CFP Fantasy Studies - international Conference (4/30/14; Vienna 11/28-30/14)

Another expired call:

Fantasy Studies - international Conference
Location: Austria
Conference Date: 2014-11-28
Date Submitted: 2014-03-05
Announcement ID: 211986

Fantasy Studies
(International conference, University of Vienna, November 28th-30th 2014)
Organizer: Univ. Prof. Dr. Stefan Zahlmann, MA
Location: Vienna, Vienna University
Date: November 28th - 30th 2014

The goal of this project is to highlight the Fantasy genre as an inter-medial 20th/21st century phenomenon that necessitates far-ranging attention from cultural studies. Although the genre is widespread and omnipresent in international everyday media use, its scientific analysis is far from established. In its representation and analysis, our project focuses on

• a comprehensive, theoretical contextualization of Fantasy in regards to the history of ideas, themes, and motifs, and
• its genre-specific characteristics and modes of representation and interpretation.

Seeing that multi-medial products of the fantasy genre garner billions of dollars every year, it seems strange that cultural studies have not invested much time and effort to answer such seemingly simple questions as „What is the Fantasy genre? And what does it mean?“1 We may find concepts of fantasy in, e.g., the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, who facilitated the genre’s breakthrough into multi-medial mainstream („Faërie: the Perilous Realm itself, and the air that blows in that country.“ – „Faërie itself may perhaps most nearly be translated as magic […].“2) – but these statements claiming magic to constitute the genre do not supply a clear definition beyond an idea of context and thus do not provide a foundation for a scientific examination of the genre.
We understand Fantasy as a simulacrum of multifaceted life and media realities that mirrors cultural patterns and motifs, thus facilitating diachronic and synchronic comparison. The conference and the resulting publications – for the event will act as a catalyst for the establishment of a scientific book series – aim to implement theoretically sound Fantasy Studies as an interdisciplinary field in international scientific discourse, similar to the already established Science Fiction Studies.

The conference (at the University of Vienna, from November 27th until November 30th) will concretise the editors’ und publisher’s concept and provide a platform for the interaction of contributions. The following categories will act as a conceptual guideline: „Identity – Environment“, „Myth – Magic“, and „Power – Violence“.
These categories will be analysed as aspects of the Fantasy genre, thus demonstrating potential implications for cultural studies. Contributions are expected to reflect specific aspects of Fantasy in reference to one of the sketched categories:

1. Category „Identity – Environment“ focuses on human beings as part of their social and material environments, analysing connections between concepts of the „Self“ and the „Other“ within the context of Fantasy. Possible topics: escapism and virtual citizenship; racism as medial constant of modernism; quests – biographies of heroes; „chain mail bikini and loincloth“; worlds of Fantasy as locus amoenus; world building and constructivism.
2. Category „Myth – Magic“ deals with the narratives that constitute the genre, and with the „realities“ projected by these narratives. Possible topics: magic, esotericism and science; magic within the cultic; mythical archetypes, themes, motifs, narratives; magic and modernism; animism and modernism.
3. The violence depicted in many Fantasy narratives, fulfils the function of a critical examination of modern statehood. Fantasy often asks questions concerning the “polymorph techniques of Power” („polymorphen Techniken der Macht”3) in reference to historical models of human order. Possible topics within the category „Power – Violence“: reception and interpretation – the role of the readers; violent heroes; virtual violence, virtual power(s); feudalism as anti-modern concept.

Fantasy is an inter-medial phenomenon, and as such it can only be assessed through a multitude of interdisciplinary perspectives. Accordingly, we welcome contributions from scholars of all fields. Creative contributions to the reflection of Fantasy that may enrich the scholarly perspective of the conference, contributions from perspectives beyond the European scope, and contributions that deal with cross-genre topics are explicitly welcome.

The main conference language is German, but we explicitly welcome contributions in English.

Please send a short bio and an abstract of 400 words until April 30st, 2014 to thomas.walach@univie.ac.at.


1 John R. R. Tolkien, On Fairy-Stories, in: Tree and Leaf, London 1964 [Repr. 1975], S. 17.

2 ibd.

3 Michel Foucault, Der Wille zum Wissen. Sexualität und Wahrheit I, Frankfurt a. M. 1977, S. 19


Thomas Walach-Brinek
Universität Wien
Institut für Geschichte
Universitätsring 1
1010 Wien
Email: thomas.walach@univie.ac.at

CFP From Here to Hogwarts (9/1/14)

[CFP] Harry Potter Studies Edited Volume
Call for Papers Date: 2014-09-01
Date Submitted: 2014-06-11
Announcement ID: 214407
Call for Chapter Proposals

From Here to Hogwarts is a proposed interdisciplinary, multi-contributer volume born of the burgeoning field of Harry Potter Studies and the community of collaborators that is developing within the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.

This proposed volume will cover a range of topics within the works of J.K. Rowling. The Harry Potter series is such a rich text for analysis, particularly of social issues that can be extrapolated to real-world, non-fictional settings. The scholarship being produced surrounding the Harry Potter series is phenomenal.

As such, this call for chapters invites interested scholars to submit papers and/or proposals for publication consideration in this edited volume.

Contributions should use the works of JK Rowling (the Harry Potter series, or companion works such as The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them, or Quidditch Through the Ages) to address a social or political issue, such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, societal structure, age, muggle vs. wizard relations, technology, religion, and so forth. All themes will be considered as related to the overall direction of the volume.

Proposals from any academic discipline will be considered. Emerging and early career scholars are especially encouraged to submit. Final papers should be no longer than 30 pages, including references, and should be scholarly in nature yet accessible in language and tone.

For consideration, please submit an abstract/proposal of no more than 500 words to Dr. Christopher Bell, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, at cbell3@uccs.edu. Abstracts/proposals should be sent as Word Document attachments, and should include the author(s)’s name, affiliation, title and email contact information. Abstracts/proposals should be submitted no later than September 1, 2014. Final papers will be due January 1, 2015.

Please feel free to forward this call to any and all relevant listservs or discussion groups.

Christopher Bell, Ph.D.
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Email: cbell3@uccs.edu

CFP Enchanted Edwardians (12/5/14; Bristol, UK 3/30-31/15)

CALL FOR PAPERS: ENCHANTED EDWARDIANS

Third Annual Conference of the Edwardian Culture Network,

University of Bristol, 30TH-31ST MARCH 2015

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

Professor Ronald Hutton (University of Bristol) and Dr. Sarah Turner (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

PDF of CFP at https://edwardianculture.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/enchanted-edwardians-cfp2.pdf


‘The Hills are empty now, and all the People of the Hills are gone. I’m the only one left. I’m Puck, the oldest Old Thing in England, very much at your service if—if you care to have anything to do with me’.

Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906)


Edwardian culture is filled with otherworldly encounters: from Rat and Mole’s meeting with Pan on the riverbank in Wind in the Willows (1908), to Lionel Wallace’s glimpse of an enchanted garden beyond the green door in H. G. Well’s short story The Door in the Wall (1911). In art, Charles Conder’s painted fans evoked an exotic arcadia, whilst the music of Edward Elgar and Frederick Delius conjured up nostalgic dreamlands.

Such encounters are all the more powerful because of their briefness: the sense that enchantment is, as Kipling suggests in Puck of Pook’s Hill, fast becoming a thing of the past. What room was left for fantasy in the modern, scientifically advanced world of the early twentieth century? This conference seeks to explore this question, and to investigate other ways in which the Edwardians understood and employed the idea of the enchanted, the haunted and the supernatural.

We invite 300-word proposals for papers on any aspect of the theme ‘Enchanted Edwardians’, from scholars working in all fields of British culture c.1895-1914. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

•  Art as a process of enchantment: enchantment as a metaphor for art; the legacy of Pre-Raphaelitism and Symbolism in art; the representation, or musical evocation, of enchanted worlds.
• Childhood: childhood as an enchanted land; representations and understandings of childhood in Edwardian culture and psychology; Kenneth Grahame, J. M. Barrie and the ‘Golden Age’ of children’s literature.
• Enchanted and Haunted Spaces: Britain as an ‘enchanted isle’; the landscape as a culmination of historically enchanted layers; Conan Doyle and the concept of ‘lost worlds’; echoes of ‘Eden’, ‘Cockaigne’ and ‘Arcadia’.
• Fairytales and Mythologies: fantasy literature in the Edwardian age; appropriation of mythological stories; Yeats and the Celtic Revival.
• Psychologies: psychoanalysis and the dream-world; Freud and British culture; art and interiority.
• Science and Technology: new inventions and breakthroughs such as the motor car, air travel, quantum theory, x-ray, Marconi and the trans-Atlantic telegraph; science fiction; time-travel.
• Sensuality and the ‘Other’: enchantment and exoticism; the enchantment of other cultures; Omar Khayyam and the Arabian Nights; the Edwardian interest in Chinese, Indian, and Japanese cultures.
• Spirituality and the Supernatural: theosophy; mysticism; witchcraft and the occult; ghost stories; séances; theological modernism; the relationship between culture and religion; James Frazer and the ‘The Golden Bough’.
• Disenchantment: enchantment and its antitheses; fantasy versus realism; the magical and the prosaic; imagination and pragmatism.

Proposals should be sent to edwardianculture@hotmail.co.uk no later than December 5th 2014. For more about the Edwardian Culture Network, including previous conferences and events, see www.edwardianculture.com

This conference will be hosted by the University of Bristol, in association with the Edwardian Culture Network.

