CFP Otherness: Essays and Studies 7.3 (9/1/2019)

Otherness: Essays and Studies 7.3 (General Issue)

deadline for submissions: September 1, 2019
full name / name of organization: Centre for Studies in Otherness
contact email: otherness.research@gmail.com

The peer-reviewed e-journal Otherness: Essays and Studies is now accepting submissions for its next general issue, 7.3, forthcoming Winter 2019.

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

“To approach the Other in conversation is to welcome his expression, in which at each instant he overflows the idea a thought would carry away from it. It is therefore to receive from the Other beyond the capacity of the I, which means exactly: to have the idea of infinity. But it also means: to be taught.”
― Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority

Otherness is complex and multivalent term. Otherness is defined by difference, both via outside markers and internal characteristics. Otherness is also a means by which we define ourselves.  Thus the concept is inevitably bound with conceptions of selfhood, making it fundamental for discussions of subjectivity, social, cultural and national identity, and larger discussions of ontology. In light of more recent theory and criticism, the assumed line between the self and the other, the defining boundary of identity construction, is blurred, and as such the entire concept of otherness has become intricate and problematic.  It is this concept, otherness, in all of its complexities and nuances that we seek to explore and discuss through Otherness: Essays and Studies.

Past projects from the Centre, and past issues of the journal, have brought together articles from the fields of cultural theory, continental philosophy, sociology, postcolonial studies, psychoanalysis, gender studies, Gothic studies, animal alterity, the performing arts, fandom and celebrity studies, postmodernism and poststructuralist theory, and the consideration of the post-linguistic turn in their consideration of otherness.  This journal invites submissions dealing with aspects of critical, socio-political, cultural, and literary exploration, within the scope of studies in otherness and alterity.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Otherness in Cultural Representation
• The Representation of Otherness in Popular Culture
• Hybridity, Creolization, and the Global Other
• Representations of Otherness in the Global South
• Otherness and the Non-Human Animal
• Ethics, Responsibility, and the Other
• Memory, History, Trauma, and Otherness
• Sexuality, Gender, the Body and the Other
• Absolute Otherness vs. Self-Same Other
• Monstrosity, Spectrality and Terror of the Other
• Uncanny or Abject Others; or The Familiar Other
• The Sublime or the Unimaginable Other
• Otherness and the ‘Post-Racial’
• Political Otherness, Democracy, and the Post-Truth Era
• Nationalism, Multiculturalism, and the Identity of the Other

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

The deadline for submissions is Sunday, September 1, 2019.


Last updated June 19, 2019

CFP: Screening Loss: An Exploration of Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema (9/30/19)

Call for Chapters - Screening Loss: An Exploration of Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/06/17/call-for-chapters-screening-loss-an-exploration-of-grief-in-contemporary-horror

deadline for submissions: September 30, 2019
full name / name of organization: Associate Professor Jan Selving / East Stroudsburg University; Assistant Professor Erica J. Dymond / East Stroudsburg University
contact email: screeninglosssubmissions@gmail.com

Horror films have long held a place in cinematic history as an expression of the monstrous, the un-nameable, and the unknown. They are a powerful point of catharsis in which viewers see their deepest fears played out onscreen, whether the threat is fully embodied or less concretely defined. As a result, grief and loss have always figured heavily in this genre.



This collection addresses horror films’ treatment of loss, specifically grief and how grief shapes, magnifies, and escalates the horrific. Selected films should be from the last twenty years. This contemporary approach will lend the collection a sense of urgency. Moreover, in addition to conventional horror films, we highly support explorations of less frequently examined films that contain a high degree of complexity in content and aesthetics. A24 films are the perfect example of this. Additionally, examinations of genre-defying films such as Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer and David Lowery’s A Ghost Story are especially encouraged.



We value inclusivity and welcome abstracts that focus on international films as well as those who are historically underrepresented.



The book is structured to be a reader for film seminars as well as a tool for research. As a result, each chapter will focus on a single film. And, while the chapters are narrow in this sense, we fully expect that contributors will wish to reference other films and works of art in their essays.



We welcome all theoretical approaches. Likewise, given the interdisciplinary nature of this collection, we invite abstracts from academics not only in film studies, English, and communications, but also psychology and sociology.



