CFP International Conference "Monsters, Sorcerers, and Witches of Northwestern Europe" (proposals 3/2/2025; Siena 7/9-11/2025)

International Conference "Monsters, Sorcerers, and Witches of Northwestern Europe"

deadline for submissions:
March 2, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Prin 2022 Project "Monsters, Sorcerers, and Witches of Northwestern Europe: The Medieval and Early Modern Construction of Otherness in Literature for Popular Audiences

contact email:
monsterswitchesnorthwesterneu@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/10/international-conference-monsters-sorcerers-and-witches-of-northwestern-europe.



To mark the conclusion of a biennial research carried out by four Italian Universities (Siena, Turin, Florence, and Naples “L’Orientale”), the scientific committee of the PRIN 2022 Project Monsters, Sorcerers, and Witches of Northwestern Europe: The Medieval and Early Modern Construction of Otherness in Literature for Popular Audiences invites abstract submissions for a three-day international conference, to be hosted at the University of Siena on 9-11 July 2025.

The conference will devote attention to monstrous births of human beings, illicit magic, and witchcraft – three features at the core of the Renaissance preternatural imagination – in order to highlight the connection between prodigious events and marginality, placing a special emphasis on the resulting social relegation of the individuals involved in them.

Particularly appreciated will be contributions taking into examination non-canonical sources, such as ballads, broadsheets, pamphlets, as well as manuals, sermons, and annals, which were destined for large and culturally varied audiences, including those with limited literacy. The time frame under consideration will encompass the late Middle Ages and the whole early modern period, so as to inspect both the genesis, development, and aftermath of such phenomena in Northwestern European texts.

Proposals seeking to investigate the processes of interpretation and exploitation of the preternatural will also be very welcome, as will those scrutinising the mechanisms of repression underlying the narration of preternatural events, by relating them to their prescriptive framework.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Monstrosity, witchcraft, and gender.
• The witch, the deformed child’s mother and their connections with other liminal subjects.
• Metamorphosis and shapeshifting.
• Crossing boundaries with monstrosity and witchcraft.
• Border conflicts or crossings between normativity and non-normativity.
• Transgression through monstrosity and witchcraft.
• Classifications and fluidity of monstrosity and magic.
• The non-normative body and/or intellect in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period.
• Monstrosity and witchcraft as markers of physical and intellectual disability.
• Medical, legal, religious, social or political evaluations of monstrosity and witchcraft.
• Monstrosity, witchcraft and related textual genres (teratologies, chronologies of strange events, demonological treatises, etc.).

We are particularly keen to promote interdisciplinary approaches and encourage submissions that engage with literary, historical, theological, medical, legal, or cultural perspectives.



Papers should not exceed 20 minutes and will be followed by a five-minute discussion.



Paper submission

If you wish to present a paper, email an abstract of 250-300 words alongside a short bionote (100-150 words).

Please send your proposals to: luca.baratta@unisi.it; monsterswitchesnorthwesterneu@gmail.com

Deadline for proposals: 2 March 2025

Notification of acceptance: 16 March 2025



Conference dates: 9-11 July 2025

Venue: Department of Philology and Literary Criticism

University of Siena

Pionta Campus – Logge del Grano Hall

Piazzetta Logge del Grano, n. 5 – 52100 Arezzo (Italy)



Project & Conference website: https://sites.google.com/view/monsterswitches/conferences/international-conference-prin2022-project-monsterswitches


Last updated January 10, 2025

CFP Romancing the Gothic Conference 2023 – The Supernatural and Witchcraft in belief, practice and depiction (3/31/2023; 8/26-27/2023)

Romancing the Gothic Conference 2023 – The Supernatural and Witchcraft in belief, practice and depiction

Main site: https://romancingthegothic.com/2022/11/12/romancing-the-gothic-conference-2023-the-supernatural-and-witchcraft-in-belief-practice-and-depiction/.
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In 1848, William Harrison Ainsworth published his novel The Lancashire Witches based on the real-life witch-trials in Pendle in 1612. Exploring the background of the trials and executions, it was heavily based on Thomas Potts’ Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancashire (1613). 1848 also saw the publication of Catherine Crowe’s The Night-Side of Nature with T. C. Newby. The book purported to unclose something of this ‘night side of nature’ with all its wonders. After all, she tells us, ‘we are encompassed on all sides by wonders, and we can scarcely set our foot upon the ground, without trampling upon some marvellous production that our whole life and all our faculties would not suffice to comprehend.’ The book featured accounts of dreams, wraiths, doubles, ghosts and more. This year, Romancing the Gothic is marking the 175th anniversary of these publications with a conference dedicated to the subjects which lie at the heart of both texts: witchcraft, the supernatural in history, belief, practice and depiction.

We invite individual papers (20 minutes) or panels (3 x 20 minutes) exploring the fictional, factional and factual depiction or discussion of witchcraft and the supernatural from any period. This conference seeks to focus on the changing ways in which practices and beliefs have been understood and depicted as well as mapping the ways in which discourses of witchcraft and of the supernatural have been deployed in different historical, political, theological and social contexts. We welcome papers discussing all traditions of witchcraft and supernatural belief and depiction and would particularly encourage pre-formed panels discussing specific national or cultural traditions.

