, Lego, colour television, the Montgomery Bus boycott, the finding of DNA, the founding of McDonalds, Rock n roll, jukeboxes, the Melbourne Olympics, Poodle Skirts, I love Lucy, birth of the credit card, Dr Seuss, James Bond’s Casino Royale, Disneyland opens, Sidney Poitier wins an Oscar, The Day the Music Died, 3D cinematography, Marilyn Monroe, The Twilight Zone, Jackson Pollock, Teddy Boys, Dior’s New Look, Formula One racing begins, McCarthyism, Science Fiction, the Munich air crash, the SS Andrea Doria, Ten Pound Poms, Hungarian Uprising, Univac – the first business computer, Paul McCartney meets John Lennon, the Xerox machine, death of Stalin, Hillary and Norgay climb Mount Everest, the Polio vaccine, the Warsaw Pact, Suez Crisis, introduction of transatlantic jetliners, China’s Giant Leap, the European Economic Community, the Malayan Emergency, the Algerian War, the Eurovision Song Contest, Peanuts comic strip, Fahrenheit 451, The Lord of the Flies, the Chevrolet Corvette, Barbie, Super Glue, Power Steering, first Video Tape Recorder, first Diet soft drinks, the Black Box, invention of Liquid Paper, the first computer game – Tennis for Two, and TV dinners to name just a few.

We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage papers from postgraduate researchers and early career researchers. Papers from this conference will have the opportunity to be published.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• “I can't imagine there has ever been a more gratifying time or place to be alive than America in the 1950s. No country had ever known such prosperity.” – 1950s America in popular culture.
• “Some people would like the world to go back to the 1950s.” – Retromania and subcultur
• “In 1955, when I'd write a science-fiction novel, I'd set it in the year 2000. I realised around 1977 that, 'My God, it's getting exactly like those novels we used to write in the 1950s!' Everything's just turning out to be real.” – Science fiction of the 1950s
• “My law school class in the late 1950s numbered over 500. That class included less than 10 women.” – Women’s careers as depicted in 1950s films
• “But let's just say, I'm Irish. I grew up in the 1950s. Religion had a very tight iron fist.” – Associations of religion and the 1950s in popular culture.
• "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." – Neighbours, community and culture in the 1950s.
• We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight – The rock ‘n’ roll phenomenon.
• “You can't just walk out of a drive-in.” – Leisure activities of the 1950s
• “A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.” – Communism, socialism and capitalism of the 1950s in popular culture.
• “I could have gone on flying through space forever” – How the space race captured the public imagination.
• “I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.” – Remembering racism and protest in the 1950s.
• “Ban the Bomb” - Nuclear weapons in popular culture
• "[Franklin] came very much closer to the discovery of the double helix than she has usually been credited with doing." – science, gender and women.
• “The second thing was they just wanted to lay a few fists and see a fair bit of Russian blood in the pool. And that's what happened. – Sport as a battleground for Cold War politics

Please email abstracts (200 words) to popcrn@une.edu.au by 31st January 2025. Please include your name, affiliation, email address, title of paper, orcid ID (where available), google scholar link (where available) and a short biography (100 words). Registration is free.

Last updated August 4, 2024

CFP PopCRN Bridgerton Conference (9/30/2024; online 1/30/2025)

“Love Conquers All”: Exploring the Popular Culture Phenomenon of Bridgerton

deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2024

full name / name of organization:
PopCRN - the Popular Culture Research Network

contact email:
popcrn@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/05/21/%E2%80%9Clove-conquers-all%E2%80%9D-exploring-the-popular-culture-phenomenon-of-bridgerton

PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) will be holding a free virtual conference exploring all things Bridgerton to be held online on Thursday 30th January 2025.

From a popular book series to the Netflix phenomenon, Bridgerton has captured the public imagination, courted scandal and dazzled readers and audiences with a glittering reimagining of regency London.

We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage papers from postgraduate researchers and early career researchers. We welcome individual papers, panels and round table submissions. Papers from this conference will have the opportunity to be in our sister journal The International Journal of Popular Culture Studies.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• “Dearest Gentle Reader” - Tensions between the written and filmed versions.
• “Diamond of the First Water” – Standing out in the marriage market.
• "It is not a man's appearance or title that will woo you. It is his mind and spirit that will court yours." – love and economic realities.
• "What's happening out there cannot be as important as what's happening down here." – Sex and sexuality in Bridgerton.
• "A diamond is precious precisely because it is rare." - Conspicuous consumption in the regency period.
• "You are the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires." Passionate declarations of love and desire in the romance novel.
• “My garden is in bloom” – the recurring motif of flowers in the Bridgerton series.
• “I thought you wanted food," she gasped. "I do," he murmured, tugging on the bodice of her dress. "But I want you more.” – The food and drink of the Bridgerton world.
• “She hated me.” “Impossible, you were perfect.” – Embracing disability and bodies of difference in Bridgerton.
• "Why must our only options be to squawk and settle or to never leave the nest? What if I want to fly?" – Feminism, Freedom and Family
• “I risk my life everyday for love. You have no idea what it is like to be in a room with someone you cannot live without and yet still feel as though you are oceans apart." – Queering Bridgerton
• And it is not far enough! Do you think that there is a corner of this Earth that you could travel to far away enough to free me from this torment? ­– Carriages, boats and balloons; travel in the Bridgerton universe
• “Sorrows. Sorrows. Prayers” – Negotiating grief and loss in a romance world.
• “You must promise me that when you step into the light you will be worthy of the attention you command.” – Glow-ups, transformations and make-overs in Bridgerton.
• "I must confess, I have felt more chemistry when being fitted at the modiste." – Fantastical fashions and the women who wear them.
• "Straight into the fire, a favorite pastime of mine." – Scandal and intrigue in the Regency world.
• "We are not all guaranteed a fairy-tale ending." – Romance and the realities of a patriarchal society
• "Edmund was the air that I breathed. And now there is no air." – Love and loss in the Bridgerton series.
• “I care not for his sanity. I care for his happiness. I care for his soul.” – Managing psychiatric illness in the Bridgerton World
• "I do not fear change. I embrace it." – Transforming the social politics of the Regency period in the television show.
• "I have loved. I have lost. I have earned the right to do whatever I please, whenever I please, and however I please to do it." – Dowagers, Queens and Widows; the older women of Bridgerton.
• “We were two separate societies divided by color until a king fell in love with one of us” – Reimagining race relations in the regency era.
• “You do realise what tune she was playing just now, don't you? Mozart's 'Funeral March' – The music of Bridgerton
• "Your eyes, are the most remarkable shade of blue. Yet, somehow, they shine even brighter when you are kind." - The poetry of romantic love.
• "Well, for what it is worth, sometimes a fire is slow to burn." – The genesis of romance stories in Bridgerton.