Suggestions for films include but are not limited to:



Ari Aster’s Midsommer (2019)

Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer’s Pet Sematary (2019)

Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Robert Eggers’s The VVitch (a.k.a. The Witch) (2015)

Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (2014)

Ari Aster’s Hereditary (2018)

David Lowery’s A Ghost Story (2017)

Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2015)

Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (2014)

Tomas Alfredson’s Låt den Rätte Komma (Let the Right One In) (2008)

J. A. Bayona’s El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (2007)

Lars von Trier’s Antichrist (2009)

Takashi Miike's Ôdishon (Audition) (1999)



Please submit a 500-word chapter abstract and a biography of no more than 250 words by September 30, 2019 to screeninglosssubmissions@gmail.com. All abstracts will be given full consideration. We will notify all applicants of the results by October 31, 2019. If selected, the contributor has until June 30, 2020 to submit her/his/their completed chapters.



The volume is intended for publication through Lexington Books, who has expressed interest in this project. 


Last updated June 19, 2019

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 An “Other” Zombie Project: Decolonizing the Undead (5/31/2019

An “Other” Zombie Project: Decolonizing the Undead

Discussion published by Elif Sendur on Sunday, March 31, 2019

https://networks.h-net.org/node/14467/discussions/3956077/%E2%80%9Cother%E2%80%9D-zombie-project-decolonizing-undead 


An “Other” Zombie Project: Decolonizing the Undead
Edited by Professor Stephen Shapiro, Giulia Champion and Roxanne Douglas

The editors of this project are interested in developing an interdisciplinary edited collection on perspectives of the zombie figure that focus on non-Anglo-Euro-centric works and theories. We are interested in submissions that re-frame the zombie figure in the humanities and social sciences and/or contest previous understandings of the zombie and its history. These re-framings could be articulated with areas of engagement which include, but are not limited to:

· Contemporary Environmental Issues
· Decolonizing Movements, Silenced Pasts and Historical Amnesia
· (Post-)Colonial Debates
· The Global South and Non-Western Works
· (Post-)Feminism
· Social Justice
· Debates on “Popular Culture” and de-hierarchization of arts and culture
· Literature and Visual Studies
· Disability Studies
· Migration
· Pedagogy and Education

300-500 words chapter abstracts, including 5 to 10 keywords, are due by the 31stMay 2019 and full chapter submissions will due November/December 2019.

The following information should accompany any submission:
· Author’s title, name, affiliation and position
· A brief biography (up to 200 words)
· Permissions for any images used
· Copies of any relevant ethics clearances and disclosure of funding
· An acknowledgement that the work has not been previously published and is not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere

Please direct all submissions and enquiries to g.champion@warwick.ac.uk.

NEPCA Monsters Area Update

NEPCA has extended the deadline for submissions of paper proposals to 15 June.

The call for the Monsters and the Monstrous Area can be accessed at the following address: https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/2019/04/cfp-call-for-papers-for-inaugural.html.

Notice of Monsters: An Inclusive Interdisciplinary Conference (Lisbon 8/31-9/1/2019)

Sorry for the delay posting this. Do note the submission deadline has now passed.

Monsters: An Inclusive Interdisciplinary Conference
https://networks.h-net.org/node/14467/discussions/3597375/monsters-inclusive-interdisciplinary-conference
Discussion published by Elif Sendur on Sunday, January 20, 2019



Monsters
An Inclusive Interdisciplinary Conference

Saturday 31st August 2019 - Sunday 1st September 2019
Lisbon, Portugal

This inclusive interdisciplinary conference seeks to investigate and explore the enduring influence and imagery of monsters and the monstrous on human culture throughout history. In particular, the project will have a dual focus with the intention of examining specific ‘monsters’ as well as assessing the role, function and consequences of persons, actions or events identified as ‘monstrous’. The history and contemporary cultural influences of monsters and monstrous metaphors will also be examined with a view to forming a selective publication to engender further collaboration and discussion.

Consistent with its inter-disciplinary ethos, the event proposes to step outside the traditional conference setting and offer opportunities for artists, photographers, practitioners, theorists, independent scholars, academics, performers, writers, and others to intermingle, providing platforms for interdisciplinary interactions that are fruitful and conducive to broadening horizons and sparking future projects, collaborations, and connections.