CFP Creating, Questioning, and Playing with Reality: Living in Worlds of Pure Imagination? (6/15/14) (Grad Conf; Ohio 10/10-12/14)

Apologies for having missed this: 

Creating, Questioning, and Playing with Reality: Living in Worlds of Pure Imagination?
Location: Ohio, United States
Call for Papers Date: 2014-10-10
Date Submitted: 2014-05-06
Announcement ID: 213537
Creating, Questioning, and Playing with Reality: Living in Worlds of Pure Imagination?

Alex Hogue, Matthew Bauman, Acacia Diniz

Department of German Studies

University of Cincinnati, USA

10-12 October 2014, Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati


Please send 250 word abstracts to fogs.editor@gmail.com by June 15, 2014.


The German Graduate Student Association of the University of Cincinnati and the editors of the graduate student journal Focus on German Studies present the Nineteenth Annual Focus Graduate Student Conference to be held 10-12 October 2014 at the University of Cincinnati.

Keynote Speaker: TBD


Whether set in a far off time and space, in an alternate world, or in the mind of a character, narratives that create, question, and play with reality reflect the abilities of authors, filmmakers, and video game designers to not only explore their own creativity, but also to lay bare our understanding of reality from the safe distance offered by fiction. Theorist Fredric Jameson has argued that science fiction in particular offers insights less about any alternative past or future, but about the present in which the work was produced. In expanding Jameson’s idea beyond a single genre, this interdisciplinary conference will explore how and why various notions of reality are constructed.


Submissions are welcome from any discipline. Papers may be presented in either German or English.

Possible panels include but are not limited to:

• “Warp, Hyperdrive, or the TARDIS? Overcoming the Here and Now in Science Fiction”
• “Seeing is Believing. Perceiving and Constructing Reality in Visual Culture”
• “Me and My Avatar: Games, Gaming, and Interactivity”
• “And Now for Something Completely Different: Counterfactual Histories and Historical Fiction”

Other possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Science fiction
• Fantasy
• Counterfactual history
• Alternate Reality
• Video games
• Superheroes
• Comic books and graphic novels
• Philosophy of mind
• Digital culture
• Digital humanities
• Social media
• Stream of consciousness
• Based on a true story…

Alex Hogue
University of Cincinnati

Email: fogs.editor@gmail.com

CFP Truffaut and Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (Spec. Issue New Ray Bradbury Review) (8/15/14)

A head's up from SFRA-L:

Truffaut and Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (Special Issue)
Event: 02/28/2015
Abstract: 08/15/2014
Categories: Genre & Form, Narratology, Interdisciplinary, Cultural Studies, Film, TV, & Media, History, Philosophy, Literary Theory, Pedagogy
Location: Publication
Organization: Center for Ray Bradbury Studies

CFP: “Truffaut and Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451”
The New Ray Bradbury Review special issue
(Guest Editor: Phil Nichols)

2016 will see the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Francois Truffaut’s adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. To mark the occasion, The New Ray Bradbury Review will publish a special issue devoted to this film, its production and its legacy.

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) is a widely read author of science fiction, fantasy and horror, who enjoyed a parallel career as a playwright and screenwriter. He claimed to be a “hybrid writer” whose works were both inspired by cinema, and suitable for cinematic adaptation. An ambitious cinephile, he longed to collaborate with major figures in world cinema, ranging from David Lean to Federico Fellini to Akira Kurosawa to Satyajit Ray, but saw much of his work adapted in routine productions of limited creative success: for example The Illustrated Man (dir. Jack Smight, 1969), The Martian Chronicles (TV, dir. Michael Anderson, 1980). Fahrenheit 451 (1966) stands apart as the only one of his major works to have been made into a feature film by a major cinematic director.

Francois Truffaut (1932-1984) emerged from the stable of Cahiers du Cinema critics to become a leading figure in the French “new wave” cinema of the early 1960s, achieving substantial worldwide critical success with films such as Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959) and Jules et Jim (1962), before embarking on the adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 as his first feature film made in English. While a troubled production, and arguably one of Truffaut’s minor works, Fahrenheit 451 still retains a critical appeal today because of its poetic engagement with ideas around the isolated individual in a world of shallow communications. Truffaut was both a cineaste and a bibliophile, and his film presents a characteristically unique take on books, with Nicolas Roeg’s cinematography drawing the viewer into memorable scenes of book-burning which are by turns beautiful and horrifying.

The New Ray Bradbury Review, produced since 2008 by the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University and published by Kent State University Press, seeks articles for this special issue (NRBR No. 5) devoted to Truffaut’s film. We are particularly interested in submissions that explore points of similarity and contrast in Bradbury’s and Truffaut’s respective views of a world without literature; analyses of the sign systems in use in the novel and the film; considerations of the cinematic “potential” in Bradbury’s novel; and evaluations of Truffaut’s and his collaborators’ (e.g. art director Syd Cain, production designer Tony Walton, cinematographer Nicolas Roeg) engagement with science-fictional world-building.

Areas of interest include (but are not limited to):

• The emergence of “cinematic” writing in Bradbury’s fiction
• Fahrenheit 451 as a novel with a filmic structure
• The use of the film Fahrenheit 451 in teaching the novel
• Narrative analysis of the screenplay (by Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard)
• The film’s use of mise en scene, cinematography and editing
• Fahrenheit 451 as a film with a delight for literature
• The portrayal of relationships and intimacy in Fahrenheit 451 and the other films of Truffaut
• Linguistic issues for a French director/screenwriters working in English
• The reception of the film Fahrenheit 451 by critics and viewers
• Other attempts to film Fahrenheit 451 (by Mel Gibson, Frank Darabont and others)
• Bradbury’s theatrical play version of Fahrenheit 451 (Dramatic Publishing, 1986) as a response to Truffaut’s film

Interested authors should note that the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies holds many materials which can be accessed by researchers. These include copies of Bradbury’s own scripts and manuscripts, and of the Truffaut/Richard screenplay, as well as contextual materials relating to both the novel and the film. Enquiries about these materials should be made in the first instance to Phil Nichols (Guest Editor), who is also Senior Adviser to the Center.

Proposals of up to 500 words should be submitted by 15 August 2014 to Phil Nichols (p.nichols@wlv.ac.uk). Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 15 September 2014. Full drafts (5,000 to 7,000 words) will be due by 28 February 2015. The issue is provisionally scheduled for 2016.

CFP Firefly/Serenity (Spec. Issue of Slayage) ((8/15/14)

This was recently posted on IAFA-L:

CFP: Special Issue of Slayage on Firefly/Serenity / Contact: Michael Goodrum & Philip Smith

Dear Whedon Studies Association Members,

Issue 13.1 of Slayage (Spring 2015) will be a special issue devoted entirely to Firefly/Serenity. It will be guest-edited by Michael Goodrum and Philip Smith, editors of the forthcoming volume Firefly: Academic Approaches to Joss Whedon’s Series to be published by Rowman and Littlefield.

It has been over ten years since Joss Whedon’s Firefly (2002-03) was first screened. Although the narrative covers only one season and a film, the series has enjoyed a long afterlife through comic books, roleplaying games, and the fan community. It has also enjoyed a steady flow of academic responses even if, at times, it has remained somewhat under-represented compared with Whedon's other work.

The editors seek original contributions concerning Firefly/Serenity. Papers should show a strong awareness of existing academic scholarship on the series and film (including the existing Slayage special issue from 2008). Preference will be given to proposals which take an original approach and/or engage with more recent additions to the Firefly 'verse, particularly the Serenity comics.

Individuals who are interested in contributing should send a 200-300-word abstract/proposal by August 15, 2014. Submissions will be due September 30, 2014. Please send your proposal to Psmith.firefly@gmail.com.

Final papers will be 5,000 - 7,000 words in length and in Modern Language Association (MLA) style.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Mitch & Phil

CFP Agatha Christie (Special Issue of Clues) (7/1/15)

CFP: Reappropriating Agatha Christie (theme issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection)

Wednesday, July 16, 2014
H-PCAACA
Reappropriating Agatha Christie
(Theme Issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection)

Guest Editors: Jesper Gulddal and Alistair Rolls
Submission Deadline: July 1, 2015

Nearly 40 years after her death, Agatha Christie’s hold over her work goes largely unchallenged. Critical approaches can be overshadowed by an interest in her as an author (her remarkable talent, personality, and life). The extensive fan community and the flourishing Christie industry tend to steer reception of her writing away from academic critics. These constraints conspire to create an obstruction of interpretive possibilities not unlike the “foreclosure of meaning” that Pierre Bayard, in his iconoclastic study of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, has identified as central to Christie’s novels.

Bayard’s controversial intervention opens up new avenues of critical appropriation centered on the literary text itself and its possibilities. Such reappropriation can release the latencies and potentials of her writing, repositioning her in a new historical environment and making her relevant, beyond matters of mere reading pleasure, to a contemporary critical audience.