We welcome papers on topics including:

• The Night Side of Nature and The Lancashire Witches
• The wider work of William Harrison Ainsworth and Catherine Crowe
• The Lancashire ‘witches’
• The depiction of witches in fiction, film, video games etc.
• The depiction of witch trials
• Histories of persecution
• Factual and factional writing on the supernatural
• Occult writers
• The depiction of the supernatural in fiction and film
• Ghost-hunting (historical or contemporary)
• Ghost stories
• Social histories of the ghost
• Real ghosts and hauntings
• Supernatural typologies
• Queering the Supernatural
• Changing theologies of the supernatural
• Brujeria and its depiction in contemporary media
• Fear and the supernatural
• Healing and the supernatural
• Histories of ghost (and other supernatural) belief
• Supernatural dreaming in fiction and fact
• Changing theologies of the supernatural
• Internet subcultures related to witchcraft and the supernatural

The conference will be held entirely online on 26th-27th August 2023. We will be accepting abstracts until March 31st 2023. Please send abstracts of 250-300 words and a short bio. We accept and welcome papers from academics and non-academics, including practitioners. We also welcome pitches for ‘workshops’ or interactive activities. For previous conferences these have included: 18th century dance lessons, cooking with Dracula demonstrations, and creative writing workshops. Please send all pitches to the conference organiser Dr Sam Hirst (University of Liverpool/Oxford Brookes University) at sam@romancingthegothic.com.

To ensure the conference is accessible to the maximum number of people, there is no fee for presenters. Everyone delivering a paper or workshop will be offered a small honorarium. The event is online, using subtitling and will be recorded so that those unable to attend at various times (for example, due to timezones) are able to access all the events. Please contact me with any questions or requirements related to accessibility at the email address above.

If this is your first conference or you would like support with abstract writing, I will be putting on an online workshop on writing abstracts. Please email me at sam@romancingthegothic.com if you would like to attend.

CFP Recasting the Bygone Witch: Examining Strength in Preservation (9/30/2022; NeMLA 2023)

Recasting the Bygone Witch: Examining Strength in Preservation (NeMLA 2023)

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/06/19/recasting-the-bygone-witch-examining-strength-in-preservation-nemla-2023

deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2022



full name / name of organization:
Panel at NeMLA 2023, March 23-26, 2023, Niagara Falls NY



contact email:
ainemnorris@gmail.com



From Sabrina to Supreme, there are plentiful modern representations of the witch in popular culture, each exuding singular or group-sourced power borne from traditions of centuries-past, as manifested in literature, television, film, or local lore. But what about the lesser-known witches, those who practice and represent branches of witchcraft rarely examined within the subcultural analysis or fandom?

This panel examines portrayals of lesser-known witches and how their quiet unconventionality, even within the broader occult subculture, might inform scholarship, practice, and preservation. What can we learn by examining lesser-known witches or unconventional representations of the witch?

Approaches or lenses for papers may include (but are not limited to):

• Literature, texts, or theory
• Cultural studies
• Gender studies
• Technology or media studies
• Race and ethnicity studies
• Environmental studies
• Pop culture studies
• Local or regional examinations
• Museum studies and public history
• Historic preservation or conservation

Abstracts must be submitted before the deadline to the NeMLA website: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/19862 (note: you will need to establish a username and password).



Information about abstract requirements is available here: https://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention/callforpapers.html



This panel is for the Northeast Modern Language Association convention, March 23-26, 2023 in Niagara Falls, NY. To learn more about NeMLA, visit https://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention.html Papers must be delivered in-person at the conference.



Please don't hesitate to send any questions to both Aíne Norris ainemnorris@gmail.com and Maria DiBenigno mdibenigno@wm.edu.


 
Last updated July 9, 2022

CFP Crones, Crime, and the Gothic Conference (4/1/2022; Falmouth U 6/10-11/2022)

Crones, Crime, and the Gothic Conference

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/16/crones-crime-and-the-gothic-conference

deadline for submissions:
April 1, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Falmouth University, 10-11 June, 2022

contact email:
cronescrimegothic@gmail.com



Older women have traditionally been portrayed negatively in folklore, fairy tales, literature and film, for example. Images of witches, evil stepmothers, shrivelled, bitter 'spinsters', and vindictive, bullying women abusing positions of power are rife in Western culture. Yet, perhaps things are changing. A new emphasis on the need to discuss and understand the menopause seems to be at the heart of this. This conference examines historical representations of the 'crone' in relation to crime and Gothic narratives. But it also looks ahead and globally to examine other types of discourses and representations. Bringing older women to the fore of the discussion, this conference aims to go global and really shake up the way that the ‘crone’ is thought about and symbolized.

This conference addresses the key real-world issue of how older, menopausal, and postmenopausal women are spoken about and represented in different cultures and locations. It focuses on crime and Gothic narratives that are the most often, but not always, negatively positioned in relation to older women. As well as highlighting some of the historical issues, this conference gives a voice to diversity, global differences, and other issues such as race, trans-cultures, class, colonization, sexuality identities, femininity, and masculinity.

We welcome abstracts for papers, panels, workshops, and creative practice.

Topics can include (but are not limited to) the following:

• The Crone
• Witches
• Folklore
• Fairytales
• Global representations
• Older women in film and television
• Criminal women
• Wise women
• The older woman and the Gothic
• Older women and ethnicity
• Trans-cultures
• Regional cultures
• Historical fiction
• Literature
• Class
• Race
• Gender
• Sexuality
• Crones and ecology and/or the climate emergency
• Grandparents
• Spinsters
• The menopause

Abstracts do not have to cover each subject (crones, crime, or the Gothic) but each paper should address at least one of the title subjects and present a clear challenge to conventional and traditional ways of thinking. The aim of the conference is to explore the fears of the past and the contemporary, as well exploring ways to go forward.