The organisers welcome proposals for presentations, displays, exhibits, round tables, panels, interactive workshops and other activities to stimulate engagement and discussion on any aspect of the interplay between monsters, monstrosities, and the monstrous, particularly in relation to any of the following themes:

* The “monster” through history
* Civilization, monsters and the monstrous
* Children, childhood, stories and monsters; monsters and parents
* Comedy: funny monsters and/or making fun of monsters (e.g. Monsters Inc, the Addams Family)
* Making monsters; monstrous births
* Mutants and mutations
* Technologies of the monstrous
* Horror, fear and scare
* Do monsters kill because they are monstrous or are they monstrous because they kill?
* How critical to the definition of “monster” is death or the threat of death?
* human ‘monsters’ and ‘monstrous’ acts? e.g, perverts, paedophiles and serial killers
* the monstrous and gender
* Revolution and monsters; the monstrous and politics; enemies (political/social/military) and monsters
* Iconography of the monstrous
* The popularity of the modern monsters; the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, Vampires, Hannibal
* The monster in literature
* the monstrous in popular culture: film, television, theatre, radio, print, internet
*The monstrous and journalism
* Religious depictions of the monstrous; the monstrous and the supernatural
* Metaphors and the monstrous
* the monstrous and war, war reportage / propaganda

Papers will also be accepted which deal solely with specific monsters.

What to Send
The aim of this interdisciplinary conference and collaborative networking event is to bring people together and encourage creative conversations in the context of a variety of formats: papers, seminars, workshops, storytelling, performances, poster presentations, panels, q&a’s, round-tables etc.

300 word proposals, presentations, abstracts and other forms of contribution and participation should be submitted by Friday 8th March 2019. Other forms of participation should be discussed in advance with the Organising Chair.

All submissions will be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Development 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 22nd March 2019.

If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 12th July 2019.

Abstracts and proposals may be in Word, PDF, 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 the programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.

E-mails should be entitled: Monsters Submission.

Early Bird Submission and Discount
Submissions received on or before Friday 8th February 2019 will be eligible for a 10% registration fee discount.

Where to Send
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chair and the Project Administrator:

Dr Cristina Santos: csantos@brocku.ca
Project Administrator: lisbonmonsters@progressiveconnexions.net

What’s so Special About Progressive Connexions Events?
A fresh, friendly, dynamic format – at Progressive Connexions we are dedicated to breaking away from the stuffy, old-fashion conference formats, where endless presentations are read aloud off PowerPoints. We work to bring you an interactive format, where exchange of experience and information is alternated with captivating workshops, engaging debates and round tables, time set aside for getting to know each other and for discussing common future projects and initiatives, all in a warm, relaxed, egalitarian atmosphere.

A chance to network with international professionals – the beauty of our interdisciplinary events is that they bring together professionals from all over the world and from various fields of activity, all joined together by a shared passion. Not only will the exchange of experience, knowledge and stories be extremely valuable in itself, but we seek to create lasting, ever-growing communities around our projects, which will become a valuable resource for those belonging to them.

A chance to be part of constructing change – There is only one thing we love as much as promoting knowledge: promoting real, lasting social change by encouraging our participants to take collective action, under whichever form is most suited to their needs and expertise (policy proposals, measuring instruments, research projects, educational materials, etc.) We will support all such actions in the aftermath of the event as well, providing a platform for further discussions, advice from the experts on our Project Advisory Team and various other tools and intellectual resources, as needed.

An opportunity to discuss things that matter to you – Our events are not only about discussing how things work in the respective field, but also about how people work in that field – what are the struggles, problems and solutions professionals have found in their line of work, what are the areas where better communication among specialists is needed and how the interdisciplinary approach can help bridge those gaps and help provide answers to questions from specific areas of activity.

An unforgettable experience – When participating in a Progressive Connexions event, there is a good chance you will make some long-time friends. Our group sizes are intimate, our venues are comfortable and relaxing and our event locations are suited to the history and culture of the event.

Ethos
Progressive Connexions 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 or proposal for presentation.

Please note: Progressive Connexions is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence, nor can we offer discounts off published rates and fees.

Enquiries: lisbonmonsters@progressiveconnexions.net

Web address: http://www.progressiveconnexions.net/interdisciplinary-projects/evil/mon...

Sponsored by: Progressive Connexions

CFP Call for Papers for the Inaugural Session of the Monsters and the Monstrous Area (6/1/2019; Portsmouth, NH 11/15-16/2019)

Call for Papers for the Inaugural Session of the Monsters and the Monstrous Area

2019 Conference of the Northeast Popular & American Culture Association (NEPCA)

Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth, NH, Friday, 15 November, - Saturday, 16 November

Proposals due by 1 June 2019

The Monsters and the Monstrous Area welcomes proposals that investigate any of the things, whether mundane or marvelous, that scare us. Through our sessions, we hope to pioneer fresh explorations into the darker sides of the intermedia traditions of the fantastic (including, but not restricted to, aspects of fairy tale, fantasy, gothic, horror, legend, mythology, and science fiction) by illuminating how creative artists have both formed and transformed our notions of monsters within these sub-traditions in texts from various countries, time periods, and media and for audiences at all levels. Our primary goal is to foster a better understating of monsters in general and to examine their impact on those that receive their stories as well as on the world at large. However, as a component of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association, the Monsters and the Monstrous Area is also especially interested in celebrating both the New England Gothic tradition and the life, works, and legacy of H. P. Lovecraft, a leading proponent of Weird Fiction and an immense influence on contemporary popular culture.