Articles are invited that offer new forms of critical/creative appropriation of Christie’s works. Some suggested topics include:

•     Adaptation and transmediation

•     New critical readings

•     Christie and the digital humanities (quantitative and computational approaches, media history and theory)

•     Christie and the world (translation, transmission and transformation across borders, Christie as world literature)

•     Christie and the history of the book (materialist approaches)

•     Christie and affects (representation and production of emotions, moods, atmospheres; noninterpretive approaches)

•     Christie in the contemporary higher education institution

Submissions should include a 50-word abstract and 4–5 keywords, and be between 15 to 20 double-spaced, typed pages (approximately 3,300 to 6,000 words) in Times or Times Roman font with minimal formatting. Manuscripts should follow the MLA Style Manual, including parenthetical citations in text and an alphabetized Works Cited list.

Submit to:

Jesper Gulddal and Alistair Rolls, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle, Australia

Email: jesper.gulddal@newcastle.edu.au or alistair.rolls@newcastle.edu.au

Reviews of recent nonfiction on Christie also are of interest. Address questions re the issue to:

Elizabeth Foxwell, Managing Editor, Clues
Email: clues@elizabethfoxwell.com

CFP Scandal TV Series Collection (9/15/14)

Of potential interest:

CFP: Edited volume on television series, Scandal (Due: September 15, 2014)

Monday, July 21, 2014
H-PCAACA
0 comments
Gladiators in Suits:
Race, Gender, and the Politics of Representation in Scandal

Edited by: Kimberly R. Moffitt, Simone Puff, and Ronald L. Jackson II

Not since the 1970s have viewing audiences seen an uncharacteristically powerful Black woman as a protagonist in a prime time slot on American network television. But for three seasons, viewers have learned a great deal about ABC’s political drama series “Scandal” and its Black female lead, Olivia Pope. She is a formidable presence as a public relations consultant, or “fixer” as known by some, who navigates the world “inside the beltway.” Together with her team of “gladiators in suits” she manages crises and makes problems of Washington’s (political) elite disappear, all while trying to hide her own scandal(ous) affairs from plain sight. The popularity and rating success of the program warrants critical exploration as the show’s diverse cast and complex storylines expose a myriad of issues pertaining to race, gender, sexuality, and the female audience that supports it.

A text on “Scandal” provides an opportunity to analyze the communication, politics, stereotypes, and genre/techniques featured in the television series, while also raising key questions about race, gender, sexuality, and viewing audiences. Additionally, this volume will contribute to the literature pertaining to Black womanhood, femininity, and representation as this series features a Black female protagonist in an overwhelmingly popular and strong role seen as unprecedented since the 1970s show, “Get Christie Love!” The collection offers original and timely perspectives on the study of what currently is one of America’s most popular prime time network television series.

Contributors should submit 500-word proposals, including a one-page bibliography of working sources and a 100-word author bio by September 15, 2014 to GladiatorsinSuitsvolume@gmail.com. Accepted proposals will be notified no later than October 1, 2014 and completed drafts will be due January 31, 2015.

Completed essays will be approximately 20-25 pages in length. All chapters need to be formatted utilizing APA publications standards, and with 12-pt Times New Roman font.

Please feel free to contact any of the editors directly with your inquiries or concerns: Kimberly R. Moffitt (kmoffitt@umbc.edu), Simone Puff (simone.puff@uni-graz.at), or Ronald L. Jackson II (ron.jackson@uc.edu).

Suggested Range of Possible Chapter Topics

The editors welcome original and unpublished submissions focusing on (but not limited to):

• Genre matters: “Scandal” as political drama vs. soap opera
• The role of social media in the success of “Scandal” (#askscandal, etc.)
• Narrative techniques and concepts of seriality
• Representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, family, etc. within “Scandal”
• Scripting Black femininity and Black masculinity
• Contextualizing the significance of this television series in a media climate that has historically undervalued Black leads
• The historical significance of Black characters in television programs with a political theme/storyline
• Political economy of cultural meaning within reality television
• The evolution of a Black female lead in a television series
• Interracial relationships involving a Black woman
• Representations of the strong Black woman myth/stereotype
• Explorations of morality and the politics of respectability
• “Scandal” in the context of a “post-racial” America
• “Scandal” in a global context and international reception of the series
• Audience reception studies of viewers and patterns of consumption
• Deception studies
• Olivia Pope as role model in fashion
• The comparison of “Scandal” to other female lead television series (e.g. HawthoRNe) or to other current political dramas (e.g. “House of Cards” etc.)
• Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope
• Shonda Rhimes’ work in comparison to this television series

Updates July 2014

Still no update from NEPCA regarding our sessions, but I do hope to upload some of the CFP backlog this week.

Michael Torregrossa
Blog Editor

Love Never Dies on Home Video

Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical Love Never Dies, the 2010 sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, is now available for home viewing. The film (released in 2012) is a re-staged and somewhat re-imagined version of the original London production (see  Wikipedia for details) and was produced in Australia in 2011; both the DVD and Blu-Ray versions include a special feature on the making of the play/film.

Love Never Dies offers an interesting look into the futures of the key characters from Phantom but has received mixed responses from fans. A number of clips from the musical numbers are featured at the show's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/phantomloveneverdies, though (oddly enough) the film's trailer (below) is devoid of music beyond an instrumental theme.

CFP 2014 Meeting of New England Region of the American Conference for Irish Studies (8/31/14; Norton, MA 11/21-22/14)

Multiple active calls at http://acisweb.org/ for the various branches of the American Conference for Irish Studies. Here is the one from its New England branch:

CFP: ACIS New England Regional, Nov. 21-22, Wheaton College
2014 New England Regional Meeting
American Conference for Irish Studies
November 21-22 at Wheaton College, MA
Submissions due August 31, 2014 to neacis2014@gmail.com

Beyond the Pale: Alienation, Sites of Resistance, and Modern Ireland

The 2014 NEACIS (New England Region of the American Conference for Irish Studies) meeting will be held at Wheaton College on 21-22 November. We welcome proposals for individual papers and panels focusing on all aspects of Irish Studies. Especially welcome are papers that address the conference theme of “Beyond the Pale: Alienation, Sites of Resistance, and Modern Ireland.”

The conference this year wishes to explore the broad theme of alienation and resistance in the construction of national identity. The conference expects that this theme will generate a range of papers addressing everything from broad themes (such as the role of urban space in the construction of modern Ireland or transnational culture as a challenge to and an extension of nationalism) to more specific papers addressing major literary figures (Joyce, Yeats, and Heaney come to mind) and significant historical moments (such as the Easter Rising, and its forthcoming centenary). Following are some possible topics:

Transnational culture / Transatlantic Narratives
Provincialism and Parochialism
Citizenship and the Nation State
Urban Ireland and sites of resistance
The Easter Rising
Rural Ireland and the nation state
Alienation and Irishness
The trope of the pale in Irish history and/or literature
Seamus Heaney’s poetic voice and national character
James Joyce, alienation, and urban Ireland
Unionism and Nationalism
The economic crisis and cultural resistance
Failure and the history of Irish resistance

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please e-mail paper and/or panel proposals to Jim Byrne (neacis2014@gmail.com) by August 31st, 2014.

Please note that all who attend the NEACIS must be members of the ACIS with dues paid through the end of the year.

If you have any further questions about the conference, please contact Jim Byrne (byrne_james@wheatoncollege.edu) in the English Department at Wheaton College.

NEPCA Fantastic 2014 Update

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your support of our ongoing activities. I am pleased to report that we have received a record number of proposals for the 2014 sessions of the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Legends Area.

Michael Torregrossa
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Legends Area Chair

CFP Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) (6/14/14; Baltimore 11/6-8/14)

Sorry for the belated post. MAPACA is a great venue:

Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) -- 25th Annual Conference – Baltimore, MD – Nov. 6-8, 2014
full name / name of organization:
Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association
contact email:
mapaca@mapaca.net
Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA)
25th Annual Conference
November 6-8, 2014
Baltimore, MD - Lord Baltimore Hotel

Call for papers:
Proposals are welcome on all aspects of popular and American culture for inclusion in the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association conference in Baltimore, MD. Single papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative formats are welcome.

Proposals should take the form of 300-word abstracts, and may only be submitted to one appropriate area. The deadline for submission is Saturday, June 14, 2014.

For a list of areas and area chair contact information, visit mapaca.net/areas. General questions can be directed to mapaca@mapaca.net.

MAPACA’s membership is comprised of college and university faculty, independent scholars and artists, and graduate and undergraduate students. MAPACA is an inclusive professional organization dedicated to the study of popular and American culture in all their multi-disciplinary manifestations. It is a regional division of the Popular Culture and American Culture Association, which, in the words of Popular Culture Association founder Ray Browne, is a “multi-disciplinary association interested in new approaches to the expressions, mass media and all other phenomena of everyday life.”

For more info, visit mapaca.net.

Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA)
P.O. Box 25033
Philadelphia, PA 19147-0033
mapaca@mapaca.net
twitter.com/mapacanet
facebook.com/mapacanet


By web submission at 04/17/2014 - 19:18

CFP Otherness and Transgression in Celebrity and Fan Cultures (8/22/14; Denmark 11/21-22/14)

CFP - Otherness and Transgression in Celebrity and Fan Cultures
full name / name of organization:
Aarhus University - Cultural Transformations Research Group
contact email:
otcelebrityfan@gmail.com

Otherness and Transgression in Celebrity and Fan Cultures
Hosted by the Cultural Transformations Research Group, Aarhus University.
November 21-22, 2014

LOCATION: AARHUS UNIVERSITY, DENMARK.
CALL FOR PAPERS DEADLINE: AUGUST 22, 2014

Keynote speaker:
Matt Hills, Aberystwyth University –
"Fans as Celebrities, Celebrities as Fans: The Rise of an Affective Economy?"