Please send 250 word abstracts + a short bio in a Word document to: cronescrimegothic@gmail.com



Submission deadline: 1 April 2022



Last updated March 16, 2022

CFP Edited Collection: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (due 10/31/2021)

Sorry to have missed posting this sooner. 

Edited Collection: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

deadline for submissions: October 31, 2021

full name / name of organization: Cori Mathis

contact email: cemathis@lipscomb.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/07/22/edited-collection-chilling-adventures-of-sabrina


In the world of teen drama (or YA drama, as some prefer), there are a number of ways to represent adolescence and its attendant horrors, and we’ve seen a great deal of fantasy-based approaches; beginning with Buffy, some establish that high school is actual hell. But few series come close to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s devotion to that idea. The Netflix series (2018-20), based on the Archie Comics spin-off and featuring a much darker version of Sabrina Spellman, may be difficult for audiences to reconcile with ABC’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the previous adaptation. While one is a teen sitcom in which Sabrina’s powers get her into wacky situations, and she is supported by a talking Salem the cat, the other might feel closer to The Craft. However different this version of Greendale is from what we may be used to, it certainly offers much to explore.



We invite proposals for a forthcoming collection of essays on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and welcome those that engage with industry perspectives, textual approaches, audience studies, and issues of critical reception.

We anticipate a broad audience for this collection, which includes scholars as well as students of the humanities at both graduate and undergraduate levels. As such, submissions from contributors at various levels and from diverse fields are encouraged. Suggested themes include but are not limited to:

• Genre (teen/YA drama, horror, etc.)
• Gender (masculinities, femininities, etc. as represented in the series)
• Girlhood studies
• Race and ethnicity (both in the series and from a production perspective)
• Queer readings and approaches
• Dis/ability
• Religion (Christianity, Wicca, etc., both in reality and in the world of CAoS)
• Historical, cultural, televisual, and other contextual frameworks
• Intertextuality
• Industry/production
• Adaptation
• Love and romance
• Family constructions
• Autonomy and consent
• Class and economics
• Freedom and power

Submission Details:

Proposals should be between 300 and 500 words (along with 3-5 key sources) and should clearly describe the author’s thesis and proposed outline of the essay. Completed essays (6000-7500 words, including references) are also welcome. In a separate document, authors should provide a short CV with contact information and relevant publications and presentations. (Please send these as attachments.)



Please note: submitted proposals/essays should not have been previously published nor currently be under consideration for publication elsewhere. An academic press is already interested in this collection.



Submission Deadlines:

Abstract Due: October 31, 2021

Notification of Acceptance: November 15, 2021

Full Essay Due: January 31, 2021



Questions and submissions to Dr. Cori Mathis, cemathis@lipscomb.edu


Last updated August 2, 2021 

 

RIP Billie Hayes

Many performers have helped solidify the idea of the wicked witch in popular culture. Most might think of Margaret Hamilton from the Wizard of Oz or the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but others have also made an impact on the world.

One of these was Billie Hayes who passed away this week. (See her obituary from Variety.)

She was, perhaps, best known for her role as Witchiepoo in the Sid and Marty Krofft show H. R. Puffnstuff, entertaining generations of fans with her comic antics.

But Hayes also portrayed other witches over the years, including one on an episode of Bewitched. 

CFP Witches (Spec Issue of Journal of Dracula Studies) (1/1/2020)

Journal of Dracula Studies Special Issue: Witches
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/06/27/journal-of-dracula-studies-special-issue-witches

deadline for submissions: January 1, 2020
full name / name of organization: Anne DeLong/Transylvanian Society of Dracula
contact email: journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu

The Journal of Dracula Studies is accepting submissions of manuscripts of scholarly articles (4000-6000 words) for a 2020 Special Issue focusing on witches and witchcraft. Papers may examine the figure of the witch and/or the practice of witchcraft in literature, film, folklore, and popular culture. Submissions are due by January 1, 2020. Possible topics include the following:

• witches, wizards, warlocks, cunning folk
• magic and magical practices
• hexing and spell casting
• witches throughout history
• witch hunts and witch trials
• witchcraft and feminism
• witchcraft and New Age spirituality
• witchcraft and political activism
• witchcraft and spiritualism: seances, spirit communication
• culturally diverse witchcraft practices: Voodoo, conjure, pow wow, etc.
• depictions of witches and witchcraft in film, television, and popular culture

Last updated July 5, 2019

CFP Withcraft Hysteria: Performing Witchcraft in Contemporary Art and Pop Culture (proposals by 10/1/2018)

CFP: WITCHCRAFT HYSTERIA: Performing Witchcraft in Contemporary Art and Pop Culture
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-witchcraft-hysteria-performing-witchcraft-in-contemporary-art-and-pop-culture/
August 14, 2018

Type:
Call for Papers

Date:
October 1, 2018

Location:
California, United States

Subject Fields:
Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Cultural History / Studies, Popular Culture Studies, Theatre & Performance History / Studies, Women’s & Gender History / Studies

WITCHCRAFT HYSTERIA. Performing witchcraft in contemporary art and pop culture.