Please submit paper proposals through NEPCA’s Google form accessible from https://nepca.blog/conference/. Submissions should comprise the presenter’s personal information (including email, full name, home address, telephone, academic affiliation [if one], and scholarly rank [if relevant], and a short bio of 50-200 words) AND paper information (including a working title of no more than 60 characters and proposal/abstract of no more than 250 words). Do be sure to select “Monsters and the Monstrous Area” as your designated Subject Area.

Please address any inquiries about submissions to the area chair, Michael A. Torregrossa, at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com.

The Monsters and the Monstrous Area is affiliated with the Northeast Alliance for Scholarship on the Fantastic, which maintains three websites that might be of interest to potential presenters. They are Northeast Fantastic (https://northeastfantastic.blogspot.com/), Popular Preternaturaliana: Studying the Monstrous in Popular Culture (https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/), and Frankenstein and the Fantastic (https://frankensteinandthefantastic.blogspot.com/).

NEPCA prides itself on holding conferences that emphasize sharing ideas in a non-competitive and supportive environment. We welcome proposals from graduate students, junior faculty, and senior scholars. NEPCA conferences offer intimate and nurturing sessions in which new ideas and works-in-progress can be aired, as well as completed projects. Further details on the organization can be found at their website: https://nepca.blog/.

Journal of Dracula Studies 2019 Submissions (papers by 5/1/2019)

Journal of Dracula Studies
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/01/23/journal-of-dracula-studies

deadline for submissions:
May 1, 2019

full name / name of organization:
Anne DeLong/Transylvanian Society of Dracula

contact email:
journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu



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 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 in order to be considered for that year’s issue.


Last updated January 23, 2019

NecronomiCon Providence 2019

The website is now open for


NECRONOMICON PROVIDENCE
The International Festival of Weird Fiction, Art, and Academia
August 22-25, 2019

Full details at http://necronomicon-providence.com/welcome/.

CFP Of God and Monsters Conference (11/1/2018; Texas State U 4/4-6/2019)

Sorry to have missed posting this sooner:

Of God and Monsters
April 4th – 6th 2019
Texas State University San Marcos, TX

http://www.theofantastique.com/2018/08/30/call-for-papers-of-gods-and-monsters-at-texas-state-university/

Judith Halberstam famously claimed that monsters are “meaning machines” that can be used to represent a variety of ideas, including morality, gender, race, and nationalism (to name only a few). Monsters are always part of the project of making sense of the world and our place in it. As a tool through which human beings create worlds in which to meaningfully dwell, monsters are tightly bound with many other systems of meaning-making like religion, culture, literature, and politics. Of Gods and Monsters will provide focused space to explore the definition of “monster,” the categorization of monsters as a basis of comparison across cultures, and the relationship of monsters to various systems of meaning-making with the goal of understanding how humans have used and continued to use these “meaning machines.”

The Religious Studies program at Texas State University, therefore, welcomes submissions for our upcoming conference on Monsters and Monster Theory. Through this conference, we hope to explore the complex intersections of monsters and meaning making from a variety of theoretical, academic, and intellectual angles. Because “monsters” are a category that appears across time and cultural milieus, this conference will foster conversations between scholars working in very different areas and is not limited in terms of cultural region, historical time, or religious tradition. As part of fostering this dialogue, conference organizers are thrilled to announce that Douglas E. Cowan will serve as this event’s keynote speaker, while archival researcher and cryptid expert Lyle Blackburn will offer a second plenary address. Conference organizers anticipate inviting papers presented at this conference to submit their revised papers for an edited volume.

If interested, please submit an abstract with a maximum of 300-words to TexasStateMonsters@gmail.com by November 1st, 2018. Final decisions on conference participation will be sent out by the first week of December. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact conference organizers Natasha Mikles (n.mikles@txstate.edu) or Joseph Laycock (joseph.laycock@txstate.edu).

