CfP Critical Essays on American Horror Story (expired)

Another expired post (sorry, though it wasn't live for long).

CfP: Critical Essays on American Horror Story

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-critical-essays-on-american-horror-story/

Posted on June 2, 2016

Critical Essays on American Horror Story

A call for proposed chapters for an edited book on ‘American Horror Story ‘ (2011-) has been released. Taken from the original CFA, the details are as follows:

‘American Horror Story is an anthology horror series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The series comprises five seasons—Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show, and Hotel—each self-contained, featuring a different storyline, characters, setting, and time period. The series, which has garnered acclaim from critics and from its devoted audience, has been lauded for how it blends (and bends) elements of the horror genre with true events in American history, as well as for its exceptional recurring cast. AHS has also received praise—and some criticism—for how it tackles sensitive topics like sexuality and race. The series is campy, graphic, and excessive; it revels in being transgressive.

We invite proposals for scholarly essays on any topic pertaining to any season of the show (or a combination of seasons) for an edited collection that will interrogate the intricacies of this subversive series.

Topics for essays could include, but are not limited to:

• representations of race, gender, and/or sexuality
• depictions of monsters/monstrosity
• the grotesque
• the gothic/Southern Gothic
• generic conventions of horror
• intertextuality
• connections between seasons
• revision/reimagining of American history
• AHS’s place in American pop culture
• audience reception
• environment
• space/place
• philosophy

Please send proposals of 250-500 words to Cameron Williams (cameron.williams@ung.edu) and Leverett Butts (leverett.butts@ung.edu) by June 30, 2016. Completed manuscript drafts should be 5000-8000 words and will be due in early 2017′.

CfP Growing Up with the Undead (expired)

Meant to post this earlier in the year:

CfP: Growing Up with the Undead: Vampires in the 20th- and 21st-Century Literature, Films and Television for Young Children

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-growing-up-with-the-undead-vampires-in-the-20th-and-21st-century-literature-films-and-television-for-young-children/

Posted on April 20, 2016

 

Type:

Call for Papers

Date:

May 31, 2016

Subject Fields:

Childhood and Education, Popular Culture Studies, Literature, Film and Film History, Cultural History / Studies

 

Since Bram Stoker’s seminal vampire novel, Dracula, published in 1897, the figure of the vampire has been a persistent presence in Western popular culture. Though largely the remit of adult audiences since the 1970s, the vampire has become increasingly present in narratives (books/films/television) for younger children. In fact, in the 21^st century, one might even venture to say it is a staple of the genre. During this time the meaning of the vampire itself has drastically changed from a symbol of otherness and potential danger to one that accepts difference and offers agency to all young readers. This shift within young children’s narratives is largely a reflection of the changing positioning of the undead within adult and young adult narratives that have seen an increasing romanticization of the vampire, which constructs it as both inspirational and aspirational within, or indeed outside of, an increasingly consumerist and globalized world. This volume will examine the continuing presence of vampires within children’s literary and visual narratives in relation to contemporaneous representations in popular narratives and the social environment that creates them.

Abstracts/proposals are invited for chapters that look at narratives featuring vampire characters, as either main protagonist or incidental role, in books, film, television, comics, toys, games, etc. aimed at children of 12 years old or younger (not YA). Chapters can be either an overview of a particular medium or focus on a few titles that example certain themes or topics.

Possible subjects include but are not limited to:

• Child vampires, male/female vampires, animal vampires, non-human vampires
• Scary vampires, stranger danger, warnings against non-normative behaviour
• Queer vampires, individual identity positions, role models
• Historical precedents from folk/fairy tales or classic children’s literature
• Franchises that cover many media that feature vampires, Monster High, Mona the Vampire, Disney (characters such as Maleficent/Ursula etc)
• Vampires in games, Lego, activity books, pop-up books etc
• Vampires in children’s advertising/products such as Count Chocula, Oreo adverts, Kinder adverts etc.
• Children’s vampires in relation to their YA and adult contemporaries
• Any of the above in relation to gender, sexualities, minorities, ethnicity, class etc.
• Non-bloodsucking vampires: veggie vamps and those that drink washing liquid, or energy etc.
• Vampires that are not vampires, i.e. Scooby Doo, Araminta Spook etc.

Abstract of no more than 350 words with “Growing up with the Vampire” in the subject line,  should arrive by 31^st May, 2016.
Final manuscripts of 5,000-8,000 will be expected by 28^th August, 2016, manuscripts to be formatted MLA-style with a separate works cited page section, for publication by Universitas Press in Montreal (www.universitaspress.com) by the end of 2016/start 2017.
Abstracts and enquiries should be sent to Simon Bacon at: baconetti@googlemail.com

URL:

http://www.universitaspress.com

 

CfP Studies in Horror and the Gothic: A Special Issue of Palgrave Communications (9/1/2016)

CfP: ‘Studies in Horror and the Gothic’: A Special Issue of Palgrave Communications

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-studies-in-horror-and-the-gothic-a-special-issue-of-palgrave-communications/

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Skye Cervone

‘Studies in Horror and the Gothic’: A Special Issue of Palgrave Communications. Proposals/Sept 2016, Final Articles/Nov 2016

full name / name of organization:

Palgrave Communications

contact email:

Palcomms@palgrave.com

STUDIES IN HORROR AND THE GOTHIC Deadline for article proposals: September 1, 2016
Final deadline for full submissions: November 1, 2016

Palgrave Communications, an open access journal, is inviting submissions and article proposals for a special issue/thematic collection dedicated to ‘Studies in Horror and the Gothic’. The collection is Guest Edited by Dr John Edgar Browning (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA).

‘Studies in Horror and the Gothic’ is by necessity of its pervasive, aesthetic nature a broad and all-encapsulating thematic collection, one that will engage the study of horror and the Gothic through literature, film, television, new media, and electronic gaming. We are here interested in the dark, the forbidden, the secret. But fundamentally all our submissions should ask, and strive to address (or redress) on their own terms, what is “horror” and what is the “Gothic,” employing in the process individual or multiple methods of theoretical inquiry and myriad disciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches from across the humanities, social sciences, and beyond.