The notions of otherness and transgression play an essential part in the cultural work and practices celebrities and fandoms perform inasmuch as these concepts are inseparable from the celebrity and fan cultural processes of social in/exclusion, identification and dissociation, uniformity and diversification, and forces both drawing and disrupting demarcations between normalcy and deviance. To the extent that these processes are actively shaped by and partake in shaping our desires, contempt, ways of thinking and being, otherness and transgression constitute pertinent sites for critical exploration within the two overlapping fields of research, Fan and Celebrity Studies.

A complex and multivalent term, otherness is conventionally signaled by markers of “difference” and the unknown. As difference remains a condition for any determinate sense of identity, otherness is also inevitably implicit and complicit in considerations of subjectivity, identity, and sameness rendering it a pivotal aspect in discussions on both their constitution and impossibility. Likewise, in the field of Fan and Celebrity culture – where categories such as class, gender, race, sexuality, and age dynamically intersect and interact in manifold ways – the identity work, social meanings, and cultural preferences informing both these cultures’ production and consumption of cultural and media texts are also constantly negotiated. Reflexive of the values, biases, and tensions of the social body, they are useful indicators of contemporary configurations and devices for othering; for example, the ways in which the discourses of immorality, pathology, monstrosity, impropriety, and cultism, among others, inform the construction of difference, and function as vehicles for othering that additionally cut diagonally across various imbricating “-isms,” such as racism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, and lookism.

As difference often implies the perception of deviance, otherness is accompanied by the constant impending threat of transgression, to undo and redraw the differentiating limits determining the provisional identities of entities, behaviors, and bodies. While transgression refers to a violation and exceeding of bounds, it also ambiguously realizes and completes these boundaries as it helps define them and reaffirms a given social order by designating the illicit. This dialectic of the de/stabilizing effects of transgression summons further inquiry in relation to fandoms and celebrity cultures, in which deviance is an attractive commercial component. Construed as particularly excessive, both celebrity personas and subcultural fan practices are defined by their distance from the norm, but where celebrity culture concerns the consumption of transgressive content and narratives of extraordinary personalities, in the case of fan culture, consumption itself is purportedly transgressive. Celebrities are conventionally conceptualized as power-saturated signs seductively reinforcing cultural norms – either through glossy portraits of charismatic individuals advertizing luxurious lifestyles and the censure of celebrities in the scandal genre respectively – and fandoms, conversely, as subversively contesting these norms through the fetishistic appropriation of cultural icons, media products, and playful textual poaching. However, hardly homogenous, both celebrity power and fandoms channel a multitude of contradictory and inconsistent ideological inflections, and entail a complex mesh of conformity and heterogeneity, which informs, for example, the social interaction among fans and their interpretive communities, whose internal fractions struggle over affect and meaning, as well as the pervasive circulation and currency of certain im/proper celebrity images and fan identities. Accordingly, the need to study, explain, and analyze the semiotic labor invested in the celebrity sign and by the fan in a given media product respectively only becomes greater.

In light of today’s new socio-political subjectivities, prosumer and participatory culture, new technologies and distributive modes, expanding networks, and means of communication enabling transcultural proximity between individuals from different parts of the world, new encounters, expressions, and understandings have emerged and with it, transformed nuances of othering, saming, and transgression. As a result, Fan and Celebrity cultures, are in need of a reappraisal in which the new fickle and permeable boundaries between identities, cultural practices, private and public spheres, products and consumers, celebrity and fan bodies, intimacy and estrangement are investigated. Refracting otherness and transgression from overlapping prisms, the pleasures, representations, productions, and affects of celebrity and fan cultures opens up a fruitful and invigorating space for further research.

It is this variety of formulations which this conference wishes to convene on from divergent disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. The Cultural Transformations Research Group at Aarhus University therefore invites submissions exploring celebrity and fan cultures within the scope of the critical spaces and contexts offered by otherness and transgression.

WELCOME TOPICS INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING:

The Intersection of Celebrity and Fan Studies
Sex, Gender, Sexual Differing, and Queering the Fan / Celebrity Body
Cross-Over Celebrities; Ethnicity, Hybridity, and Fandom in Transcultural Contexts
Celebrity Representations of Dis/ability and through Fan Works
The Intersectionalities of Social Categories in Celebrity and Fan Cultures
Notoriety, Infamy, Scandal, Deviance, and Excess
Social Media and the Construction of Celebrity as Other
The Construction of Otherness in Fandom and Fan Works
Monstrosity, the Abject, and Uncanny in Fan Fiction, Fandoms, and Celebrityhood
Pathology, Addiction, Cultism, Confession, and Therapy
Mashing and Vidding: Viral and Violating
Authenticity, Secrecy, Intimacy, and Publicity
Post-feminist Celebrity Narratives and Cultural Forms
Power, Prosumerism, and Participatory Culture
New Modes of Self-Other Relations within Para-social Contexts
Fan and/or Celebrity Shaming
The (Im)Material Other Worlds of Fandoms and the Alternative Spaces of Fan Communities

PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES
We are pleased to announce that qualified research papers are considered for prospective publication in a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Otherness: Essays and Studies, http://www.otherness.dk/journal/. Submitted articles will follow the standard review process of the journal.

PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING PROPOSALS FOR PAPERS
The conference is open to scholars and students of all disciplines. Those wishing to participate in the conference are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to the organizers at otcelebrityfan@gmail.com by Friday, August 22, 2014. The convenors will have reviewed the abstracts and notified the authors of whether their proposals have been accepted no later than September 12, 2014. Papers may be given in English with citations in any language, and are limited to 20 minutes.

All questions regarding conference content (abstracts, presentations, speakers etc.) may be directed to the organizers at otcelebrityfan@gmail.com.

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE:
Matthias Stephan, Ph.D. scholar Claus Toft-Nielsen, Ph.D.
Lise Dilling-Hansen, Ph.D. scholar Susan Yi Sencindiver, Ph.D.


By web submission at 05/09/2014 - 13:28

CFP Murderous Acts, Cultural Contexts, Canadian Literary Media (8/1/14)

Edited Collection: Calling for Submissions
 The Matter of Murder: Murderous Acts, Cultural Contexts, Canadian Literary Media
full name / name of organization:
Brett Josef Grubisic and Gisèle M. Baxter, eds.
contact email:
representingcdnmurder@gmail.com

Edited Collection: Calling for Submissions

The Matter of Murder: Murderous Acts, Cultural Contexts, Canadian Literary Media


 While an entrenched tradition in Canadian literary studies falls under the amorphous and broad category of thematic criticism (nature, geography, border, landscape, region, etc), the proposed collection seeks essays that work loosely within that tradition but also expand upon it to encompass new subject-matter: murder.

With an entrenched mythology related to respect for nature, intercultural harmoniousness, and historical peacefulness, a popular global reputation for model livability (alongside being sedate to a fault), and crime rates amongst the lowest in the world, Canada cannot be said to seethe with a sense of murderousness. Its genres of storytelling, however, conjure a counter-reality.

From multi-genre works of literary fiction—ranging from Michael Winter’s The Death of Donna Whalen, Lynn Crosbie’s Dorothy L’Amour, and R.M. Vaughan’s Spells to Eden Robinson’s Blood Sports, George Elliott Clarke’s George & Rue, and Margaret Atwood’s Maddaddam Trilogy—to poetry (from Elizabeth Bachinsky and Rachel Rose to Evelyn Lau), graphic novels, drama (Don Hannah’s The Woodcutter through to Sharon Pollack’s Blood Relations), and audiovisual media (film, television, etc) there is a preponderance of meditations on and depictions of murderous acts—homicide, suicide, genocide—within Canada’s litero-creative enterprise.

Amongst the questions raised by the abundance of forms representing and/or reflecting on murder are “What does murder signify?” and “How If, after Alan Sinfield, these works stand for cultural reproduction (re: “Societies have to reproduce themselves culturally as well as materially, and this is done in great part by putting into circulation stories of how the world goes”), what murder-themed accounts of ‘how Canada goes’ are being put into circulation and with what results and purposes?


The editors of The Matter of Murder have an agreement for publication with Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Topics/approaches that might be taken into consideration:
· Cross-genre
· Representation of social and economic class
· Sexuality and gender
· Geo-politics, governmental structure, ideology, knowledge
· Community, ethnicity, race, territory
· Spirituality, religion, mythology, history
· Technology
· Consumerism, media, popular culture
· Popular historiography
· Genre works (including but not limited to science fiction, YA fiction, historical fiction)


* Please feel encouraged to forward this to any organizations, individuals, or mailing lists that might be interested *

Please send a brief query and/or a 300-word (maximum) proposal to
representingcdnmurder@gmail.com by 1 August 2014 and include a bio-bibliographical note. Accepted essays will be due 30 December 2014 and should be between 4000 and 6000 words.