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 Stephen King Area (10/1/2018; PCA/ACA Washington DC 4/17-20/2019)

CFP: Stephen King Area (2019 PCA National Conference), Washington D.C.
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-stephen-king-area-2019-pca-national-conference-washington-d-c/
July 24, 2018

Stephen King Area (2019 PCA National Conference)

deadline for submissions:
October 1, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Patrick McAleer/Popular Culture Association

contact email: stephenkingpca@gmail.com



Stephen King Area

2019 PCA/ACA Annual National Conference

Washington D.C.: Wednesday, April 17th-Saturday, April 20th

The co-chairs of the Stephen King Area—Philip Simpson of Eastern Florida State College and Patrick McAleer of Inver Hills Community College—are soliciting papers, presentations, panels and roundtable discussions which cover any aspect of Stephen King’s fiction and film for the Annual National Joint Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference to be held in Washington D.C. from April 17th-April 20th 2019. Papers, presentations, and panels can cover King’s experimentation with medium (e-books, graphic novels, TV series), his more recent fictions, including his Dark Tower series, and anything in between. Indeed, feel free to view past programs of the PCA/ACA conference at www.pcaaca.org to see what has been covered during recent conferences.

To have your proposal/abstract considered for presentation, please submit your proposal/abstract of approximately 250 words through the PCA/ACA Database—http://ncp.pcaaca.org/ — by October 1st, 2018. Here you will submit your paper proposal/abstract and also provide your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information. Responses/decisions regarding your proposals will be provided within two weeks of your submission to ensure timely replies. Of course, should you have any questions specific to the Stephen King Area, please send an e-mail to stephenkingpca@gmail.com and we will be happy to assist you.

Complete panel proposals of 3-4 people are also welcomed, as are proposals for roundtable discussions with two or more featured speakers and a moderator. For more information, visit the PCA/ACA at www.pcaaca.org.

CFP American Ecogothic (9/30/2018; NeMLA 2019)

American Ecogothic, NeMLA
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/29/american-ecogothic-nemla

deadline for submissions: September 30, 2018

full name / name of organization: Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)

contact email: caitlin.duffy@stonybrook.edu


Leslie Fiedler describes American fiction as “bewilderingly and embarrassingly, a gothic fiction… a literature of darkness and the grotesque in a land of light and affirmation” (Love and Death in the American Novel, 29). However, for settlers within the early colonies and citizens of the young republic, the wilderness of the supposed New World not only represented material promise, but also unknown danger. This panel proposes a move away from the more common “land of light and affirmation” reading of American nature towards an ecogothic approach. Despite recent attention paid to the intersections between gothic and ecocritical studies, there continues to be an unfortunate dearth in scholarship focusing on the specifically American ecogothic. This scarcity is surprising given the important role played by nature in the formation of the American gothic mode. Three major critical works focused on the American ecogothic include Tom J. Hillard’s and Kevin Corstorphine’s essays within Ecogothic (2013) and Ecogothic in Nineteenth-Century American Literature (2017), edited by Dawn Keetley and Matthew Wynn Sivils. In the introduction to their volume, Keetley and Sivils note that, given its unwavering fixation with the wilderness, “American gothic literature has always been ecogothic” (6).

This panel invites papers that interrogate gothic depictions of landscapes and wilderness in American fiction (including, but not limited to, literature, film, television, and video games) from any time period. In particular, we seek papers that work towards a definition of the American ecogothic as a national mode or style. Papers that utilize the ecogothic lens to support, challenge, or problematize current conceptions of the American gothic are especially welcome. We also encourage papers that explore the American ecogothic temporally by tracing transformations or continuations of its fictional appearance across time.

All proposals must be submitted through the NeMLA portal by September 30th and should be no more than 300 words.

The 50th annual NeMLA conference will take place on March 21-24, 2019 in Washington, DC. For more information: http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla.html

Please email any questions you may have to caitlin.duffy@stonybrook.edu.

CFP Contemporary Horror Within and Beyond the Nation (9/30/2018; NeMLA 2019)

Contemporary Horror Within and Beyond the Nation, NeMLA 2019
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/26/contemporary-horror-within-and-beyond-the-nation-nemla-2019

deadline for submissions: September 30, 2018

full name / name of organization: Jack Dudley, Mount St. Mary's University

contact email: dudley@msmary.edu



Accepted Roundtable for NeMLA 50, March 21 -24, 2019, Washington, DC.