This thematic collection concerns itself with the business of exhuming, from the dark recesses of human experience, any number of cultural products from any historical moment or geography that might prove useful in uncovering some of horror’s and the Gothic’s more fascinating junctures and deeper meanings. Submissions should be scholarly but remain accessible to the advanced student or knowledgeable general reader interested in the subject.

Contributions on the following themes are especially encouraged:

• Theories of horror and monstrosity
• Horror, the Gothic, and pedagogy
• National Gothic(s) and horrors;
• Female Gothic/horror histories
• Specialised themes in horror and the Gothic (law, sexuality, disability, etc)
• Ethnographic approaches to horror and the Gothic
• Horror by the decade
• Lost Gothics
• Post-millennial horrors and Gothic(s).

Collection Advisory Board: Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock (Central Michigan University, USA), Carol Margaret Davison (University of Windsor, Canada), Harry M. Benshoff (University of North Texas, USA), Dylan Trigg (University of Memphis, USA and University College Dublin, Ireland), Maisha L Wester (Indiana University, USA), and Jesse Stommel (University of Mary Washington, USA).
Authors who are interested in submitting a paper should, in the first instance, send a short abstract-length proposal to the Managing Editor (Palcomms@palgrave.com) outlining the scope of their paper and its novelty; any general enquiries can also be directed to this address.

For more information on the journal’s open access policy and any relevant fees (APCs) or waivers, please see the following: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/palcomms/about/openaccess

CFP Special Issue on American Monsters (grad; 10/23/2016)

CfP: Graduate Journal aspeers, “American Monsters”

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-graduate-journal-aspeers-american-monsters/

Posted on August 11, 2016

Graduate Journal aspeers Calls for Papers on “American Monsters”

Date:
October 23, 2016

Subject Fields:
American History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies, Popular Culture Studies, Literature, Graduate Studies

“The monster notoriously appears at times of crisis,” Jeffrey Jerome Cohen states in his Monster Theory. At first glance, Cohen’s assertion conveniently seems to fit the headlines by various venues–liberal and conservative–that all express a presumed crisis of the US Republican Party by referring to their 2016 presidential nominee as a “monster.” However, Cohen has a different kind of crisis, and different kinds of monsters, in mind, and a broader analytical trajectory to follow: For him, American culture as such can be read “from the monsters [it] engenders.”

Understood as a spectacular anomaly, a cultural shorthand that points at deeper turmoils, American culture has its fair share of monsters indeed. Whether we think of race, a social problem declared ‘dead’ by the post-race discourse, as a zombie roaming the land as deadly as ever, or whether we think of Barbara Creed’s seminal work on the perception and portrayal of femininity as ‘monstrous,’ categories of difference tend to express themselves with recourse to the figure of the monster and the logic of monstrosity. In fact, as Michael Rogin points out, monsters are “a continuing feature of American politics.” As such they are worthy of critical attention.

For its tenth issue, aspeers thus dedicates its topical section to “American Monsters” and invites European graduate students to critically and analytically explore American literature, (popular) culture, society, history, and politics through the monsters they beget. With a host of disciplines–ranging from economy and political science to history, media studies, literary and cultural studies, and beyond–engaging such monstrosity in various forms, we welcome papers from all the fields, methodologies, and approaches that comprise American studies as well as inter- and transdisciplinary submissions. Potential paper topics could cover (but are not limited to):

• The literary figure of the fantastic monster, the zombie, the vampire, the alien, the cyborg, or the ghost, as tropes that do cultural work.
• The forms of (racialized, gendered, etc.) othering involved in portraying social or cultural outsiders as monstrous.
• Political rhetoric demonizing and dehumanizing the opponent.
• The trope of the monster in various nonfictional discourses, such as law enforcement, medicine and psychology, and many others.
• The pleasures and anxieties negotiated through representations of monsters, in genres such as horror, fantasy, science fiction, dystopia, (post)apocalypse, etc., and in media like novels, films, TV, graphic novels, or video games.

aspeers, the first and currently only graduate-level peer-reviewed journal of European American studies, encourages fellow MA students from all fields to reflect on the diverse meanings of monsters for American culture. Please note that the contributions we are looking for might address or go beyond the topical parameters outlined above. We welcome term papers, excerpts from theses, or papers specifically written for the tenth issue of aspeers by 23 October 2016. If you are seeking to publish work beyond this topic, please refer to our general Call for Papers. Please consult our submission guidelines and find some additional tips at www.aspeers.com/2017.

Contact Info:
aspeers: emerging voices in american studies
ISSN: 1865-8768
American Studies Leipzig
Beethovenstr. 15
04107 Leipzig, Germany
Contact Email:
info@aspeers.com
URL:
http://www.aspeers.com/2017

CFP Essays on Canadian Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror (1/1/2017)

Wendigo, anyone?

CfP: Bridging the Solitudes: Essays on Canadian Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-bridging-the-solitudes-essays-on-canadian-science-fiction-fantasy-horror/

Posted on June 24, 2016

 

Call for Proposals
Bridging the Solitudes: Essays on Canadian Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
Ed. Amy J. Ransom (Central Michigan University)
&
Dominick Grace (Brescia University)

This call is to solicit chapter proposals for an edited volume of scholarly essays on Canadian science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. A book proposal, including accepted abstracts, will be submitted to the Palgrave/Macmillan series on Studies in Global Science Fiction (series editors Anindita Banerjee, Rachel Haywood Ferreira, and Mark Bould).