Brett Josef Grubisic and Gisèle M. Baxter, eds. The Matter of Murder

Department of English,
University of British Columbia
397-1873 East Mall, Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1


By web submission at 05/13/2014 - 04:36

CFP Girl Detectives in 20th Century (6/15/14; SAMLA 11/7-9/14)

NANCY DREW AND HER SISTERS: GIRL DETECTIVES IN THE 20TH CENTURY, SAMLA 2014, Nov. 7-9
full name / name of organization:
South Atlantic Modern Language Association
contact email:
lgaillet@gsu.edu

This panel considers depictions of young women in mystery fiction written for the teen audience in the 20th Century. Characters such as Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, Trixie Belden, and countless others provided role models for young readers, and this panel considers these figures in terms of the intersections between scholarship and fandom. While papers might cover the material and consumer culture associated with these novels and discussions of the authors' representation of adults, friendships, or class, we also encourage submissions that make claims about the enduring “phenomenon” of these characters’ popular appeal examine ways in which feminine/feminist portrayals of characters resonated with female readers, evidenced in the researchers’ personal narratives demonstrate how transparency is critical on the part of archival investigators, as evidenced in the work of existing scholar-fan publications suggest ways to teach researcher positionality to students through study of “girl series” scholarship By June 15, 2014, please submit a 250-word abstract and A/V requirements to Lynee Gaillet, Georgia State University, at lgaillet@gsu.edu.


By web submission at 05/07/2014 - 13:21

CFP Fan Phenomena: James Bond (6/30/14)

CFP Fan Phenomena: James Bond
full name / name of organization:
Dr Claire Hines, Southampton Solent University
contact email:
claire.hines@solent.ac.uk
Call for Papers

Fan Phenomena: James Bond

Having recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the James Bond films in 2012, and with pre-production on Bond 24 underway, Intellect's Fan Phenomena book series is now seeking chapters for a new volume on fandom and James Bond. The Fan Phenomena books explore and decode the fascination we have with what constitutes an iconic or cult phenomenon and how a particular person, TV show or film character/film infiltrates its way into the public consciousness. Over the years Bond has proved to be popular with fans, and is an enduring global cultural phenomenon, making him a perfect icon to be covered by the series.

From the original Bond stories written by Ian Fleming, through to the success of the EON-produced films, and other licensed Bond novels, video games and tie-in products, the Bond franchise is long-running and highly financially lucrative, having generated billions of dollars in revenue. But unsurprisingly, given his status as a global icon, Bond has also evolved well beyond this official image to become a popular hero who is deeply influential and widely appropriated. The James Bond (Fan Phenomena) title will examine aspects of the Bond fan culture, and may consider in particular what exploring fans and fandom might bring to debates about Bond’s continued cultural relevance. The emphasis will be on fan culture as an aspect of the Bond phenomenon, and the collection will aim to analyse some of the ways in which this iconic character has been taken up and (re)interpreted, (re)appropriated and (re)branded by and for his fan-base, and across media.

Topics of particular interest might include, but are not limited to:

- Bond as lifestyle icon

e.g. Bond’s influence on fashion, the emulation of Bond through the purchase of clothing/accessories/fragrance, fan appropriation or identification with the Bond image or role, Bond-themed experiences, or Bond as cult hero

- The Bond brand

e.g. the creation of brand partnerships, brand recognition and reinforcement, the significance of ‘Bondomania’, the Bond brand reboot, transmedia Bond, the Bond villain, or Bond girl

- Bond merchandise, memorabilia and collecting

e.g. the significance of product consumption, marketing or creation

- Bond fans’ use of different media to create community

e.g. fan clubs, fanzines, Bond on the internet, video games, books, music or comic books

- The phenomena of Bond fan art, fan fiction, fan films and other fan responses

e.g. the Bond/Q pairing, crossover fan fiction (such as Bond and Harry Potter, Bond and Dr Who, or Bond and Batman), fan interpretations of the Bond character, or Bond fan fiction and copyright

- Bond fan demographics

e.g. the role of gender, sexuality, age in the Bond fan base, global examples of Bond fandom, or stereotypes of the Bond fan

- Arguments and divides between Bond fans

e.g. fans of the Bond books vs. fans of the films, Bond bests and worsts (actors/films/characters), or fan responses to particular characters, casting choices or the direction of the Bond franchise (such as DanielCraigisnotBond.com)

- Bond-inspired tourism

e.g. fans who visit Bond film shooting locations, Bond tours, Bond’s London, or the Bond-related tourist industry

- Bond-inspired spoofs, satires, parodies, imitations and references in film, books, videogames, on TV or other media

e.g. Austin Powers (1997, 1999, 2002), James Pond (1990), ‘You Only Move Twice’ (1996) The Simpsons’ episode, Johnny English (2003), or the short story ‘Bond Strikes Camp’ (1963)

- Bond and philosophy

e.g. the philosophical questions raised by Bond, or the appeal of Bond’s philosophy

- The language of Bond

e.g. key terminology (the ‘Bondian’), the significance of Bond’s body language, or of the repetition of iconic phrases (by fans)

Like other titles in the Fan Phenomena series, this book is aimed at both fans and those interested in the cultural and social aspects of James Bond. As such the book is intended to be entertaining, informative, and accessible to a broad audience.

Please send an abstract (300 words) and a short bio, or direct enquiries to Claire Hines claire.hines@solent.ac.uk by 30 June 2014. Final chapters will be 3,000 – 3,500 words.


By web submission at 04/30/2014 - 11:22

CFP Queerness and Games Conference (6/15/14; UC Berkeley 10/25-26/14)

CFP Queerness and Games Conference
full name / name of organization:
Queerness and Games
contact email:
qgconference@gmail.com
Call for Speakers
Deadline June 15, 2014

The Queerness and Games Conference
Theme: “Difference at Play”
UC Berkeley, October 25 and 26, 2014
qgcon.com // @qgcon // qgconference@gmail.com

The second annual Queerness and Games Conference (QGCon), hosted at UC Berkeley on October 25 and October 26, 2014, is happy to invite proposals for conference sessions now through June 15. Applicants will be notified by July 15. To submit, see instructions below.

Now in its second year, QGCon is a free, weekend-long, interdisciplinary event. The goal of QGCon is to create an open and inclusive environment for discussing the intersection of video games and LGBTQ issues, however you define them. QGCon brings together academics and game developers to foster dialogues that break traditional disciplinary boundaries. The QGCon organizers believe in the importance of creativity and play as tools for intellectual and personal exploration. We are particularly interested in broadening our focus to address issues of race and gender non-normativity, and we encourage submissions from folks who have long gone underrepresented in games and the games industry.

The theme for this year’s QGcon is Difference at Play. This theme is designed to spark ideas, not to limit them. Feel free to submit a session proposal even if your idea falls outside the theme. Some questions inspired by the theme might include:

- What does it mean to play differently?
- What does it mean to play at difference itself?
- In what way can “difference” speaks to questions of race, gender, and sexuality for games and those who play them?
- How do we define “mainstream” and how do we define “different”?

Other questions related to queerness and games that speakers might consider include:

- What does it mean to play queerly?
- What does it mean to design queerly?
- In what ways are queer characters depicted in games?
- What is the place of queer gamers in larger gaming communities?
- How is queerness perceived in the games industry?
- What happens when we put queer studies in conversation with game studies?

QGCon welcomes proposals from speakers of all backgrounds, including but not limited to: game developers, indie designers, academics, artists, and activists. Potential session types include but are also not limited to: solo talks, pair or group talks, panels, workshops, live interviews, microtalks, and play sessions. Please feel free to be creative when envisioning your presentation.

In order to submit, please send the following to qgconference@gmail.com by June 15, 2015. Applications will receive notifications by July 15.

1) A 300- to 500- word abstract of your proposed session, including a description of any visual or interactive elements. Be sure to specify what type of session you are proposing, if you are proposing to speak with other speakers (e.g. on a panel), and how long you would like to present for.

2) A 50- to 100-word bio for each presenter.

Feel free to direct any questions to qgconference@gmail.com. We look forward to your submission, and we can’t wait to see you at QGCon 2014!


By web submission at 05/05/2014 - 21:14

CFP Alfred Hitchcock (Spec. Issue Interdisciplinary Humanities( (11/1/14)

Alfred Hitchcock - Interdisciplinary Humanities - November 1, 2014
full name / name of organization:
Interdisciplinary Humanities
contact email:
howarth-m@mssu.edu
Deadline: November 1, 2014

Spring 2015 Issue - Alfred Hitchcock

Guest Editor: Michael Howarth

This special issue will focus on Alfred Hitchcock, the "master of suspense" whose career spanned from the 1920s to the 1970s. Hitchcock produced and directed over fifty motion pictures, in addition to hosting two anthology series on television.

His film craftsmanship is still relevant today, as his influence is continuously cited by contemporary filmmakers and he is regularly taught in cinema classes.

For this special issue, we will be looking for scholarly articles, book reviews, and nonfiction essays that explore various aspects of Hitchcock's work and personal life, and how the two often connected: music, television, gender, humor, voyeurism, film history, or film theory, to name just a few.

All essays should be interdisciplinary in nature and not exceed 6,000 words. Please send inquiries and submissions to Dr. Michael Howarth at howarth-m@mssu.edu.