As Sophia Siddique and Raphael Raphael write in Transnational Horror Cinema: Bodies of Excess and the Global Grotesque (2016), “From its origins, what would eventually come to be called ‘the horror genre’ has been deeply transnational both in contexts of production and reception.” In “The American Horror Film? Globalization and Transnational U.S.-Asian Genres” (2013), Christina Klein observes that this transnational quality has particularly been evident most recently, as cinema as a whole continues to become increasingly transnational. For Klein, genre films such as horror lend themselves to the transnational because of their indebtedness to convention or tropes, which can be culturally portable or which, in her words, “can be combined by local filmmakers in fresh ways to carry locally specific meanings.” This accepted roundtable invites participants to interrogate the relationship between contemporary horror—understood as roughly post-1960—and the critical categories of the nation, the global, and the transnational. How do the particular conventions, tropes, and forms most associated with horror facilitate and/or complicate its relationship to the nation? Are the conventions, tropes, and forms of particular national traditions truly exportable and what are the limits of their cultural adaptability? Have recent examples of contemporary horror resisted the transnational and instead laid claim to specifically national visions of horror? By exploring these questions, this roundtable seeks not only to examine how the category of the nation and the transnational have shaped contemporary horror, but how what is still often denigrated as a marginal genre, horror itself, can help us continue to theorize the nation and the transnational as well. Participants are welcome to focus on any medium.

Please submit abstracts through the NeMLA portal, which can be accessed here: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/Login

Abstracts are due to the NeMLA portal by Sept. 30, 2018.

Please email dudley@msmary.edu with any questions.

CFP Things That Go Bump in the North: Canadian Horror Media (7/31/2018)

Seems its a good time to be studying monsters. Here's another interesting call.


Things That Go Bump in the North: Canadian Horror Media
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/03/things-that-go-bump-in-the-north-canadian-horror-media

deadline for submissions: July 31, 2018

full name / name of organization: UOIT

contact email: andrea.braithwaite@uoit.ca



Things That Go Bump in the North: Canadian Horror Media


Horror stories speak of our fears. In doing so, horror stories also speak of our everyday, our “normal,” as this ordinariness is quickly thrown into disarray. Things That Go Bump in the North will look at Canadian horror across media – from fiction, film, and television to games, graphic novels, and web series. This edited collection considers what Canadian horror texts can tell us about Canadian culture, media, history, and politics. Things That Go Bump in the North aims to see horror stories as stories about nation, as sites for critical reflection on the meanings and uses of “Canada” in this genre – and what we are terrified to lose, or perhaps keep.


This collection deliberately uses “Canadian” and of “horror” loosely in order to more fully explore the cultural work of horror stories. By “Canadian,” we seek texts that are by, in, and/or about Canada or Canadians; “horror” includes inflections like the gothic and the grotesque, the silly and the supernatural. We encourage diverse submissions from a range of critical approaches and research methods; we are particularly excited about work that addresses Indigenous, diasporic, and other underrepresented productions and perspectives.


Topics may include and are not limited to:

• A specific creator or creative team
• A singular media form, text, or series
• Adaptations and transformations
• Generic hybrids
• Regional or community-specific horror stories
• Studies of fans, audiences, and reception contexts
• Historical horror tales and texts
• Co-productions and international ventures
• Alternate histories and horrifying futures
• Industry and/or policy analysis
• Transmedia texts and storytelling
• True crime texts

Proposals of not more than 250 words will be due by July 31 2018. Final essays of approximately 6000-8000 words, including all notes and references in Chicago author-date style will be due by April 30 2019. Please direct inquiries and proposals to: andrea.braithwaite@uoit.ca and p.greenhill@uwinnipeg.ca.

CFP Gothic Journeys: Paths, Crossings, and Intersections Conference (8/31/2018; Australia 1/22-23-2019)

Gothic Journeys: Paths, Crossings, and Intersections
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/11/gothic-journeys-paths-crossings-and-intersections

deadline for submissions: August 31, 2018

full name / name of organization: The Gothic Association of New Zealand and Australia (GANZA)

contact email: conference@ganza.co.nz



The Gothic Association of New Zealand and Australia (GANZA) welcomes papers for its fourth biennial conference, to be held at the Mantra on View Hotel in Surfers Paradise, Australia, on 22-23 January 2019.

GANZA is interdisciplinary in nature, bringing together scholars, students, teachers and professionals from a number of Gothic disciplines, including literature, film, music, television, fashion, architecture, and other popular culture forms. It is the aim of the Association to not only place a focus on Australasian Gothic scholarship, but also to build international links with the wider Gothic community as a whole.