Submit chapter proposals by January 1, 2017

• 500 Word abstract
• Working bibliography
• Brief author bio
• e-mail to: ranso1aj@cmich.edu AND dgrace2@uwo.ca

Completed chapters for accepted manuscripts due by September 1, 2017

Project description

Canadian science-fiction, fantasy, and horror literatures imagine the nation—indeed, the world–as other, different than it is in the here and now. One of the recurring dissatisfactions about Canada concerns two central metaphors that have been used to define the Canadian nation: the lack of communication between French- and English-Canadians as constructing The Two Solitudes described in Hugh MacLennan’s 1945 novel, and the problem of envisioning a multicultural Canada as a mosaic. The nation’s genre literatures in French and English have engaged with these issues from their very beginnings in the nineteenth-century through the present day. Indeed, when Judith Merril decided to edit a volume of Canadian speculative fiction (published in English but including French-Canadian writers), she founded the Tesseracts series of anthologies, whose title references not only the four-dimensional image of a cube, but which also includes the Greek tessera, an individual tile in a mosaic.

Since the publication of that foundational text, Canadian speculative fiction in both French and English has expanded exponentially. From its controversial relationship with the nation’s best-known author (in any genre), Margaret Atwood, to outspoken proponents like Robert J. Sawyer, to fierce defenders of the French presence in Canada like Élisabeth Vonarburg, to the rise of Québec’s equivalent of Stephen King, Patrick Senécal, in its maturity Canadian speculative fiction spans the entire gamut of genres and subgenres, literary styles, and so on. Although divisions certainly exist, writers and scholars of Canadian speculative fiction have frequently worked to bridge the two solitudes in their works and activities, publishing translations, attending each other’s cons, and so on. This task has become increasingly complex as the genre has also expanded its definitions and evolved to embrace more fully the national policy of multiculturalism and the global realities of cultural exchange. Thus, the success of writers like Nalo Hopkinson, Hiromi Goto, Larisa Lai, Stanley Péan, and others hailing from a wide array of cultural communities who practice forms of genre writing that may sometimes appear alien themselves to old guard readers have challenged and expanded the idea of the fantastic, making the term “speculative” fiction more appropriate than ever. Furthermore, a growing number of First Nations writers, filmmakers, graphic artists, and game designers like Eden Robinson, Tomson Highway, and Jeff Barnaby have put Indigenous Futurisms on the generic map.
The editors seek proposals for chapters on an array of topics linked to the production of sf, fantasy, and horror in an array of media by Canadian writers, filmmakers, and artists. Although essays must be in English, we are actively seeking contributions that address the work of French-language, First Nations, and diasporic writers. Ideally, chapters will somehow address the metaphor of the bridge, connecting with the utopian desire to reach out to the other or conversely, the dystopian burning of such bridges, understanding that Thomas More’s original utopia was “perfect” because isolated from corrupting influences, and, of course, in the end, was far from perfect. Chapters may address the work of a single author or engage a problem found in the work of several writers; single-text studies will need to be particularly rigorous or open out onto wider applications in order to be considered.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

• Themes related to the volume concept, such as:
• Bridge as metaphor/motif in Can SF & F
• Trans/Canada: the queering of Canadian SF
• Border crossings, in texts/by authors (US-born writers who have become Canadian)
• Regionalisms beyond Quebec/TROC divide

Significant authors, such as:

• Margaret Atwood (proposals must address the volume’s aims directly)
• Robert J. Sawyer
• Robert Charles Wilson
• Peter Watts
• William Gibson (particularly the Bridge trilogy; proposals must address the “Canadian”)
• Candas Jane Dorsey
• Nalo Hopkinson
• Eden Robinson
• Élisabeth Vonarburg
• Esther Rochon
• Sylvie Bérard
• Jean-Louis Trudel
• Yves Meynard 
• Joël Champetier
• Patrick Senécal 
• Éric Gauthier
• Stanley Péan

Genres or theory specific to Canada, including:

• Genre hybridity/ mash-up
• What is Canadian speculative fiction?
• Transmedia texts
• Canadian comics and the fantastic

CFP Kaiju and Pop Culture Anthology (expired)

Kaiju and Pop Culture Anthology

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-kaiju-and-pop-culture-anthology/

deadline for submissions:

July 1, 2016

full name / name of organization:

Camille D. G. Mustachio

contact email:

kaijupopculture@gmail.com

Kaiju is a familiar trope in film and television that places giant monsters in direct conflict with fellow monsters and/or everyday citizens. While a larger-than-life creature that attacks Tokyo is likely the most familiar form of kaiju, additional iterations include apes, dragons, dinosaurs, and even robots.  Kaiju as a genre has evolved along with cinema; technical developments no longer require men stomping around in rubber costumes as CGI enables bigger and more frightening monsters to haunt our screens. With a timeless kitsch quality, kaiju is solidly placed within our collective pop culture psyche. We seek to create an anthology of original essays that explores technical, thematic, mythological, cultural, and historical aspects of various kaiju. This volume is under contract with McFarland Press with a 2017 anticipated release date.

 Some potential topics may include:

• individual monsters including but not limited to Godzilla, Mothra, and Daimajin
• folklore
• regional kaiju
• parody
• fandom
• cosplay
• merchandise
• translation
• adaptation from page to screen
• American pop culture endurance
• nostalgia
• development of film, television, comics, and gaming

Send abstracts of 200 words to kaijupopculture@gmail.com no later than Friday, July 1, 2016. Final articles of 5,000-6,000 words are to be MLA formatted (8th edition) with American English styles and spellings. Refrain from using images from Toho films.

CfP Nordic Perspectives on Monsters and the Monstrous (9/1/2016)

MONSTROUS ENCOUNTERS – NORDIC PERSPECTIVES ON MONSTERS AND THE MONSTROUS

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-monstrous-encounters-nordic-perspectives-on-monsters-and-the-monstrous/

The Monster Network has a hand and a claw in this upcoming special issue of Women, Gender and Research that sets out to explore Nordic Monster Studies and the concept of the Nordic within international Monster Studies. The issue welcomes articles as well as artistic contributions.
Deadline for abstracts is 1st of September 2016.
Download PDF here.