We seem to be living in bewitched times. Witches are everywhere, or rather: victims of alleged witch hunts pop up all over the place, preferable on Twitter or other social media. Pop-stars perform as witches, like Katy Perry in her performance at the 2014 Grammy awards, where she appeared in a cowl before a crystal ball, while later dancing with broomsticks as poles. Beyoncé’s visual album “Lemonade” (2016) made several explicit references to black witchcraft rituals. Azealia Banks proclaimed in the same year on Twitter that she practiced “three years worth of brujería” (brujería, Spanish: witchcraft) and tweeted––while cleaning the blood-smeared room used for her animal sacrifices––“Real witches do real things”. Marina Abramovic’s performance piece “Spirit Cooking” (1996) was used in the ominous Pizzagate conspiracy theory of 2016, accusing Abramovic and the Hillary Clinton campaign in practicing witchcraft rituals and occult magic. Clinton and other influential women in politics–such as Nany Pelosi and Maxine Waters––get labeled as witches and Sarah Palin partakes in a ritual to secure her electoral win and “save her from witchcraft”. Meanwhile, thousands of people coordinate binding spells against political leaders (#bindtrump) and Silvia Federici’s seminal book “Caliban and the Witch” moved from the bookshelf to the bedside table for many art professionals.

The title “Witchcraft Hysteria” follows the inscription on the monument dedicated 1992 to the Salem Witch Trials (1692), that were informed by European-US-American witchcraft discourses of their time and in turn were highly influential on today’s discussions.

For this publication, we want to investigate the revival and the current interest in the figure of the witch and the performance of witchcraft in contemporary art, visual culture and pop culture. The figure of the witch as icon of historical significance and present relevance in art and politics has only gained in its cultural impact. Our project focuses on performance strategies of “performing witchcraft” in a contemporary context, focusing on the last two decades.

Relevant paper topics may consider, but are not limited to:

• The figure of the witch in contemporary art and culture
• Contextualizing Witchcraft Hysteria in Theater, Film, Television, Streaming Media, Social Media, etc. in their historical representations and current manifestations
• Witchcraft (Hysteria) and Performance Studies
• Witchcraft and feminist (art) practice
• Practicing Witchcraft as political protest
• The politics of being (labeled) a witch
• Queer-Feminist perspectives on Witchcraft
• (Intersectional) Questions of Gender, Class and Race and Witchcraft

Schedule

Proposals (500 words): October 1, 2018

Final Papers Due: January 16, 2018 [I assume this is an error for 1/16/2019]

Submission of Final Revised Papers for Publication: March 4, 2018 [likewise, I assume this is an error for 3/4/2019].

Publication: Summer, 2018 [again, I assume this is an error for Summer 2019]

Please submit a 500-word proposal and a 200-word biography to both editors: Johanna Braun (johannabraun@g.ucla.edu) and Katharina Brandl (katharina.brandl@unibas.ch) by October 1, 2018.

Contact Info:
Katharina Brandl

University of Basel, Switzerland

Johanna Braun
Erwin Schrödinger Research Fellow at University of California, Los Angeles

Contact Email:
johannabraun@g.ucla.edu

CFP Edited Collection on Young Adult Gothic Fiction (7/16/2018)

Edited Collection on Young Adult Gothic Fiction
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/05/22/edited-collection-on-young-adult-gothic-fiction

deadline for submissions: July 16, 2018

full name / name of organization: Dr Michelle Smith and Dr Kristine Moruzi

contact email: Michelle.Smith@monash.edu



Call for Papers: Edited Collection on Young Adult Gothic Fiction

The twenty-first century has seen a marked increase in the Gothic themes of liminality, monstrosity, transgression, romance, and sexuality in fiction for young adults. While Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series (2005-2008) is the most well-known example of Gothic young adult fiction, it is part of a growing corpus of hundreds of novels published in the genre since the turn of the millennium. During this period, the Gothic itself has simultaneously undergone a transformation. The Gothic monster is increasingly presented sympathetically, especially through narration and focalisation from the “monster’s” perspective. In YA Gothic, the crossing of boundaries that is typical of the Gothic is often motivated by a heterosexual romance plot in which the human or monstrous female protagonist desires a boy who is not her “type”. In addition, as the Gothic works to define what it means to be human, particularly in relation to gender, race, and identity, contemporary shifts and flashpoints in identity politics are also being negotiated under the metaphoric cloak of monstrosity.

Yet the Gothic also operates within young adult fiction to enable discussions about fears and anxieties in relation to a variety of contemporary concerns, including environmentalism, human rights, and alienation. Catherine Spooner suggests that the Gothic takes the form of a series of revivals. In the proposed collection we seek to explain what the current Gothic revival in YA fiction signifies and call for papers engaging with any aspect of Gothic fiction published for young adults since 2000.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• The Gothic and the posthuman
• The paranormal romance
• The monstrous feminine
• The adolescent body
• The evolution of canonical monsters including the vampire, the werewolf, the witch
• Postfeminism and the Gothic
• The Gothic and race
• Gothic spaces
• Gothic historical fiction

The editors are currently preparing a proposal for a university press Gothic series, in which the publisher has already expressed preliminary interest.

Please submit abstracts of up to 300 words and a biographical note of up to 150 words to both Dr Kristine Moruzi (kristine.moruzi@deakin.edu.au) and Dr Michelle Smith (michelle.smith@monash.edu) by 16 July 2018.

Full papers of 6000 words will be due by 1 December 2018.