The conference invites abstracts for 20-minute presentations related to the theme of 'Gothic Journeys’.

Topics can include, but are not limited to:

• Gothic wanderers, travellers, and explorers
• Journeys of the mind and body
• Gothic spaces, regionalities, and geographies
• Death, haunting, and ‘crossing over’
• Boundaries and transgressions
• Monsters and the Monstrous
• Gothic maps and migrations
• Gothic histories and Gothic folklore
• Horror in its various contexts
• Displacement and identity
• Trauma and trauma narratives
• Movement through time, space, and digital worlds
• Gothic forms in popular culture
• Navigating the Gothic (from the road well-travelled to new pathways)
• Intersections between the Gothic and other fields of study
• Global Gothic
• The Uncanny
• Postcolonial Gothic
• Travel Gothic and Gothic tourism
• The Gothic in the past, present, and future

Please e-mail abstracts of 200 words to the attention of the conference organisers at: conference@ganza.co.nz

Abstracts should include your name, affiliation, e-mail address, the title of your proposed paper, and a short bio (100 words max). The deadline for submissions is 31st August 2018.

For more information, visit our web site: www.ganza.co.nz. Alternatively, please contact Dr Gwyneth Peaty (g.peaty@curtin.edu.au) and/or Dr Erin Mercer (e.mercer@massey.ac.nz).

CFP Re-Visions of Eden: The Idea of the Midwestern Gothic (9/1/2018)

Another great idea for a collection:

Re-Visions of Eden: The Idea of the Midwestern Gothic
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/14/re-visions-of-eden-the-idea-of-the-midwestern-gothic

deadline for submissions: September 1, 2018

full name / name of organization: Brandi Homan & Julia Madsen

contact email: mwgothicscholar@gmail.com



In the American cultural imagination, the Midwest embodies the “home” or “heart” of the nation associated with frontier and rural values of promise, fertility, order, and stability, according to Joanna Jacobson in “The Idea of the Midwest.” Jacobson argues that the Midwest has come to symbolize the quintessentially “American,” speaking to “the impulse to invent a myth of commonality rooted in the physical landscape at the center of the continent and for the insufficiency of that myth as a response to the conditions of urban industrial culture.” While the idea and image of the Midwest in American culture serve as resources of recovery and refuge from the ill effects of urban industrialism, it is increasingly evident that these visions of a pastoral, rural middlescape illuminate the necessity for a more comprehensive, critical view of the region. The Midwestern Gothic complicates the Midwest’s role in myths of progress, drawing attention to vital sociopolitical and economic concerns of the region, including deindustrialization and economic disparity, crime, addiction, mental illness, racism, sexism, homophobia, and isolation. In this sense, the Midwestern Gothic counterintuitively articulates the region as the “wound” of the United States, a place ravaged by the nation’s myths and ideals.


The Midwestern Gothic tradition has a vibrant lineage in American literature, including authors like Sherwood Anderson, Toni Morrison, Sinclair Lewis, Bonnie Jo Campbell, and Ander Monson. This edited volume seeks critical, academic essays on the Midwestern Gothic in American literature and culture. In particular, this edited volume looks to establish the Midwestern Gothic as genre, exploring relationships with other regional gothics and the American gothic broadly speaking. It is also interested in critical essays on particular authors or works associated with the Midwestern Gothic tradition, including Sherwood Anderson, Toby Altman’s Arcadia, Indiana, Frank Bill, Sam Shepard’s Buried Child, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Harmony Korine’s Gummo, Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, Sinclair Lewis, Edgar Lee Masters, Ander Monson, Toni Morrison, Donald Ray Pollock, C.S. Giscombe’s Prairie Style, Michael Lesy’s Wisconsin Death Trip, Laird Hunt’s Indiana, Indiana, James Wright, and others.


This edited volume is particularly interested in original contributions of between 3,000 and 6,000 words on topics including, but not limited to:

• Intersections with other regional American gothics (e.g., the Southern Gothic, Great Plains Gothic, etc.)
• The Midwestern Gothic and popular culture
• Race, class, and gender politics in the Midwestern Gothic
• Grotesque, uncanny, and abject domestic spaces in the Midwestern Gothic
• Histories and myths of place and region
• Community formation politics and identity politics
• The Midwest and frontierism
• Deindustrialization and economic disparity
• The opioid crisis, addiction, and mental illness
• Pastoral/post-pastoral studies
• The decline of the Rust Belt
• Rural studies
• The dark side of Midwestern “niceness”
• Current politics of the Midwest
• Documentary and non-fiction approaches to the Midwestern Gothic
• Visual studies in the Midwestern Gothic (film, photography, and multimedia)

Please submit abstracts of 300-500 words to Dr. Brandi Homan and Julia Madsen at mwgothicscholar@gmail.com by September 1, 2018. Selections will be made by December 1, 2018. Final essays (of 3000-6000 words) are due March 1, 2019.