Please email abstracts (200 words) to popcrn@une.edu.au by 30th September 2024.

Please submit your abstract on a Word Document and save the paper as your name e.g. ErnestAcademic.docx.

Please include your name, affiliation, email address, title of paper, short biography, (100 words), Orcid ID (if available) and google scholar link (where available).

Registration is free – please email popcrn@une.edu.au to register.

Website: www.popcrn.org



Last updated August 4, 2024

CFP History and Nostalgia: The 1950s in Popular Culture (1/31/2025; online 3/28-29/2024)

History and Nostalgia: The 1950s in popular culture

deadline for submissions: January 31, 2025

full name / name of organization: PopCRN - the Popular Culture Research Network

contact email: PopCRN@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/10/04/history-and-nostalgia-the-1950s-in-popular-culture


PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) will be holding a free virtual symposium exploring the 1950s in popular culture. Held online on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th of March 2025.

The 1950s was the decade where the world began to recover from the tragedy of the Second World War. This conference aims to explore both the popular culture of the 1950s, and how the 1950s have been depicted in the popular culture of other eras.

The 1950s was the era of the teenager, the atomic bomb, the space race, the Queen’s coronation, the Cuban revolution, the Korean War, the French Fifth republic, Lego, colour television, the Montgomery Bus boycott, the finding of DNA, the founding of McDonalds, Rock n roll, jukeboxes, the Melbourne Olympics, Poodle Skirts, I love Lucy, birth of the credit card, Dr Seuss, James Bond’s Casino Royale, Disneyland opens, Sidney Poitier wins an Oscar, The Day the Music Died, 3D cinematography, Marilyn Monroe, The Twilight Zone, Jackson Pollock, Teddy Boys, Dior’s New Look, Formula One racing begins, McCarthyism, Science Fiction, the Munich air crash, the SS Andrea Doria, Ten Pound Poms, Hungarian Uprising, Univac – the first business computer, Paul McCartney meets John Lennon, the Xerox machine, death of Stalin, Hillary and Norgay climb Mount Everest, the Polio vaccine, the Warsaw Pact, Suez Crisis, introduction of transatlantic jetliners, China’s Giant Leap, the European Economic Community, the Malayan Emergency, the Algerian War, the Eurovision Song Contest, Peanuts comic strip, Fahrenheit 451, The Lord of the Flies, the Chevrolet Corvette, Barbie, Super Glue, Power Steering, first Video Tape Recorder, first Diet soft drinks, the Black Box, invention of Liquid Paper, the first computer game – Tennis for Two, and TV dinners to name just a few.

We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage papers from postgraduate researchers and early career researchers. Papers from this conference will have the opportunity to be published.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• “I can't imagine there has ever been a more gratifying time or place to be alive than America in the 1950s. No country had ever known such prosperity.” – 1950s America in popular culture.
• “Some people would like the world to go back to the 1950s.” – Retromania and subcultur
• “In 1955, when I'd write a science-fiction novel, I'd set it in the year 2000. I realised around 1977 that, 'My God, it's getting exactly like those novels we used to write in the 1950s!' Everything's just turning out to be real.” – Science fiction of the 1950s
• “My law school class in the late 1950s numbered over 500. That class included less than 10 women.” – Women’s careers as depicted in 1950s films
• “But let's just say, I'm Irish. I grew up in the 1950s. Religion had a very tight iron fist.” – Associations of religion and the 1950s in popular culture.
• "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." – Neighbours, community and culture in the 1950s.
• We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight – The rock ‘n’ roll phenomenon.
• “You can't just walk out of a drive-in.” – Leisure activities of the 1950s
• “A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.” – Communism, socialism and capitalism of the 1950s in popular culture.
• “I could have gone on flying through space forever” – How the space race captured the public imagination.
• “I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.” – Remembering racism and protest in the 1950s.
• “Ban the Bomb” - Nuclear weapons in popular culture
• "[Franklin] came very much closer to the discovery of the double helix than she has usually been credited with doing." – science, gender and women.
• “The second thing was they just wanted to lay a few fists and see a fair bit of Russian blood in the pool. And that's what happened. – Sport as a battleground for Cold War politics

Please email abstracts (200 words) to popcrn@une.edu.au by 31st January 2025. Please include your name, affiliation, email address, title of paper, orcid ID (where available), google scholar link (where available) and a short biography (100 words). Registration is free.



Last updated February 13, 2024