By web submission at 05/12/2014 - 14:54

CFP Seasonal Television (Spec. Issue of Journal of Popular Television) (8/1/14)

This sounds like a fun idea:

Call for Proposals: Seasonal Television, A Special Issue of the Journal of Popular Television (Proposals by 1 August 2014)
full name / name of organization:
Derek Johnston / Journal of Popular Television
contact email:
derek.johnston@qub.ac.uk
Call for Proposals: Seasonal Television, A Special Issue of the Journal of Popular Television

The subject of seasonality in relation to broadcasting is one that is acknowledged in a number of places, but barely researched in any depth. Roger Silverstone in Television and Everyday Life and Frances Bonner in Ordinary Television both refer to the way that television relates to the passing of seasons, and the rhythms and patterns of everyday life, but research beyond that is fairly minimal. Tara Brabazon has considered 'Christmas and the Media' in Sheila Whiteley's collection Christmas, Ideology and Popular Culture and David Budgen has discussed the Doctor Who Christmas episodes in Andrew O'Day's The Eleventh Hour. But seasonality in television and radio extends beyond Christmas specials, and raises wider questions about how broadcasting interacts with various social, cultural and industrial structures, formal and informal.

We are currently seeking proposals of around 300 words, to be received by 1 August 2014. Full versions of the accepted articles would be required by 30 June 2015, being between 6,000 and 8,000 words in length using the Harvard referencing system. If you have any queries, including if you wish to informally discuss ideas before making a formal proposal, please contact Derek Johnston at derek.johnston@qub.ac.uk.

This call for papers invites proposals for articles relating to seasonality in relation to broadcasting in its broadest scope for a special issue of The Journal of Popular Television. The issue will broadly consider the question: how does broadcasting mark out the calendar year, in terms of shifting patterns of programming, or seasonal specials? Articles may include broad overviews, or specific case studies, and may relate to any broadcasting structures internationally. Subjects may include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Specific celebrations - Christmas, Hogmanay, Easter, April Fool's Day, Holi, Diwali, Kwanzaa, and many others. How are they marked by broadcasters? Are there particular programmes, or a general shift in emphasis across programming? How do they operate in different broadcasting contexts? Do particular programmes make changes, as in seasonal specials? How has the presentation of these celebrations changed over time?
• Sporting seasons - how does broadcasting shift to interact with different sporting seasons? How do the different power structures of sports organisations and broadcast organisations interact?
• Political calendars - how does broadcasting interact with the calendars of politics, of Parliamentary sessions, of Presidential holidays, of summits, and elections?
• Genres - are certain genres related to certain times of year? Does horror belong to winter? Is serious drama inappropriate to summer? Are variety programmes better suited to holidays?
• Internationalising calendars - how do the international markets in broadcasting influence the production and reception of programmes that relate to holidays? Has the American Halloween been popularised by its presence in television programming? What about Christmas, and Valentine's Day? Are celebrations with religious roots secularised in broadcasting in order to appeal to an international audience?
• Roots of celebrations - how do the broadcast forms of these celebrations relate to their cultural roots? How much is programming in industrial nations influenced by the agricultural calendar? What effect does industrialisation have on scheduling?
• Transferring traditions - how does broadcasting adopt and adapt existing traditions? Why have broadcast pantomimes been so popular in Britain when the significant element of audience interactivity has been lost? How do seasonal episodes travel, or not travel, between nations and cultures?
• Calendars and taste - why are programmes that would normally be considered minority interest promoted during certain seasonal celebrations? Opera and ballet become more prominent during the BBC Christmas schedule, for example. Countries also compare taste: why is Dinner for One a Christmas tradition in Germany, Denmark and Australia, and why do the BBC run items declaring this to be 'strange' every Christmas?
• Media rituals - probably the most widely-researched subject related to calendar and seasonal broadcasting, but how can the marking of the seasons by broadcasting be considered in terms of media rituals? Or does the delineation of the broadcast year by programming need its own theoretical framework?
• Channel branding and identity - how do different channels use the broadcast calendar to brand themselves? Do channel identities shift with the seasons, and why?
• Dominant and subordinate cultures - how does broadcasting's treatment of different cultural calendars operate to promote division or integration into society?
• Depicting the seasons - how are the seasons used in broadcast programmes to project ideas of time, the calendar, culture and society? What does the popularity of the televised observation of the natural seasons in programmes such as Lambing Live, Springwatch and Autumn Watch tell us about British society?
• Calendars, seasons and identity - how do broadcasters suggest a national or cultural identity through their interaction with calendrical and seasonal events? How do their audiences use these broadcast patterns in their constructions of identity? How are multiple cultural and religious calendars dealt with in multi-cultural societies? What does this suggest about cultural and social roles of broadcasters?


By web submission at 05/20/2014 - 10:40

CFP Prestige of Literature (6/15/14; Ottawa 10/10-11/14)

Of potential interest (see especially request for papers on fanfiction):

[UPDATE] The Prestige of Literature--Oct. 10-11, 2014 (Ottawa, ON)
full name / name of organization:
English Department, Carleton University
contact email:
prestigeofliteratureconference@gmail.com

This conference aims to explore the role that prestige plays in the contemporary literary marketplace. James English’s The Economy of Prestige, Gillian Roberts’s Prizing Literature, and Lorraine York’s Literary Celebrity in Canada are prominent examples of recent studies that consider how literary prizes—and debates about prize culture—confer and circulate prestige. English notes that prizes are both “a means of recognizing an ostensibly higher, uniquely aesthetic form of value” and “an arena in which such value often appears subject of the most businesslike system of production and exchange.” For example, when Johanna Skibsrud’s novel The Sentimentalists won the 2010 Giller Prize its independent publisher was forced to sell rights to a company that could handle the increased demand for copies. The ways in which authors can become prestigious have proliferated in recent years. A favourable review or interview in a respected publication, being endorsed by another renowned author, or having one’s work selected for a book club broadcast on radio or television—these are just a few of the paths to literature’s elite echelon of celebrated writers. Writers who reach such heights—Toni Morrison, Junot Diaz, and Margaret Atwood, for example—have moreover used their prestige to draw attention not just to their own work but to other writers and to particular political causes. In recognition of the many forms and sources of prestige that have not yet been significantly studied, as well as furthering current studies on prestige, participants in this conference will consider how prestige is generated and managed, what it is used for, and how it is contested.

Keynotes: Dr. James English, University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Lorraine York, McMaster University

Possible topics include:

· Literary prizes (Canada Reads, Giller, Governor General’s Awards, Pulitzer Prize for fiction, et cetera)
· Literary celebrity
· The “Giller effect”
· Hierarchies of literary genres in awards (discussion of prizes for poetry, drama, etc.)
· Authors and social media
· Effect of reader reviews (Amazon, Goodreads) on sales
· “Anti”-literary awards
· The role of blogs and social media
· Fan Fiction
· In-store promotions
· Authorial endorsements
· Methodological approaches to studying prize culture/prestige

Please submit an abstract of 250-300 words, along with a short bio of 50-75 words, to prestigeofliteratureconference@gmail.com by June 15, 2014.


By web submission at 05/16/2014 - 13:50

CFP Reception of the Classical World in Heavy Metal (11/1/14)

Nov. 1, 2014: Heavy Metal Classics: The Reception of the Classical World in Heavy Metal
full name / name of organization:
Fletcher / Umurhan
contact email:
heavymetalantiquity@gmail.com

We are inviting contributions to a proposed volume on the reception of Greco-Roman antiquity by heavy metal artists. We welcome contributors from a variety of disciplines, including (but not limited to) Classics, Archaeology, Musicology, Sociology, Comparative Literature, and Cultural Studies, to illustrate and explore the enduring connection between heavy metal and the ancient world.

Possible topics include: the use of classical sources in lyrics; visual representations of the ancient world on album covers and in music videos; the role of gender in constructions of antiquity; the appeal of mythology; the use of classical material for political and social critiques; the construction of national identity through appeal to the ancient world; the use of Latin and/or Greek. The ideal contribution will demonstrate an awareness that a study of reception can show us just as much about Classics and its place and meaning in the modern world as it does about heavy metal as a genre. Such a contribution will also make it clear that song lyrics are only one aspect of musical genre.

Our proposed timeframe is: abstract submission by November 1, 2014; contributors notified of acceptance no later than December 15, 2014; first draft of contribution due by July 1, 2015; comments on contributions returned to authors no later than September 1, 2015; second draft of contribution due by December 31, 2015, with the shopping of the volume to presses to begin immediately after that. We will then submit the entire assembled volume to an interested publisher.

Send abstracts of no more than 500 words to heavymetalantiquity@gmail.com by November 1, 2014. Please include a bibliography, discography and current CV.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us:

Kris Fletcher, Louisiana State University (kfletc8@lsu.edu)

Osman Umurhan, University of New Mexico (umurhan@unm.edu)


By web submission at 05/14/2014 - 06:16

CFP Southern Studies Conference (10/15/14; Alabama 2/6-7/15)

SOUTHERN STUDIES CONFERENCE 6-7 February 2015
full name / name of organization:
Auburn University at Montgomery
contact email:
jhavard@aum.edu

Now in its seventh year, the AUM Liberal Arts Conference in Southern Studies invites panel and paper proposals on any aspect of Southern literature. Topics may include but are not limited to:

--Southern food studies
--Slavery and the American South; slave narratives
--Civil War narratives
--Civil Rights narratives; explorations of race and conflict
--Southern religion and literature
--Ecocriticism and the landscape of Southern writing
--Regionalist writers of the American South
--Explorations of the Southern worker
--The plantation novel
--Changing conceptions of Southern aristocracy in literature
--Southern women writers
--Southern travel writing
--Southern children’s literature
--Cross-cultural exchanges between the South and other geographic areas
--Native American literature of the South
--Stories of immigration / migration and border-crossings
--Contemporary reconceptions of "The South"
--Contemporary literacy and writing programs of the American South
--Studies of works by canonical Southern authors such as Twain, Welty, and Faulkner
--Studies of works by lesser-known Southern writers

This two-day conference includes two keynote presentations. The first will be given by Thomas Hallock (University of South Florida), an expert in eco-studies who has written about how the environment of the South affected the creation of literature in early America. The second will be given by Stephen Ash (University of Tennessee), a historian of the Civil War with particular expertise on the southern home front. The featured artist for the conference is José Galvez, a noted Mexican-American photographer whose latest work depicts the life of Latino immigrants in the American South. Registrants to the conference will also be able to enjoy a variety of peer-reviewed panels and exhibits on southern topics representing all of the liberal arts disciplines.