Out Now: Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald HC

Now available from Dark Horse Comics:

Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald HC
https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/30-897/Neil-Gaimans-A-Study-in-Emerald-HC (click link for a multi-page preview)

This supernatural mystery set in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos features a brilliant detective and his partner as they try to solve a horrific murder.

This complex investigation takes the Baker Street investigators from the slums of Whitechapel all the way to the Queen's Palace as they attempt to find the answers to this bizarre murder of cosmic horror!

From the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, Nebula Award-winning, and New York Times bestselling writer Neil Gaiman comes this graphic novel adaptation with art by Eisner award-winning artist Rafael Albuquerque!


Creators
Writer:Neil Gaiman, Rafael Albuquerque, Rafael Scavone
Artist:Rafael Albuquerque, Dave Stewart
Colorist:Dave Stewart
Cover Artist:Rafael Albuquerque
Genre: Science-Fiction, Crime
 
Publication Date: June 27, 2018
Format: FC, 88 pages; HC; 6 5/8" x 10 3/16"
Price:$17.99
ISBN-10:1-50670-393-3
ISBN-13:978-1-50670-393-0

CFP Tropical Gothic (Spec Issue of eTropic) (12/30/2018)

'Tropical Gothic'
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/07/02/tropical-gothic

deadline for submissions:
December 30, 2018

full name / name of organization:
eTropic journal

contact email:
etropic@jcu.edu.au


CALL FOR PAPERS special issue ‘Tropical Gothic’


Submission Deadline: 30 December 2018



‘TROPICAL GOTHIC’

‘The Gothic’ is undergoing a resurgence in academic and popular cultures. Propelled by fears produced by globalization, the neoliberal order, networked technologies, post-truth and environmental uncertainty – tropes of ‘the gothic’ resonate. The gothic allows us to delve into the unknown. It calls up unspoken truths and secret desires.

Across the tropics, the gothic manifests in specific ways according to spaces and places, and in relation to cultures and their encounters, crossings and interminglings.

Gothic studies that provide particularly interesting arenas of analysis include: culture, ritual, mythology, film, architecture, literature, fashion, art, landscapes, places, nature, spaces, histories and spectral cities. ‘Tropical Gothic’ may include subgenres such as: imperial gothic, orientalism in gothic literature, colonial and postcolonial gothic. In contemporary society neoliberal connections with the tropics and gothic may be investigated. In popular culture, tropical aspects of gothic film, cybergoth, gothic-steampunk, gothic sci-fi, goth graphic novels, and gothic music may be explored.

The eTropic journal is indexed in Scopus, Ulrich's and DOAJ. Publication is in 2019.

Instructions for authors: https://journals.jcu.edu.au/etropic.

Equiries, please contact: etropic@jcu.edu.au.

CFP Varieties of the Monstrous Feminine in American Literature (9/30/2018; NeMLA 2019)

“Varieties of the Monstrous Feminine in American Literature”
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/07/01/%E2%80%9Cvarieties-of-the-monstrous-feminine-in-american-literature%E2%80%9D

deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Mary Balkun/Seton Hall University

contact email:
mary.balkun@shu.edu



NeMLA 2019

The monstrous female is a staple of the literary imagination. The Medusa, the witch, the Sirens, the succubus/vampire, the she-devil, the madwoman, the coquette, the cross-dresser—these are just some versions of this trope that can be identified from the earliest periods to the present day. Some figures represent the ways women have been marginalized as “other” and the impact of that designation, while others represent ways that outsider positions can become a locus of power. This roundtable will explore various manifestations of the monstrous feminine trope, specifically in American literature and culture. It will consider questions such as: Who defines monstrosity? How can it be construed as positive as well as negative? How does the monstrous feminine manifest in different time periods and locations (urban vs. rural, east vs. west vs. midwest, north vs. south)? Does the monstrous feminine always have to be female?

Proposals of 300 words should be submitted by Sept. 30, 2018 via the NeMLA portal https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/CFP.