Call for articles
Special issue of Women, Gender & Research:
Monstrous Encounters:
Nordic Perspectives on Monsters and the Monstrous

“Monsters do a great deal of cultural work, but they do not do it nicely. They not only challenge and question; they trouble, they worry, they haunt. They break and tear and rend cultures, all the while constructing them and propping them up. They swallow up our cultural more and expectations, and then, becoming what they eat, they reflect back to us our own faces …” (2013: 1). These are the first words of art historian Asa Mittman’s introduction to The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous. The introduction presents the field of ‘Monster Studies’, which has been developing across academic disciplines since the 1990s, illustrating the productive force of monsters and the monstrous as analytical tools, norm critical notions, and destructive/creative practices. Fittingly, then, not all monster studies come from Monster Studies, and monsters can be encountered in a wide variety of contexts and a multitude of topics.

With the special issue ‘Monstrous Encounters: Nordic Perspectives on Monsters and the Monstrous’, we wish to put a focus on and explore both research and artistic practices related to the subject of monsters and the monstrous within a Nordic context. This means that we welcome both monster studies work from within the Nordic countries, and work that explores the monstrous in a Nordic context. With the recent establishment of a Nordic based Monster Network and an increased attention to the critical and creative potential of monsters and the monstrous within academic and artistic settings (whether based in Nordic countries or related to Nordic issues), the time seems right to invite to a special issue that engages with this Nordic development.

At the same time, we also invite our contributors to question what ‘Nordic’ may mean. Indeed, this issue does not operate with a set understanding of ‘Nordic culture’, ‘Nordic identity’ or similar, but asks contributors to challenge and question, trouble and worry, break and tear at the imaginaries of such constructs. In other words, and regardless of the subject of your contribution, we invite you to do monstrous work that is not nice, but critical and challenging in its exploration of what kind of cultural work the figure of the monster can do. As such, we invite contributions that explore new ways of imagining the world and its inhabitants in a time where there seem to be a need for such reconfigurations. What does the monster reflect back to us in times like these, where borders are closing; xenophobia and racism abound in the wake of the so-called refugee crisis; capitalism stands practically unchallenged, even after the financial crisis; public sectors are experiencing severe cuts; climate change causes natural disasters; individuals and nation states worry about ageing populations, etc. Further still: Who are ‘we’ to begin with? And who, then, are ‘they’?

All monsters are boundary-pushing hybrids and ‘Monstrous Encounters: Nordic Perspectives on Monsters and the Monstrous’ is no exception. We therefore invite both non-traditional (such as essays and creative writing) and traditional scholarly work, as well as artistic contributions such as fiction, poetry and art.

Possible themes for contributions (these are only suggestions):

• The monstrous and gender studies/feminist theory
• Ethics of monsters
• Queer monsters
• Monstrous sexualities
• The monstrous and postcolonial studies/critical race theory
• Disability and the monster/monstrous
• Ageing and the monstrous
• The monster in art and popular culture
• Monstrous technologies (digital technologies, biotechnology, etc.)
• Medical monsters
• Monstrous embodiment
• Hauntology and spectrality
• The monster and the environment/climate change/eco-theory
• Animals and the monstrous
• Posthumanist theory
• Monsters of science fiction, horror, fantasy and speculative fiction

Editors of the special issue:
Morten Hillgaard Bülow, Ph.D, Co-ordination for Gender Research/Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Erika Johanna Kvistad, Ph.D, senior lecturer, University of Oslo, Norway.
Line Henriksen, Ph.D, founding member of the Monster Network.

Deadline for abstracts (max 200 words + 50 word bio): 1st of September 2016
Deadline for article/other contributions: 15th of March 2017

All contributions must be in English and should be submitted to: redsek [at] soc [dot] ku [dot] dk
Guidelines for submissions.

Conference Gothic Traditions and Departures (Mexico 7/18-21/2017)

Gothic Traditions and Departures

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-gothic-traditions-and-departures-universidad-de-las-americas-puebla-udlap-cholula-mexico/

Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Cholula, Mexico

18 – 21 July 2017


Where does Gothic begin and where does it end? Can we recognise a Gothic tradition or has Gothic always stood at the margins of the critical tradition? Over the past decades, we have witnessed a rekindled awareness of the popularity of Gothic in literature, media, and culture. Gothic has also become widely acknowledged around the world, and there are currently many studies dedicated to understand what it means in other regions, traditions, and cultures. On the other hand, the critical tradition has condemned Gothic for its excessive, formulaic, and immature plots and motifs, thus leaving it at the margins of more well-regarded works. The reconsidered significance of Gothic today prompts to think of it as an established tradition, but does it still offer points of departure through what Fred Botting refers to as its ‘negative aesthetics’ (2014)? More importantly, as we look again at the popularity of Gothic to address and understand both global and regional supernatural narratives, events, and experiences, it is also relevant to inquire about the influence of local traditional folklore and legends in the development and current understanding of Gothic. At the same time, this provides us with an opportunity to consider the relevance and presence of Gothic in contemporary debates on literature, art, and popular culture.



We seek to explore how Gothic today may be considered a tradition or a departure from tradition, as well as how it has been inspired by local traditions, legends, or true stories. We seek to address how we look at past Gothic in comparison with contemporary Gothic, that is, where Gothic is now and what Gothic is for today. This exploration is not limited to the literary Gothic, but also seeks to keep on addressing Gothic manifestations across arts, media, and popular culture.



Thus, we seek to make the following inquiries: Do we understand Gothic as a tradition or as a departure from tradition? What is the relationship between Gothic, folklore, and traditional myths and legends? What is the current state of Gothic? What is happening with Gothic now? Why is Gothic still relevant today? How do we understand local and regional Gothic manifestations when we compare them with global Gothic? Is Goth culture a tradition too? Does Gothic in media, other arts, and popular culture depart from its literary tradition?