CFP Transforming Bodies in Early Modern Drama (7/16/2018; RSA Toronto 3/17-19/2019)

RSA 2019: Transforming Bodies in Early Modern Drama (July 16th, 2018)
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/17/rsa-2019-transforming-bodies-in-early-modern-drama-july-16th-2018

deadline for submissions: July 16, 2018

full name / name of organization: Christina M. Squitieri / New York University

contact email: cms531@nyu.edu




Renaissance Society of America (RSA) 2019: 17–19 March 2019, Toronto, Canada

Transforming Bodies in Early Modern Drama

**This is a guaranteed session**

How are bodies–of people, plants, or animals–transformed on the early modern stage?

What are the agents of transformation, and is there something about drama in particular that allows for bodily transformation?

How is transformation represented (or not represented) dramatically?

What constitutes a "body" on stage, and is a body still the same if parts of it transform?

What does the transformation of the body tell us about corporeal unity, identity, transformation, or the instability of the body or identity?

How can bodily transformation intersect with theoretic frameworks such as materialism, historicism, ecocriticism, animal studies, or the post-human?

Topics may include (but are not limited to) the way violence (physical, sexual, verbal), ritual, disguise, death, love, the natural world, disease, wounds, language, power, fear, etc have a transforming effect on the early modern human and non-human bodies that populate early modern drama, through any theoretical lens.

Please send 150-word abstracts and brief CV to Christina M. Squitieri (cms531@nyu.edu) and Penelope Meyers Usher (pfm250@nyu.edu) by Monday, July 16th, 2018. This panel will be sponsored by the Early Modern and Renaissance Society at New York University.

​

Playing Dress-Up: Scooby-Doo 2017

More items from Hallmark's Halloween 2017 product line. These feature characters from Scooby-Doo as dressed as monsters, Scooby as a witch and Shaggy as a vampire.


itty bittys® Scooby-Doo Stuffed Animal (https://www.hallmark.com/gifts/stuffed-animals/itty-bittys/itty-bittys-scooby-doo-stuffed-animal-1KID3376.html)

itty bittys® Shaggy Stuffed Animal (https://www.hallmark.com/gifts/stuffed-animals/itty-bittys/itty-bittys-shaggy-stuffed-animal-1KID3375.html)

 

Reading List: Magic in Medieval Manuscripts

Sophie Page’s Magic in Medieval Manuscripts is part of a series celebrating the art of illuminated manuscripts held by the British Library, and it offers an interesting look at magical belief and practices in the Middle Ages. The opening chapter focuses on magicians in medieval literature, but the remainder of the book is grounded in reality, exploring how real magicians were believed to employ their craft. 

Details from the publisher as follows:



Magic in Medieval Manuscripts
http://www.utppublishing.com/Magic-in-Medieval-Manuscripts.html

By Sophie Page
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division © 2004
World Rights
65 Pages

Paper
ISBN 9780802037978
Published Sep 2004
$27.95

Magic existed in diverse forms in the Middle Ages, from simple charms to complex and subversive demonic magic. Its negative characteristics were defined by theologians who sought to isolate undesirable rituals and beliefs, but there were also many who believed that the condemned texts and practices were valuable and compatible with orthodox piety.

Magic in Medieval Manuscripts explores the place of magic in the medieval world and the contradictory responses it evoked, through an exploration of images and texts in British Library manuscripts. These range from representations of the magician, wise-woman and witch, to charms against lightning, wax images for inciting love, and diagrams to find treasure. Most elaborate of all the magical practices are rituals for communicating with and commanding spirits. Whether expressions of piety, ambition, or daring, these rituals reveal a medieval fascination with the points of contact between this world and the celestial and infernal realms.

Sophie Page is a lecturer in the Department of History at University College London.

CFP Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends Conference (10/2/2015; Budapest 3/14-16/2016)

Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends
Announcement published by Robert Fisher on Thursday, August 27, 2015
https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/80114/fairy-tales-folk-lore-and-legends

Type: Conference
Date: March 14, 2016 to March 16, 2016
Location: Hungary
Subject Fields: Anthropology, Cultural History / Studies, Literature, Oral History


Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends
Call for Submissions 2016

Monday 14th March – Wednesday 16th March 2016
Budapest, Hungary


Wicked witches, evil stepmothers, Rumplestiltskin, jinn, gnomes, trolls, wolves and thieves versus fairy godmothers, Peri, departed beloved mothers, firebirds, dwarves, princesses, Simurgh, woodcutters and princes charming. Fairy tales, folk lore and legends are the canvas on which the vast mural of good versus evil plays out and our darkest dreams or nightmares struggle against our better selves and highest hopes. At the same time, the relationship between these tales and modern society is a complex one that invites closer consideration of the changing nature of the stories and how modern sensibilities have both challenged and been challenged by the values and viewpoints that underpin the narratives.

Fairy tales can be interpreted in a variety of ways and from a variety of viewpoints: they can be psychological exposes, blueprints for dealing with the traumas of childhood and early adulthood, guides to navigating life, windows onto social realities long forgotten, remnants of ancient mythology or hints at how to access the Transcendent.