Proposals can be emailed to aumlac@aum.edu and should include a 250-word abstract and a brief CV. The deadline is 15 October 2014. Proposals will be refereed by established scholars in each discipline. For more information, please visit the conference website:

http://www.liberalarts.aum.edu/southern-studies-conference

or contact

John C. Havard
Assistant Professor of English
Auburn University at Montgomery
jhavard@aum.edu


By web submission at 05/08/2014 - 17:58

CFP Re/shaping Otherness (Spec. Issue) (9/1/15)

Of potential interest:

CFP – Otherness: Essays and Studies 5.1 - September 15, 2014
full name / name of organization:
Centre for Studies in Otherness
contact email:
otherness.research@gmail.com

The peer-reviewed, open-access e-journal Otherness: Essays and Studies is now accepting submissions for its special issue: Otherness and the Performing Arts, Autumn 2014. The deadline for submissions is Monday, September 15, 2014.

Otherness: Essays and Studies publishes research articles from and across different scholarly disciplines that critically examine the concepts of otherness and alterity. We particularly appreciate dynamic cross-disciplinary study.

Re/shaping Otherness through drama and performance is the focus of the current, special issue that explores performative and theatrical representations of Otherness. Within the spaces of theatre and the performing arts, the differential bounds demarcating otherness, such as national, cultural, religious, socio-political, sexual, gender, and diasporic delineations, are continually and constantly dramatized, disrupted, negotiated, and redrawn.

In light of the heated debates on globalization and multiculturalism in recent years, new, heterogeneous inter- and cross-cultural approaches to fluid, migrant, hybrid, transcultural worlds have emerged. In this respect, the question of Otherness is vital to the quests that arise as a result of their emergence: How do we approach these new intersubjective and dialogical perspectives of identity-seeking, self-definition, indeed, community cohesion in such a milieu? In a world increasingly global yet local, uniform yet diversified, how does this complicate relations to and understandings of others and otherness? How is relationship between dominant and peripheral cultures, self and other, reflexively re-negotiated?

For this special issue of Otherness: Essays and Studies, we invite papers that explore representations of the Other through drama and performing arts. We seek practice-led research outcomes, cross-disciplinary theoretical considerations, conceptualizations and theory formations, critical and dialogical readings of plays and performances from the multi-layered, de-hierarchized perspective of contemporary artistic experiences of Otherness and its theoretical discourse.

Welcome topics include but are not limited to:

Approaches towards and Discourses on Theatrical Representations of Otherness: Gender, Ageist, Social, Ablest, Ethnic, Class, etc. Issues
Research and Analysis on Otherness and Performance Related to: Language, Space, Body, Time, History, Audience, etc.
Dramaturgies of Otherness: Drama, Adaptation, Translation
Cultural Relativism, Pluralism, Glocal Issues in Plays and On Stage
Contact and Relationship: The Self and the Other in Drama and Performance
Issues of Power: Dominant and Peripheral Cultures in Drama and On Stage
Plural and Hybrid Identities in Theatre
Cultural Pluralism: Aesthetic Experience of Otherness in Theatre
Dialogical and Critical Approaches to Otherness through Theatrical Tools
Theory Formation/Conceptualization of Otherness in Drama and Performance

Articles should be between 5,000 – 8,000 words. All electronic submissions should be sent via email with Word document attachment formatted to Chicago Manual of Style standards to the guest editors Dr. Rita Sebestyen and Matthias Stephan at otherness.research@gmail.com

Further information: http://www.otherness.dk/journal/

The deadline for submissions is Monday, September 15, 2014.


By web submission at 06/02/2014 - 13:10

CFP Harry Potter Generation in Retrospect (1/15/15)

Edited Collection -- Into the Pensieve: The Harry Potter Generation in Retrospect. [DEADLINE: Jan 15, 2015]
full name / name of organization:
Balaka Basu, Emily Lauer
contact email:
hpgeneration.book@gmail.com

There now exists a generation who have grown up in a culture thoroughly permeated by Harry Potter, from the books to the movies and beyond. Now that the series has come to a close, it is time to take stock: how exactly has this generation of new adults been shaped and constructed by the cultural zeitgeist that is the Harry Potter universe? What future is there for Harry Potter studies? Are we still in the Harry Potter Age, or have we entered a Post-Potter age?

We seek essays of 6,000 - 7,000 words for this collection that address the idea of a Harry Potter Generation broadly, with perspectives including fan studies, pedagogy, and traditional theoretical lenses.

Possible themes might include, but are not limited to:

- Fan studies, including fandom communities and productions, and those authors writing now whose work was inspired by the Harry Potter phenomenon.
- The narrative and genre concerns of the series and how they may affect a generation of readers.
- The role(s) of history and the present in the series itself.
- Pedagogical concerns - as professors, how do we engage with an assumption of cultural knowledge of Harry Potter in the classroom?
- Global approaches, especially post-colonial - how has the Harry Potter phenomenon shaped experience outside of Great Britain and North America?
- Merchandising and versioning - how have the movies or the shopping opportunities shaped the idea of what role Harry Potter can play in consumers’ lives?
- Experiences of children who did not read the books, or who were discouraged from doing so.

Email queries are very welcome at any time; send completed papers as attachments in Word format to Balaka Basu and Emily Lauer at hpgeneration.book@gmail.com by January 15, 2015.


By web submission at 05/13/2014 - 23:58

CFP Evil Women and Mean Girls (9/1/14)

Of potential interest:

Call for Chapters: Evil Women and Mean Girls
full name / name of organization:
Keira Williams
contact email:
evilwomenmeangirls@gmail.com
Call for Chapters
Evil Women and Mean Girls: Critical Examinations of the Fairer Sex’s Nasty Side in History, Literature, and Popular Culture

Edited by Lynne Fallwell and Keira V. Williams, Texas Tech University
Due date for abstracts (500-700 words): September 1, 2014
Notification of acceptance date: October 1, 2014
Due date for accepted paper drafts (8000-10,000 words): March 31, 2015

The editors invite scholars from relevant disciplines to submit original research for the proposed collection Evil Women and Mean Girls. The purpose of this edited collection is to explore gendered representations of “evil” in popular culture and history (historical era and geographical region open). Scholars often explore the relationships between gender, sex, and violence through theories of inequality, violence against women, and female victimization, but what happens when women are the perpetrators of violent or harmful behavior? In this volume, we seek to explore the following questions: How do we define “evil”? What makes evil men seem different from evil women? When women commit acts of violence or harmful behavior, how are they represented differently from men? How do perceptions of class, race, and age influence these representations? How have these representations changed over time, and why? What purposes have gendered representations of evil served in culture and history? What is the relationship between gender, punishment of evil behavior, and equality?

Chapter proposals may include, but are not limited to, the following topics:
• Criminal women in pop culture, literature, or history
• Historical and changing definitions of “evil” behavior for women
• Representations of female villains
• The sexualization of female violence
• Slut-shaming
• Gender and bullying, cyberbullying
• Women as social dangers
• Motherhood
• The roles of race, ethnicity, class, religion, and heterosexism in definitions of feminine “evil”
• The association between feminism and female violence
• The alleged link between hormones, emotions, and female violence
• Punishment (legal and/or social)
• Female leaders and other public figures
• Women in gangs
• School cliques

Abstracts of 500-700 words should include:
1. Definition of the topic and concise argument statement
2. A brief description of the cultural context of the topic
3. A brief description of how your article fits into the existing scholarship on the topic

Submission Guidelines:
1. Submission deadline for abstracts (500-700 words): September 1, 2014
2. Submissions should be double-spaced, with Times New Roman, 12-point font, Chicago style citations.
3. Submissions should be prepared for blind-review (with author’s name, 50-word bio, and institutional affiliation appearing on a separate page) in a Word document and sent via email to: Keira Williams and Lynne Fallwell at evilwomenmeangirls@gmail.com
4. Notification of Acceptance: October 1, 2014
5. Drafts of Accepted Papers: March 31, 2015

Inquiries are welcome, and should be directed to Keira Williams or Lynne Fallwell at evilwomenmeangirls@gmail.com.

Editor Bios:
Keira Williams holds a Ph.D. in History and is an Assistant Professor in the Honors College at Texas Tech University. Her research fields include gender, crime, and popular culture, and she is the author of Gendered Politics in the Modern South: The Susan Smith Case and the Rise of a New Sexism (LSU Press, 2012).

Lynne Fallwell holds a Ph.D. in Modern German History. Her research fields include gender, Nazi medicine, Holocaust and Comparative Genocide, and she is the author of German Midwifery 1885-1960 (Pickering & Chatto, 2013). Currently, she is Director of National and International Scholarships & Fellowships at Texas Tech University.