Topics could include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Gothic origins
• The Gothic as tradition
• The Gothic as a departure from tradition
• Gothic crossovers
• Gothic departures and journeys
• Gothic divergences
• Gothic digressions and deviations
• Gothic in popular culture
• Gothic and folklore
• Gothic and traditional legends
• Gothic and urban legends
• True histories of the Gothic
• Goth culture and traditions
• Goth culture as tradition
• Global Gothic vs local Gothic
• Gothic now vs Gothic then
• Post-Millennial Gothic
• 20th Century Gothic
• Victorian Gothic
• Romanticism and the Gothic
• Pre-Gothic traditions
• Gothic and the media (old and new)
• Digital Gothic
• Gothic and the arts
• Performance Gothic
• Gothic Studies: past, present, and future

We welcome abstract proposals of no more than 300 words, along with a 50 word bio-note, for 20 minute papers. Please include your contact e-mail and affiliation. Abstracts may be submitted to igamexico2017@gmail.com. The submission deadline is December 16, 2016. We also welcome submissions for panels (consisting of three papers) that address specific topics.



Accepted proposals will be notified in early January 2017.

https://igamexico2017.wordpress.com/acerca-de/

Update 8/12/2016

Wow! It has been a long time since I posted here.

I have been reading, watching, and thinking about monsters, but life intervenes from blogging.

Tonight I have a series of CFPs from the Fantastic in the Arts site (http://www.fantastic-arts.org/). It is a great resource and not as overwhelming as more general CFP sites. 

Michael A Torregrossa
Fantastic Area Chair

CFP Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable (4/30/2016)

One final call for the night:

Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable -- Edited Collection
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/61594
full name / name of organization:
Lisa Wenger Bro / Middle Georgia State University
contact email: lisa.bro@mga.edu

Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable: The Cultural Links between the Human and Inhuman

This proposed collection will explore the cultural implications of and the societal fears and desires associated with the literal monsters of fiction, television, and movies. Long tied to ideas of the Other, the inhuman have represented societal fears for centuries. While this depiction of inhuman as Other still persists today, postmodern times also saw a radical shift in the portrayals and long-held associations. The postmodern monster is by no means soft and cuddly; nevertheless, its depiction has evolved. Veering from the traditional, “us vs. them” dynamic, many contemporary works illustrate what posthuman theorists refer to as the “them” in “us” correlation. These new monsters, often found in urban fantasy, eradicate the stark separation between human and inhuman as audiences search for the similarities between themselves and their much beloved monster characters. The shifted portrayal also means that these select, postmodern monsters no longer highlight cultural fears, but rather cultural hopes, dreams, desires, and even humanity’s own inhumanity. This does not mean that the pure monsters of horror are eradicated in contemporary renderings. Instead, they too have evolved over the course of the 20th and 21st century, highlighting everything from socioeconomic anxieties to issues related to humanity and human nature.

Given the many and varied implications of the inhuman in media and their long and diverse history, this volume will examine the cultural connotations of the monstrous, focusing specifically on the monsters of modernism and postmodernism.

In particular, we are looking to fill in certain gaps, and welcome articles related to the following monsters:

• Ghosts
• Leviathons/behemoths—anything from Mothra to Dragons
• Science Fiction related monsters such as artificial intelligence and cyborgs

The proposal for this collection is in progress, and will be submitted once selections are made.

Please email the following to Lisa Wenger Bro (lisa.bro@mga.edu) by Thursday, April 30:

• a 300-350 word abstract
• a brief biography
• the estimated length of the full article
• the number of illustrations, if any, you will use (note, it will be up to individual authors to secure rights to images)

Full articles will be due by June 30. All accepted articles will be peer-reviewed.

By web submission at 03/31/2015 - 16:41

CFP Monsters and Monstrosity in 21st-Century Film and Television (5/1/2016)

Monsters and Monstrosity in 21st-Century Film and Television (1 May 2016)
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/65973

full name / name of organization:
Cristina Artenie and Ashley Szanter
contact email:
ashleyszanter1@weber.edu

Monsters and Monstrosity in 21st-Century Film and Television

Editors
Cristina Artenie (Universitas Press) and Ashley Szanter (Weber State University)

Starting from the premise that monsters/monstrosity allow for the (dis)placement of anxieties that contemporary social mores do not otherwise sanction in the public space, editors Artenie and Szanter seek original essays for an edited collection on manifestations of monsters and monstrosity in all facets of popular culture and entertainment with an emphasis on film and television. Within the last years, there has been an explosion of movies and television shows that incorporate monstrous characters such as the vampire, zombie, werewolf, revenant, witches, and ghosts. While monsters continue to remain strong in the human conscious, the recent proliferation of monstrous characters includes new and innovative interpretations that not only attract mainstream audiences but transform traditional folklore and mythologies. This collection aims to analyze the new forms taken by monsters in film and television for their cultural impact on modern entertainment and popular culture.

Chapters in the proposed collection can focus on one or more of the following categories:

• Modern monsters in television and film, particularly new monster media like iZombie, The Originals, The Vampire Diaries, Penny Dreadful, NBC’s Dracula, Teen Wolf, The Walking Dead, Les Revenants, Sleepy Hollow, Doctor Who, Warm Bodies, The Wolfman (2010), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Krampus, Victor Frankenstein, and many others
• Modern monster theory as an important element of pop cultural study and relevance in an era of growing monster imagery and narrative
• Address canon or contemporary monster fictions through a particular scholarly lens
• Address monster studies and intersectionality. Of particular interest to the editors are popular depictions of monstrosity and disability, non-binary gender and sexuality, feminism, and non-traditional/deconstructed families within a broad identity politics frame.
• Discussions of fandom theory as it relates to monster films with worldwide success (i.e. The Twilight Saga).

Preference will be given to abstracts received before May 1, 2016 and should be no longer than 300 words. Please also include a brief biographical statement and a CV.

