CFP Fogo Congress 2023 (4/1/2023; University of León (Spain) 7/5-7/2023)

FOGO CONGRESS 2023: FOLKLORE AND GOTHIC: SUPERNATURAL PRESENCES AND ENVIRONMENTS IN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS

Full details, the hard copy of CFP, and links to submit at the conference site: https://fogoconference.unileon.es/home/#congress. 

Who has not felt fascinated by a terrifying image?


This conference aims to open a space of dialogue to analyze the intersections of Gothic and folklore, focusing on fairy tales, the representation of nature, and the treatment of horror. What is the relevance of the ghosts, cemeteries and stormy nights that remain in our subconscious as images and spaces of fear? How can fictional horror represent the climate emergency? How can we explore literature, film and other media through the lens of the monster and the ghost? Ultimately, what is the interaction between folklore, horror and the Gothic?

Read more

In the 21st century we are still haunted by ghosts from the past, scared by creaking floors in the middle of the night, afraid of monsters lurking in the shadows. We also face more tangible dangers: we have become collectively scared of the expansion of viruses and technological advancement, represented by zombies and the rebellion of the machines in the popular imagination from an Apocalyptic perspective. Similarly, there is a constant terror inspired by the sexual violence and the constant insecurity of women in public and private spaces. Women are, still today, afraid of violence in public and private spaces. These and other dangers have brought along the gothic appropriation of the witch as an empowering figure which, from ecofeminist practices, has been linked to the loss of natural spaces and the climate emergency.

Folklore and the Gothic share a common ground based on the experimentation of fear, both in the natural environment and in enclosed and claustrophobic spaces. In these manifestations, terror materializes as extraordinary entities (Bouyer 1985; Fontea, 2008; Montaner, 2014), which are deeply ingrained in the cultures and historical moments in which they appear. The concept folk horror, coined in the 1970s, defines the fear and terror experienced by local communities though ritual (Eamon Byers, 2014). The Gothic, on the other hand, has evolved since the writer Horace Walpole added this term as subtitle in The Castle of Otranto (1764). Since then, readers have engaged with tragic stories which repeat the same Gothic formula: the presence of the heroine, the villain, the landscape and an unresolved mystery. The presence of the Gothic in Postmodernity (Catherine Spooner, 2006; Maria Beville, 2009; Abigail Lee Six, 2010; William Hughes, 2012; Fred Botting, 2013; Maria Purves, 2014; Ann Davies, 2014) and its global scope (Byron 2013; Punter 2015) demonstrate its vitality and its ability to adapt to new realities. In the last decade, the study Ecogothic helps bring together ecocriticism and the Gothic, establishing a direct relationship between fear and the effects that humankind has on the environment (Smith and Hughes, 2013).



CALL FOR PAPERS AND SUBJECT AREAS


IMPORTANT DATES: Proposal submission deadline April 1, 2023
Celebration of the Congress on July 5, 6 and 7, 2023


The organizing committee invites professors, academics, researchers, postgraduate students and artists to participate by sending proposals for presentations in the following formats:

• A single paper for a 15-20 minute presentation, summary of max. 300 words;
• A round table of 3-5 people for a 60-minute discussion, summary of max. 1000
• words;
• A complete panel of 3-4 people for a 60-minute set of presentations, summary of
• max. 1000 words;
• Any other type of artistic format or workshop that touches on the topic of the
• conference and which can take place in under 90 minutes.

Please also include a brief summary (less than 100 words) or your academic CV.

Please send your proposals before April 1, 2023 by following the following link:

SEND PROPOSAL



SUBJECT AREAS

• Horror and the Anthropocene
• Cultural Studies
• EcoGothic
• Affect Theory and Horror
• Gender Studies and Queer Gothic
• Cinema Studies and Folk Horror
• Medical Humanities and Mental Illness
• Postcolonial Studies
• Posthumanism and the Gothic
• Digital Humanities
• Bestiaries and the Preternatural
• Children’s and Teen Gothic

Registration fees will be of 15 € for undergraduate students; 80 € for postgraduate students, instructors and researchers in training; and 100 € for lecturers, professors and salaried independent researchers. More information about payment methods will be given in due course.