The Fairy Tales interdisciplinary research and publishing stream investigates how fairy tales/folk tales/legends represent both good and evil, how these are personified or interact, what these reveal about the lives of those who have told them over the years, what they mean for us who read or listen to them today. Possible subjects for presentations include but are not limited to:



Exploring the Tales Themselves

• Functions of tales over time and across cultures
• Socio-political context of tales and their capacity to serve as allegories for real life issues
• Justice and morality in the tales
• Fairy tale utopias and dystopias and the blurred lines between fiction, fact, reality, science fiction and mythology
• How fairy tales shape ideas about happiness
• Considerations of why tales are an enduring aspect of culture
• Factors that make some tales more popular than others (and why popularity can shift over time)
• (Re)interpretations and re-imaginings of the same tales differ over time or across cultures
• Relationship between fairy tale characters and real life humans: do human ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ behave so differently from fictional goodies and baddies, where there times when characters that seem fantastic to modern folks were actually considered to be more realistic by historical readers/listeners, what factors shape the changes that cause people to perceive characters as more or less real
• Relationship between fantastic and magical elements of tales and lived reality
• Tales and monsters: monstrous animals, monstrous humans, children’s interaction with monsters
• Intended lessons and values of stories and counter-interpretations, particularly in relation to gender, sex, materialistic values, notions of virtue and authority
• Processes around the domestication of fairy tales
• Tales as a source of/mechanism for oppression of individuals or groups
• New/modern tales
• Critical approaches to tales
• Tales and their authors
• Fairy tale artwork and imagery
• Fairy tale geographies: spaces and places of both the worlds within fairy tales as well as the spaces and places where the narratives are told or written

Encountering Fairy Tales/Legends/Folk Tales

• Studies of readers/audiences across time and cultures
• Listening versus reading: impact of oral traditions on the narratives, impact of illustrations in reception of the tales, etc.
• Relationship between traditional and modern forms of interactive storytelling involving fairy tales
• How adaptation to other mediums, such as film, television, visual art, music, theatre, graphic novels, dance and video games, affect the content of the tales themselves, appreciation of the narrative or our interpretations of narrative meaning

Uses of Fairy Tales/Legends/Folk Tales

• In advertising (re-imagining tales in advertising imagery, marketing the princess lifestyle, etc.)
• Tales and pedagogy: using tales as teaching and learning tools
• In tourism through destination marketing of spaces associated with fairy tales, Disneyfication of tales, etc.
• In the formation of national/cultural/ethnic identity
• In the publishing business
• Communities, biography and fairy tales: How social communal identity is forged around telling and re-telling tales

Tales, Health and Happiness

• Tales and magical thinking in the human development
• Tales and psychological/clinical practices involving tales
• Tales and unhealthy behaviour/beliefs
• Effect of tales on shaping notions of (un)happiness, (in)appropriate ways to pursue it and how to respond to respond to others’ (un)happiness
• Tales and aging (“growing old” as a theme in tales, how tales shape perceptions of old age, etc.)

Live Performances of Tales

• Theatrical, dance and other types of staged presentations
• Pantomime
• Vocal performances
• Art installations
• Readings

Curated film screenings

Further details can be found on the project web site:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/persons/fairy-tales-folk-lore-and-legends/call-for-participation/

Call for Cross-Over Presentations

The Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends project will be meeting at the same time as a project on Health and another project on Happiness. We welcome submissions which cross the divide between both project areas. If you would like to be considered for a cross project session, please mark your submission “Crossover Submission”.

What to Send

300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be submitted by Friday 2nd October 2015.
All submissions be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed.

You will be notified of the panel’s decision by Friday 16th October 2015.
If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 5th February 2016.

Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: Fairy Tales Abstract Submission



Where to Send

Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs:

Organising Chairs:
Stephen Morris: smmorris58@yahoo.com
Rob Fisher: fairytales@inter-disciplinary.net

This event is an inclusive interdisciplinary research and publishing project. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.

It is anticipated that a number of publishing options will arise from the work of the project generally and from the meeting of Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends stream in particular. Minimally there will be a digital eBook resulting from the conference meeting. Other options, some of which might include digital publications, paperbacks and a journal will be explored during the meeting itself.

Ethos

Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation. Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.

Contact Info:
 Dr. Rob Fisher

Priory House

149B Wroslyn Road

Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1993 882087

Fax: +44 (0)870 4601132

Contact Email:
fairytales@inter-disciplinary.net
URL:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/persons/fairy-tales-folk-lore-and-legends/call-for-participation/

CFP Modern Myth and Legend (9/2/2015; Louisville, KY 2/18-20/2016)

Cross-posted from NEPCA Fantastic:

Modern Myth and Legend - Louisville Conference (Feb. 18-20, 2016)
full name / name of organization: International Lawrence Durrell Society
contact email: clawsonj@gram.edu
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/63312

The Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture Since 1900


http://www.thelouisvilleconference.com


Louisville, KY | 18-20 February 2016

"we do create the world around us since we get it to reflect back our inner symbolism at us. Every man carries a little myth-making machine inside him which operates often without him knowing it. Thus you might say that we live by a very exacting kind of poetic logic--since we get exactly what we ask for, no more and no less."
--The Dark Labyrinth (1947)

Dealing overtly with ideas of myth and legend, Lawrence Durrell's The Dark Labyrinth chronicles the adventures of British tourists exploring a cave system on Crete just after World War II. Despite their awareness of how reality is transformed by their individual experiences, beliefs, and myth-making, they are no less susceptible to the fear of the minotaur which might be chasing them through the dark passageways. A myth becomes the way we understand the world. As a legend, the monster and its labyrinth offer grounds to reflect on personal terrors and emerge triumphant—or be consumed.