Final manuscripts (no longer than 15,000 words, including Works Cited) should be submitted in MLA style, by July 15, 2016.

Send inquires and abstracts to: ashleyszanter1@weber.edu

By web submission at 01/25/2016 - 03:26

CFP Disabled Gothic Bodies (Spec Issue of Studies in Gothic Fiction) (5/30/2016)

Happily came across the following by accident last week:

Call for Papers: Studies in Gothic Fiction Special Issue – Disabled Gothic Bodies
http://studiesingothicfiction.weebly.com/call-for-papers.html

Guest Editor: Dr. Alan Gregory

The Gothic is a mode that displays a sustained cultural fascination with the disabled body. As David Punter notes, ‘the history of ... dealings with the disabled body runs throughout the history of the Gothic, a history of invasion and resistance, of the enemy within, of bodies torn and tormented or else rendered miraculously, or sometimes catastrophically, whole’ (2000: 40). Despite the Gothic’s prolonged exploration of corporeal deviations from perceived cultural norms, however, Martha Stoddard Holmes suggests that the scholastic intersections between Disability Studies and Gothic Studies have been largely neglected. Proposals are invited for a special issue of Studies in Gothic Fiction concerned with Gothic representations of the physically disabled body. This issue of the journal will make a valuable contribution in addressing the lack of sustained critical explorations of physical disability as a motif in Gothic fiction, film and television. It will also examine how the Gothic’s uncomfortable conflation of disability and monstrosity creates binary oppositions between spectacles and seclusions of physical difference, and the creation and cure of corporeal disability. In order to diversify from Ruth Bienstock Anolik’s edited collection, Demons of the Body and Mind (2010), the scope of the issue will not extend to Gothic representations of psychological and intellectual disabilities. Topics which may be explored by contributors could include, but are not limited to:

• Amputation
• Birth Defects
• Body Horror Coded as Disability
• Celebrations of Physical Difference
• Conjoined Siblings
• Disabilities as Exceptionalities
• (Dis)Empowerments of the Disabled Body
• Entraordinary Bodies
• (Im)Mobility
• Monstrous Bodies
• Phantom Limbs
• Prostheses
• Ritual Disfigurement
• Scientific/Technological Creations/Cures of Disability
• Spectacular Bodies
• The Wounded Storyteller

Proposals of approximately 500 words, complete with a 50 word bionote, should be submitted to Dr. Alan Gregory at a.gregory5@lancaster.ac.uk by Monday 30th May 2016. Contributors can expect to be selected and notified by Friday 17th June 2016. (Full drafts of the selected articles will be due on Friday 4th November 2016).

CFP Journal of Dracula Studies for 2016

Journal of Dracula Studies Call for Papers
http://kutztownenglish.com/journal-of-dracula-studies-call-for-papers/

We invite manuscripts of scholarly articles (4000-6000 words) on any of the following: Bram Stoker, the novel Dracula, the historical Dracula, the vampire in folklore, fiction, film, popular culture, and related topics.

Submissions should be sent electronically (as an e-mail attachment in .doc or .rtf). Please indicate the title of your submission in the subject line of your e-mail. Send electronic submissions to journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu.

Please follow the 2009 updated MLA style. Contributors are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions and ensuring observance of copyright. Manuscripts will be peer-reviewed independently by at least two scholars in the field. Copyright for published articles remains with the author.

Submissions must be received no later than May 1, 2016, in order to be considered for the 2016 issue.

Contact: Dr. Curt Herr or Dr. Anne DeLong

Baer's Golem Redux

An interesting and informative book of relevance to our endeavors:

The Golem Redux: From Prague to Post-Holocaust Fiction
Elizabeth R. Baer
Published by: Wayne State University Press
http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/golem-redux

Subjects: Cultural Studies, Folklore, Jewish Studies, Literary Criticism and Theory, Popular Culture

PAPERBACK
Published: April 2012
ISBN: 9780814336267
Pages: 240
Size: 6x9
Illustrations: 12
$27.95

EBOOK
Published: April 2012
ISBN: 9780814336274


First mentioned in the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible, the golem is a character in an astonishing number of post-Holocaust Jewish-American novels and has served as inspiration for such varied figures as Mary Shelley’s monster in her novel Frankenstein, a frightening character in the television series The X-Files, and comic book figures such as Superman and the Hulk. In The Golem Redux: From Prague to Post-Holocaust Fiction, author Elizabeth R. Baer introduces readers to these varied representations of the golem and traces the history of the golem legend across modern pre- and post-Holocaust culture. In five chapters, The Golem Redux examines the different purposes for which the golem has been used in literature and what makes the golem the ultimate text and intertext for modern Jewish writers.
Baer begins by introducing several early manifestations of the golem legend, including texts from the third and fourth centuries and from the medieval period; Prague’s golem legend, which is attributed to the Maharal, Rabbi Judah Loew; the history of the Josefov, the Jewish ghetto in Prague, the site of the golem legend; and versions of the legend by Yudl Rosenberg and Chayim Bloch, which informed and influenced modern intertexts. In the chapters that follow, Baer traces the golem first in pre-Holocaust Austrian and German literature and film and later in post-Holocaust American literature and popular culture, arguing that the golem has been deployed very differently in these two contexts. Where prewar German and Austrian contexts used the golem as a signifier of Jewish otherness to underscore growing anti-Semitic cultural feelings, post-Holocaust American texts use the golem to depict the historical tragedy of the Holocaust and to imagine alternatives to it. In this section, Baer explores traditional retellings by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elie Wiesel, the considerable legacy of the golem in comics, Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and, finally, "Golems to the Rescue" in twentieth- and twenty-first-century works of film and literature, including those by Cynthia Ozick, Thane Rosenbaum, and Daniel Handler.
By placing the Holocaust at the center of her discussion, Baer illustrates how the golem works as a self-conscious intertextual character who affirms the value of imagination and story in Jewish tradition. Students and teachers of Jewish literature and cultural history, film studies, and graphic novels will appreciate Baer’s pioneering and thought-provoking volume.