By web submission at 05/13/2014 - 02:18

CFP YA Literature and Composition (7/1/14)

YA Literature and Composition
full name / name of organization:
Dr. Tamara Girardi and Dr. Abigail Scheg
contact email:
YALitCollection@gmail.com

While adult book sales have been down for the past few years, sales of young adult titles have increased as much as 30% according to some reports. The turn of the millennium brought an explosion of YA sales with the most notable Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, and Divergent series. YA sections grew from a few shelves to prominent areas in libraries and major bookstores. In fact, a recent Pew Survey reported that 16-29 year-olds check out library books more than any other group.

Despite assumptions that kids don’t read, young adults entering college classrooms are reading recreationally more so than any generation before them. Additionally, many popular films and television shows are based on young adult novels and series. With the prevalence of contemporary young adult literature in their lives, it is logical to question how a connection can be made to their learning in academia.

This collection will explore such connections, specifically in the college composition classroom, although some references to literature and creative writing classrooms are also welcome. While the heart of the exploration involves the reading and writing of young adult literature, the ultimate goal should be to discuss how one or both might inform composition pedagogy.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
-Early young adult texts such as Maureen Daly’s Seventeenth Summer, S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, and works by Judy Blume, Lois Duncan, and Robert Cormier and how these texts relate to contemporary YA literature.
-Why specific themes or tropes connect well with high school and college students.
-Contradictions between YA reader’s interests in dark issues such as addiction, suicide, terminal illness, sexuality, abuse and their parents and/or teachers anticipation that such issues are too serious for them.
-Variations in genres within the YA framework and how knowledge of genre differences might influence greater understanding and appreciation for non-traditional literary works.
-Comparison between new adult and young adult genres.
-Popularity of YA literature with adults.
-The cathartic experience of writing and reading about challenges faced during one of the most formative times in a student’s life.
-Composition assignments and pedagogy that feature YA literature in some way.

Please send inquiries or abstracts of approximately 250 words to YALitCollection@gmail.com by July 1, 2014. Editors for this collection are: Dr. Tamara Girardi (@TamaraGirardi), Harrisburg Area Community College, and Dr. Abigail Scheg (@ag_scheg), Elizabeth City State University.


By web submission at 05/14/2014 - 02:26

CFP Balancing Tradition and Innovation in Children’s Literature (6/10/14; SAMLA 11/7-9/14)

In With the New But Not Out With the Old: Balancing Tradition and Innovation in Children’s Literature - SAMLA 2014 - Nov. 7-9
full name / name of organization:
Rachel Rickard
contact email:
rickard.24@osu.edu

Because the study of children’s literature is not rooted in one time period, culture or medium, it is a continuously evolving field. New books, movies, video games, magazines, comics, and websites for children are produced every year, and, because of this constant creation, we study classic literature like Alice in Wonderland alongside brand new children’s films like Frozen. In looking at this widening range of texts, though, it becomes clear that while some aspects of children’s texts have persisted others have changed (and are changing) rapidly. This panel seeks to explore how contemporary children’s literature balances old and new. Papers may explore the ways in which contemporary children’s texts preserve tradition (whether that tradition comes from medium or content) while simultaneously breaking with tradition and creating new and innovative forms, genres, and stories. Suggested paper topics include but are not limited to:
• Adaptation and the reworking of old stories in new ways
• New categories of “children’s” literature such as New Adult and Tween
• Multigenre and multimodal children’s texts as well as children’s texts that cross and blur genre lines
• Intertextuality and how contemporary children’s literature calls back to more traditional children’s literature
• Discussions of what makes a particular work, form, character, or genre of children’s literature sustainable across time

Please submit a 250-300 word abstract by June 10, 2014 to Rachel Rickard at rickard.24@osu.edu.


By web submission at 05/14/2014 - 17:41

CFP Genre and Black Literature Spec. Issue (11/1/15)

Children’s Literature Association Quarterly Special Issue - Genre and Black Literature
full name / name of organization:
Children’s Literature Association Quarterly
contact email:
sara.austin@uconn.edu, karen.chandler@louisville.edu

Although critical attention to black American literature has until recently focused on social realism and vernacular expression, writers such as Victor LaValle and Charles Johnson have called for creative writers to experiment with a greater variety of genres. Scholars have also sought to explore the fuller range of black expression. In the field of children's literature, however, study of a range of genres and expressive modes in black children's literature is not a new endeavor. Since the African American Review’s special issue on black children’s literature in its spring 1998 issue, interest in racial identity and children’s and young adult literature has continued to grow. And the versatility of a writer such as Virginia Hamilton, while stunning in its breadth, can be seen as signaling the creative diversity of black literature for young readers. This special issue of ChLAQ seeks to foster scholarly and critical study on such texts. We are interested in scholarship on different genres of black children's literature, the reception of such texts, the historical processes of distributing and marketing them, and related concerns including (but not limited to):

Speculative and other genre fiction
Regional and diasporic writing
Prizing and prize winners
Adaptations and re-imaginings
Picture books, film, cartoons, comics and graphic novels
Representations of history
Children’s poetry
Banned books and controversy
Alternative presses and the development of African American literature
Historical conceptions of African American children as readers

Papers should conform to the MLA style and be between 5,000-7,000 words in length. Queries and completed essays should be sent to Karen Chandler (karen.chandler@louisville.edu) and Sara Austin (sara.austin@uconn.edu) by November 1, 2015. The selected articles will appear in ChLAQ vol. 41.


By web submission at 05/16/2014 - 20:15

CFP/Survey Approaches to Teaching the Works of Octavia E. Butler (7/1/14)

Survey and Essay Proposals MLA Volume Approaches to Teaching the Works of Octavia E. Butler JULY 1, 2014
full name / name of organization:
MLA Approaches to Teaching World Literature Series: Approaches to Teaching the Works of Octavia E. Butler edited by Tarshia L. Stanley
contact email:
TeachingOctaviaButler@gmail.com
Survey and Essay Proposal for Approaches to Teaching the Works of Octavia E. Butler

Edited by Tarshia L. Stanley

This survey is designed to gather information about instructors’ methods and materials for teaching the works of Octavia E. Butler, for the purpose of developing a new volume on the topic in the MLA series Approaches to Teaching World Literature. Respondents are invited to answer the questions related to their teaching below. They are also encouraged to submit a proposal for a contribution to the volume. Proposals and survey responses are due by 1 July 2014, after which the survey will no longer be available online. All respondents will be acknowledged in the published volume.

http://www.mla.org/publications/publication_program/approaches


By web submission at 05/19/2014 - 20:06

CFP Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster in Culture (11/1/14; SWPCA 2/11-14/15)

Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster in Culture (2/11-14, 2015 ; Abstract Due Nov 1)
full name / name of organization:
36th Annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association in Albuquerque, New Mexico
contact email:
trayers.shane@gmail.com

Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster in Culture
Area of the 36th Annual Southwest Popular/American Culture Association. February 11-14, 2015 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Hyatt Regency Hotel

Our area now includes “dystopia”! The Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster in Culture Area is calling for papers about anything apocalyptic, dystopic, or disaster-related. This can be in movies, television, literature, graphic novels, or any other cultural examples of disaster, dystopia or the end.

Once again, this year did not disappoint in these topics, from The 100 to Under the Dome to Divergent to Pompeii. So why are we so obsessed with ending it all? Why do humans keep coming back to these same types of stories? What cultural fears do the works represent? What are the positives that come out of these kinds of works? This area is interested in all types of theories, both real world and fictional.

Please note that this area is specifically for those papers related to the apocalypse, dystopia, and/or disaster. For example, there is now a separate Zombie Culture area, so if it’s about the “zombie apocalypse” it goes here, but if it is just about zombies, then it goes to that area.

Abstracts are due by November 1st and should be submitted to the submission database found at http://conference2015.southwestpca.org/

Ideas for topics on Apocalypse and Disaster (Not a Comprehensive List):

Real examples: “Doomsday Preppers” television documentary, Bath salt “Zombie” attacks, Hurricane Katrina, Tsunami, East Coast Earthquake, Tornadoes, Haiti, Aurora and Newtown Shootings, Atomic culture.

Film and TV: Under the Dome, The 100, Revolution, Divergent, Defiance, Elysium, Oblivion, The Host, World War Z, Sharknado, This is the End, After Earth, Pacific Rim, Adventure Time, Olympus has Fallen, Melancholia, Falling Skies, The Walking Dead, Resident Evil, Terminator, 2012, The Core, Daybreakers, Zombieland, Independence Day, Night of the Comet, Armageddon, The War of the Worlds, End of Days, Last Night, 12 Monkeys, The Road, Dark Angel, Jericho, Children of Men, The Matrix, Crimson Tide, Invasion, V, Contagion, Dante’s Peak, The Island, The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Literature: Brave New World, Infinite Jest, Oryx and Crake, Breathe, World War Z, Divergent, Pesthouse, The Road, Children of Men, Alas Babylon, The Stand
Graphic Novels and video games: Y:The Last Man, Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil, The Walking Dead

Religious Apocalypse: Revelations and other religious apocalyptic texts, the Left Behind Series, Rapture Insurance.

Or any other works/topics related to apocalypse, dystopia, or disaster!


By web submission at 05/26/2014 - 16:52