In anticipation of our upcoming conference on Crete, the International Lawrence Durrell Society calls for papers addressing the broad theme of Modern Myth and Legend for a society-sponsored session of the 2016 Louisville Conference. We welcome proposals on aspects of Durrell's writing or other topics addressing the theme. Some possible topics include the following:

• W. B. Yeats's esoteric blending of Greek, Irish, and other mythologies
• Refigured legends in the aftermath of T.S. Eliot's "Ulysses, Order, and Myth," including Iris Murdoch's The Green Night or John Gardner's Grendel
• Frazer's The Golden Bough and its impact on modernist literature
• Fantasy repurposing legend, as in Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series
• Mythologizing the 20th century in film, including for example Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth or Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away
• Legendary societies, urban legends, apocrypha, and literary mysteries
• Symbolic use of tall tales, or the literary adapting of Bigfoot, werewolves, vampires, minotaurs, homunculi, gorgons, witches, griffins, manticores, giants, etc.

Please send a 250-word abstract to James Clawson (clawsonj@gram.edu), International Lawrence Durrell Society, by Sept. 2, 2015. Final presentations should be limited to 20 minutes in length.


By web submission at 08/06/2015 - 20:58

CFP Chronicles and Grimoires: The Occult as Political Commentary (9/15/2015; Kalamazoo 5/12-15/2016)

[Update] Chronicles and Grimoires: The Occult as Political Commentary
full name / name of organization: ICMS Kalamazoo 2016
contact email: dominique.hoche@westliberty.edu
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/63393

Whether seen in signs and portents, or read in grimoires or magic books, the occult in the premodern world is both marveled at and feared. A significant amount of the description of occult and sorcerous activity, however, also functions as political commentary, whether as direct criticism of secular current events or as a voice or conceptual space for the spiritual “other” in medieval society.

Some examples of these voices can be heard in the manuscript BN Ffr. 1553 that is the chronicle of Eustache le Moine (known as the Black Friar, ca. 1170-1217) who was a Benedictine who studied necromancy and the black arts and ultimately became a pirate; the popularity and repeated multi-language printings of the Clavicule of Solomon in Italy in the 1300’s; the introductory and defensive letters in the German humanist scholar Agrippa’s books on occult philosophy (c. 1533); the tempered criticism of Johan Weyer’s De Praestigiis Daemonum (1563) or its opposite, Martin Del Rio’s inflammatory Disquisitionum magicae (1608). Political commentary regarding the occult often tests the limits of scribal activity, and can lead to persecution and/or charges of treason or heresy. We welcome papers that explore this dangerous connection between the reception of the occult and political commentary or criticism.

Proposals (for presentations of no longer than 20 minutes) should be no longer than 400 words and must clearly indicate the significance, line of argument, principal texts and relation to existing scholarship (if possible). Email the proposal in the body of the message, a 50-word bio note, and a completed Participant Information form (http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/submissions/index.html#PIF) to Dominique Hoche at dominique.hoche@westliberty.edu . Due September 15, 2015.
For general information about the 2016 Medieval Congress, visit: http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/congress/index.html.


By web submission at 08/11/2015 - 22:07
CFP Website maintained by
The University of Pennsylvania Department of English

CFP Edited anthology of Conjure, Hoodoo and Voodoo in African-American Literature (no posted deadline)

Edited anthology of Conjure, Hoodoo and Voodoo in African-American Literature
full name / name of organization: James Mellis/ William Paterson University
contact email: mellisj@wpunj.edu

Articles are sought for a collection of essays on representations of Conjure, Hoodoo and Voodoo in African-American literature. This collection seeks to explore how African-American writers have used, referenced, engaged and disengaged with Conjure, Hoodoo and Voodoo in their writing through various cultural and historical movements.

The primary thread of this study will be an argument that from their initial arrival on American shores, African-American writers have used voodoo and conjuring as a literary trope that has served as a touchstone for religious, political and national identity. By examining slave narratives, novels, poetry and drama, this study will interrogate how African-American authors repeatedly returned to Conjure, Hoodoo and Voodoo as a way to examine their own shifting political and cultural positions in America. I am seeking original essays for a major academic publisher who has accepted the proposed anthology. Some authors that can treated are: Frederick Douglass, Phyllis Wheatley, Henry Bibb, William Wells Brown, Nat Turner, William Grimes, Olaudah Equiano, Charles Chesnutt, George Washington Cable, Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, James Weldon Johnson, W.E.B DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, Rudolph Fisher, Jean Toomer, Richard Wright, Arna Bomtemps, Countee Cullen,Ishmael Reed, Amiri Baraka, Robert Hayden, Toni Morrison, Rainelle Burton, Colson Whitehead, Charles Johnson, August Wilson, Ntzoke Shange, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Gloria Naylor, Darius James, Gayl Jones and Carl Hancock Rux, and others.

Please send proposals of 250-350 words to mellis@wpunj.edu. Please note that an invitation to submit a full essay does not guarantee inclusion in the published volume.


By web submission at 08/20/2015 - 15:03

Minnie Mouse Witch?

Continuing from the previous post, here are the details on Hallmark's witchy Minnie Mouse.

As with Count Mickey, Minnie the Witch is depicted in 2 plush versions (in addition to her role, with Mickey, on the water globe). "Halloween Minnie Mouse" is up first. She is part of the itty bittys line (selling in stores, only, for $6.95) and is described as " the sweetest treat this Halloween". Clearly, we're not supposed to be afraid of this mouse.