Elizabeth R. Baer is professor of English and genocide studies at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. She is co-editor with Hester Baer of The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp for Women (Wayne State University Press, 2000) and co-editor with Myrna Goldenberg of Experience and Expression: Women, the Nazis, and the Holocaust (Wayne State University Press, 2003). She is also editor of Shadows on My Heart: The Civil War Diary of Lucy Buck of Virginia, a finalist for the Lincoln Prize in 1997.

World War Wendigo!

Marvel Comics recently offered a version of the Wendigo apocalypse in the recent "World War Wendigo" arc of Amazing X-Men (nos. 8-12) by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost. The story pits the X-Men and the classic Alpha Flight against the seemingly unstoppable spread of the curse of the Wendigo across Canada. It also links the Wendigo curse to the Great Beasts, personifications of Canada in the Marvel Universe (details at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo_(comics)).

Parts of the story are a bit gruesome, but it is sure to appeal to fans of Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men and John Bryne's Alpha Flight series of the 1980s.

The arc is collected in Amazing X-Men: World War Wendigo (978-0-7851-8822-3).More details on Marvel's Wendigo can be found on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo_(comics).

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 Preternatural Environments: Dreamscapes, Alternate Realities, Landscapes of Dread (proposals by 3/1/2016)

Preternatural Environments: Dreamscapes, Alternate Realities, Landscapes of Dread
Announcement published by Richard Raiswell on Thursday, August 27, 2015
https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/80115/preternatural-environments-dreamscapes-alternate-realities

Type: Call for Publications
Date: March 1, 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island, Canada
Subject Fields: Anthropology, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Cultural History / Studies, Environmental History / Studies, Geography

Preternatural Environments: Dreamscapes, Alternate Realities, Landscapes of Dread

CFP for special issue of Preternature (issue 6.1)

Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2016

This special issue of Preternature seeks papers that examine elements and/or depictions of the preternatural in all sorts of environments. Scholars are increasingly drawing attention to the importance of spaces and their contexts, the stories we tell about them, and our interactions with them. This volume focuses on preternatural aspects of natural and unnatural environments such as dreamscapes, alternate worlds, and eerie landscapes.

Papers should investigate the connections between preternatural environments and literary, historical, anthropological, and artistic forms of understanding. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

• Defining the “preternatural environment” / preternatural aspects of an environment.
• Superstition and spaces.
• Demonic domains.
• Artistic representations of preternatural environments across the ages.
• Aspects of the uncanny in various physical settings.
• The pathetic fallacy and narrative theory.
• “Unnatural” landscapes and environments.
• Bridging natural and preternatural spaces.
• Preternatural ecology and ecocriticism.
• Connections between material environments, literary narratives, and the preternatural.
• Eerie landscapes as characters or significant presences in literature, history, and culture.
• How preternatural environments inform human behaviour, or how behaviour informs preternatural environments.

Preternature welcomes a variety of approaches, including narrative theory, ecocriticism, and behavioral studies from any cultural, literary, artistic, or historical tradition and from any time period. We particularly encourage submissions dealing with non-Western contexts.

Contributions should be 8,000 - 12,000 words, including all documentation and critical apparatus. For more information, see http://www.psupress.org/journals/jnls_submis_Preternature.html

or submit directly at https://www.editorialmanager.com/preternature/default.aspx.

(First-time users: click on “Register” in the menu at upper left.)

Preternature is published twice annually by the Pennsylvania State Press and is available through JSTOR and Project Muse. This periodical is also indexed in the ATLA Religion Database® (ATLA RDB®), www: http://www.atla.com.

Contact Info:
Richard Raiswell

Editor, Preternature

Contact Email:
rraiswell@upei.ca
URL: http://www.editorialmanager.com/preternature/default.aspx

CFP Horror and Fashion (proposals by 10/31/2015)

An intriguing idea for a collection:

CFP: Horror and fashion
Announcement published by Gudrun Whitehead on Monday, August 31, 2015

Type: Call for Papers
Date: August 28, 2015 to October 31, 2015
Subject Fields: Cultural History / Studies, Film and Film History, Literature, Popular Culture Studies, Women's & Gender History / Studies

This is a call for proposals for chapters to comprise a potential new publication, which has had strong interest from Bloomsbury. Editors of this volume are Dr. Julia Petrov, Alberta College of Art and Design, Canada and me, Dr. Gudrun D. Whitehead, University of Iceland.

Overview
Recently, academic attention has turned to exploring the links between popular culture and dress. Thematic approaches to sub-cultural dress have included Gothic: Dark Glamour (Steele and Park 2008), Punk: Chaos to Couture (Bolton et al 2013). The role of media in fashion dissemination and reception has been discussed in Fashion in Film (Munich 2011) and Fashion in Popular Culture (Hancock et al 2013). Furthermore, scholars have recently noted fashion’s obsession with subversion (Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty; Bolton et al 2011), as well as the dark side of fashion production and consumption (Fashion Victims; Matthews David 2015).

At the same time, horror has gained a wider audience than ever before, moving from sub-culture into mainstream culture. No longer content with lurking in the shadows, vampires, zombies, ghouls, murderers, and mythical creatures can now be found on the big screen and in bestselling books, mesmerizing audiences in old roles and new. Previously securely identified through mannerisms and dress, monsters and villains are now fully integrated into society, attending high-school, going to work and dressing according to the latest fashion, rather than the clothes they perished in. This is evident from teen horror going mainstream such as the Twilight book and film series, but also from multiple current TV shows, such as Z nation, iZombie, the Walking Dead, and more. Cult TV program The X-files is returning to the small screen and Bruce Campbell will sport his Evil Dead chainsaw once again, this time as a major television program, rather than in a film. These are only a few examples from many, demonstrating the recent surge in the horror genre, both as mainstream and independent productions. The proposed volume seeks to explore these recent trends in horror through one of their basic components, costume design.

To date, apart from a few articles and book chapters (e.g.: Tseelon 1998, Nakahara 2009), there has been no thorough investigation of fashion and horror. This edited volume, therefore, proposes to explore the links between the horror genre and dress in all its forms, from costume to fashionable clothing. Disciplinary approaches may include fashion studies, media studies, film, literature, folklore, costume design, sociology, popular culture studies, gender studies, material culture studies and others. The editors seek contributions from scholars at a wide variety of institutions from around the globe on topics such as:

1. Fashion in horror:
Dress is an important element for developing narrative and characterization in both literary and film horror. Within this theme, chapters could explore:

• Costumes as expression of plot 
• Costumes and character archetypes
• Costumes and villains: instant recognition of horror film-series villains from costume designs
• Costumes identifying sub-genres 
• Costume style and production companies (such as Hammer Horror)
• How can costumes act as an emotional stimulus for audiences? 
• Gender and horror: costume differences between male and female characters in horror
• Collecting horror film costume
• Horror cosplay
• From burial-dress to prom-dress: History of horror through costume design.

2. Horror in fashion:
As fashion exists in a world of popular culture references, this theme seeks to explore the mutually-referential relationship between high-street/high-fashion designs and horror. Chapters might address:

• Designer clothing that references horror films or literature
• The influence of horror films on fashion
• How is horror communicated in fashion? 
• How fashion has expanded horror? Has it given the horror movie genre a new set of references or a new audience?

What the proposal should include:
300-400 word chapter summary of no more than 8,000 words (including notes and references), including a chapter title and keywords, information on central argument/research question, a summary of main points, theoretical approach, and relevant sources.
Contact information, institutional affiliation, and biographies for authors and co-authors (please note corresponding author for collaborative chapters).

Deadlines:
Please submit proposals to Dr. Petrov and Dr. Whitehead at CostumedHorror@gmail.com, no later than on Halloween, 31 October 2015.

Authors will be informed about acceptance or rejection of their proposals no later than 30 November 2015. The entire book proposal will then be sent to Bloomsbury for a thorough review by international scholars. Contributing authors will receive a contract once the proposal has been successfully peer reviewed and accepted at the publisher’s board meeting. Authors will then be sent article guidelines, and full chapters should be submitted for review and subsequent revision. The entire book manuscript will then be submitted to Bloomsbury where it will go through the publisher’s own manuscript peer review. It is anticipated that the volume will be published in late 2016, or early 2017.
Contact Info:
For further information please feel free to contact me, Gudrun D. Whitehead or Julia Petrov.  The contact email is: CostumedHorror@gmail.com

Contact Email:
CostumedHorror@gmail.com

CFP Race, Gender, and Sexuality in The Walking Dead (1/11/2016)

CFP, Collection of Essays on Race, Gender, and Sexuality in The Walking Dead, abstracts due Jan. 11, 2016
Discussion published by Dawn Keetley on Saturday, August 29, 2015
https://networks.h-net.org/node/13784/discussions/80322/cfp-collection-essays-race-gender-and-sexuality-walking-dead

RACE, GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN THE WALKING DEAD FRANCHISE

The Walking Dead franchise has become a popular culture juggernaut that shows no signs of slowing down. Yet, despite its soaring popularity, there has been a longstanding critique that the franchise, in both its comic book and television incarnations, advocates an explicitly patriarchal and predominantly white world order. Zombie narratives have shown themselves to be uniquely qualified to deconstruct the many illusions (and injustices) of our social order, so why have so many felt that The Walking Dead has only hardened the conventional boundaries of race, gender, and sexuality? Nonetheless, in all its forms, The Walking Dead is an evolving narrative—and many would argue that, specifically in its representations of what women and men of all races may become, the franchise is working toward more utopian possibilities.

All four of the collections of essays on The Walking Dead—James Lowder’s Triumph of the Walking Dead (2011), Wayne Yeun’s The Walking Dead and Philosophy (2012), Dawn Keetley’s “We’re All Infected”: Essays on AMC’s The Walking Dead and the Fate of the Human (2014), and Travis Langley’s The Walking Dead Psychology (2015)—cover a wide swathe of topics, and take up gender, sexuality, and race only fleetingly. We think it’s time for a collection addressed squarely at these issues, so crucial to the franchise’s vision of a post-apocalyptic world.

To that end, we are currently accepting chapter proposals for an edited volume exploring the interlinked representations of gender, sexuality, and race in all The Walking Dead franchises. This edited volume will explore the many ways in which all three crucial identity categories are constructed/deconstructed on television and in the comic book series. Because our intention is to present a highly diverse collection, we are interested in chapters exploring all facets of race, gender, and sexuality related to the television shows and comic books, as well as in tie-ins and connected materials (e.g. the AMC webisodes, Walking Dead Specials, etc.).


Possible topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• The relationship between undeadness and race/gender politics in The Walking Dead
• The role a dystopian, post-apocalyptic environment plays in shaping gender and race construction in The Walking Dead
• How race, gender, and sexuality intersect in The Walking Dead
• Queer visibility and gender in in The Walking Dead
• How The Walking Dead reflects/challenges the traditional depiction of gender and race in its predecessor zombie narratives
• How either the comics or the TV series has evolved in its representations of women, men, and people of color
• How fan conversation on the internet (on blogs, for instance) has critiqued and potentially shaped the ways race, gender, and sexuality are depicted in the franchise.

Please submit a 500 word abstract and short biography to Dawn Keetley (dek7@lehigh.edu) and Elizabeth Erwin (eerwin@lccc.edu) by January 11, 2016. We anticipate a tentative due date of August 1, 2016, for full essays. We will be more than happy to respond to any and all queries in the meantime.