Next, is the "Minnie Mouse the Witch" plush. She sells for $19.95 (though is now sold out online). As with her male counterpart, the artificiality of her costume is the highlight of her product description: "Everyone's favorite glamour mouse is all dressed up for Halloween as a beguiling and lovable witch. Minnie will cast a spell of fun over your holiday and help you get in the spirit of fun."

Given the descriptions that accompany these products, it is no surprise that the "Mickey and Minnie Mouse Water Globe" is so tame. Obviously for Disney, brand identity trumps Halloween.

CFP Magic and Witchcraft (5/15/14; PAMLA 10/31-11/2/14)

Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association
112th Annual Conference - Riverside Convention Center, California
Friday, October 31 - Sunday, November 2, 2014

Magic and Witchcraft

Presiding Officer:
Logan Greene, Eastern Washington University
Magic and witchcraft are powerful cultural phenomena that have gripped our imaginations throughout the centuries. The ceremonial, folk, and divinatory practices contained in these labels have continued in changing forms to the present day. This panel invites scholars in literature, history, anthropology, cultural studies, and religious studies to share their research and reflections on this topic.

Status:
Open (accepting submissions)
Associated Sessions
Magic and Witchcraft
Topic Type:
Special Session

- See more at: http://www.pamla.org/2014/topics/magic-and-witchcraft#sthash.BWVpg7Ze.dpuf

CFP Familiar Spirits (5/15/14; PAMLA 10/31-11/2/14)

Another great sounding conference:

Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association
112th Annual Conference
http://www.pamla.org/2014

Friday, October 31, 2014 to Sunday, November 2, 2014
Riverside Convention Center
Riverside, California
Riverside Convention Center
Our 2014 PAMLA Conference will be held at the beautiful, brand-new Riverside Convention Center, in Riverside, California. Downtown Riverside is a hidden gem of Southern California, less than an hour’s drive from LA and about 90 minutes from San Diego. With its historic Mission Inn and many fine restaurants, boutiques, and museums, its almost-always lovely fall weather, and its proximity to so much of Southern California’s natural beauty and cultural sites, Riverside is a truly lovely and relaxing site for our conference.

We are planning some very special events for Halloween and the entire conference, including our special conference theme, “Familiar Spirits.” As part of this theme, in addition to many regular standing sessions not focused on the theme, we invite you to propose papers on magic, conjuring, spirits, hauntings, Spiritualism, and manifestations as well as presentations that treat the familiar, familial, and the commonplace in relation to the paranormal, strange, and uncanny. We anticipate rich and vibrant discussions that defamiliarize the known and draw near the mysterious.

The deadline to propose a paper (or two—although our PAMLA rules only allow you to present one paper at the conference, you may propose more than one, and then decline an offer should you be accepted more than once) is Thursday, May 15, at midnight. There are more than 100 approved sessions you can propose a paper to, and a few more may appear as if by magic in the coming days.

Questions about special session topics may be sent to heidis@uic.edu. Questions about conference planning and logistics may be sent to svonkin@netzero.net.

- See more at: http://www.pamla.org/2014#sthash.jCOAeAoM.dpuf

CFP Conference on the Supernatural (6/1/14; State College, PA 10/3-4/14)

[UPDATE] Oh! The Horror!: The Supernatural in Literature, Film, and Popular Culture
full name / name of organization:
Pennsylvania College English Association 2014 Conference
contact email:
penncea@gmail.com
Proposal Submission Deadline: June 1, 2014

Conference Dates: October 3-4, 2014

Conference Location
1450 S. Atherton St., State College, PA [= Ramada Conference Center State College]

Keynote Speakers
John Russo and Russ Streiner
Writer, Producers, and Actors of Night of the Living Dead

Conference Email Address: penncea@gmail.com

PCEA 2014 Conference Theme

From the past to the present, the supernatural has inundated our popular culture. Zombies, witches, vampires, and werewolves star in our books, television shows, graphic novels, comics, stage performances, and films. This conference will contribute to the already rich discussion surrounding these topics that may already be taking place in our classrooms, on our campuses, and in our culture.

PCEA invites proposals for original creative works and critical interpretations that celebrate our theme. We also welcome all proposals related to the study and/or teaching of literature, film, composition and linguistics, as well as creative works.

The conference will also feature a special showing of one of Russo and Streiner’s films followed by a question and answer session. Entry to this presentation is included for all conference participants, but those interested in attending this session only can purchase separate tickets. A limited supply of autographed books, photos, and other collectables will also be available.

PCEA 2014 Conference Proposal Submission Instructions

PCEA invites either panels or individual papers for the 2014 PCEA Conference. Proposals in any area of literary, film, composition studies, and popular culture are welcome. Both pedagogical and theoretical proposals are encouraged, as are proposals to present original creative writing. To preserve time for discussion, PCEA limits all presentations to 15 minutes.

PCEA invites faculty, graduate students, and independent scholars to submit proposals. Undergraduate student participation is limited to faculty-organized and led panels. Faculty organizers should submit panel information, including contact information and abstracts. Individual undergraduate proposals will not be accepted. Undergraduate students are welcome to attend the conference as participants if they are not members of a panel.

Panels must consist of at least three presenters and, in order to leave time for questions, should not last longer than 45 minutes.

Proposers must join PCEA in order to present at the conference.

Please submit proposals using our Submittable Site: https://paenglish.submittable.com/submit

Read the full cfp here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CimigMNIZu5J31-Mg4fNssexLJTzS-RyQT8QXURrR38


By web submission at 03/25/2014 - 20:58