CFP: Dracones in Mundo: Dragons in Literature, Film, and Pop Culture: A Series of Edited Volumes UPDATE/EXTENDED DEADLINE (7/25/21)

Dracones in Mundo: Dragons in Literature, Film, and Pop Culture: A Series of Edited Volumes UPDATE/EXTENDED DEADLINE

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/06/28/dracones-in-mundo-dragons-in-literature-film-and-pop-culture-a-series-of-edited

deadline for submissions: 

July 25, 2021

full name / name of organization: 

University of Southern Mississippi

contact email: 

rachel.carazo@snhu.edu

Dracones in Mundo: Dragons in Literature, Film, and Pop Culture: A Series of Edited Volumes UPDATE/EXTENDED DEADLINE

deadline for submissions:
July 25, 2021

full name / name of organization:
St. Thomas University

contact email:
rachel.carazo@snhu.edu

I received a great response to the last call for papers regarding the volumes on dragons. As a result, I have been better able to refine and divide results.

Below are the new details for the updated call for papers:
As the popularity of mythical creatures in films and literature grows, there is one creature that remains prominent: the dragon. Dragons have become most visible recently in the cinematic versions of The Hobbit and in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones Series). However, there are other films, such as Dragonslayer (1981), Reign of Fire (2002), Dragonheart (1996), and the How to Train Your Dragon series (2010-2019), and numerous adult and children’s literature series that feature dragons.

This call for papers will result in several themed volumes under each of these main headings:

---

 FULL VOLUME(S)

1) Wings, Wonders, and Warriors: Dragons in Children’s Literature and Graphic Novels

 

--

SEMI-FULL VOLUMES (Needing 5-8 essays)

The following two volumes need a few more essays to be considered full:

2) Dragons in Mythology 

*Working Title: Flights of the Imagination: Dragons in Mythology and Folklore

3) Dragons in Film and Television

*Working title: Heroes and Villains on 'Silver' Wings: Representations of Dragons in Film and Television

---

OPEN VOLUMES (Needing between 8-10 essays)

4) Dragons in Fiction* [due to the plethora of romance fiction with dragons/shapeshifters, I would be interested also in a separate study or at least a section of the volume about these romantic works]
5) Dragon Games and Online Culture [video games/card games etc]
6) Dragons, Posthumanism, and Animality [since the idea of the posthuman seeks to question the dominating humanistic and anthropocentric perspective upon the nonhuman world, these essays are meant to use this framework to highlight innovations or non-anthropocentric observations on dragons in literature, film, and pop culture]. Topics may include shapeshifters, corporality, affectivity, and the relationship(s) between humans and dragons.
7) The Landscapes of Dragons [these essays seek to investigate ways in which dragons are specifically tied to landscapes, images of the idyll, or images of devastation]
8) Dragons and Ecocriticism [these essays seek ways in which works with dragons remark on the environment in political and critical ways, or how dragon-related narrative can enhance valuable reflections in dialogue with current debates on ecology]
9) Dragon Riders: [even though there is a volume on general fiction, there is a specific genre built around dragon riders as well, so I encourage essays on these topics to show specific intersections between works and relationships within specific works on aspects of riding dragons]
10) Dragons in Fairy Tales/Dragons and Fairy Tale Tropes: [this volume seeks to find aspects of fairy tales or entire tales that relate to dragons/dragon lore in innovative ways/ the editor already has an essay (based on a fairy tale) related to Wings of Fire in process, but all other topics are currently open]
11) Dragons and Pop Culture: Music, Coats of Arms, Dragon Symbols, and Miscellany [this volume seeks to cover media and topics that do not easily fit into the other categories]
12) Dragons in Internet Memes: essays on memes from single films or other themes.

The scope of the present call is still broad. All topics regarding the themes and impact of dragons in film, literature, games, and online culture will be considered. Possible topics include (non-comprehensive list):
• Dragons as non-human animals
• Dragons and the environment
• Dragon symbolism
• The intersections of childhood, gender, race, and ethnicity with dragons
• Changes in the representations of dragons over time
• Visual aspects and attributes of dragons
• Representations of good and evil in connection with dragons
Deadline for proposals: July 25, 2021
Deadline for first drafts: September 25, 2021* [this deadline may be extended for volumes outside of the first depending on how many abstracts are received and which volumes are completed first]

How to submit your proposal
I will have a co-editor for three volumes: *Posthumanism, *Landscapes, and *Ecocriticism with Stefano Rozzoni (PhD Candidate, University of Bergamo), so proposals regarding those topics should be emailed to both rachel.carazo@snhu.edu and stefano.rozzoni@unibg.it
Please send all other abstracts, a short biographical note, and the name of the volume that the paper is for to Rachel L. Carazo at rachel.carazo@snhu.edu

Last updated June 28, 2021

CFP Monsters of Beowulf (8/1/2021; NEPCA 10/21-23/21)

 

Monsters of Beowulf: Past, Present, Future

Session Proposed for the 2021 Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association

Sponsored by the Monsters & the Monstrous Area

Virtual event, Thursday, 21 October, through Saturday, 23 October 2021.

Proposals due by 1 August 2021.

 

The Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (a.k.a. NEPCA) prides itself on holding conferences that emphasize sharing ideas in a non-competitive and supportive environment. We welcome proposals for presentations of 15-20 minutes in length, from researchers at all levels, including undergraduate and graduate students, junior faculty, and senior scholars, as well as independent scholars. NEPCA conferences offer intimate and nurturing sessions in which new ideas and works-in-progress can be aired, as well as completed projects.

For this session, we’re looking for papers that explore and highlight the reception and representation of the monsters of Beowulf in popular culture.

 

If you are interested in joining this session, please submit the following information into NEPCA’s online form at http://bit.ly/PopCFP2021.

·         Proposal Type (Single Presentation or Panel)

·         Subject Area (select the “Monsters and the Monstrous” from the list)

·         Working Title

·         Abstract (250 words)

·         Short bio (50-200 words)

Address any inquiries to the area chairs: Michael A. Torregrossa at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com.

Presenters are also required to become members of NEPCA for the year.

 

CFP MAPACA: Gothic Studies (7/15/21; MAPACA virtual 11/10-13/2021)

MAPACA: Gothic Studies

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/05/05/mapaca-gothic-studies

deadline for submissions:
July 15, 2021


full name / name of organization:
Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association: Gothic Studies


contact email:
wsmcmasters@gmail.com




The Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association is accepting proposals until July 15 for their 2021 virtual conference, Nov 10 - 13. Please consider submitting to the newly founded Gothic Studies area: https://mapaca.net/areas/gothic-studies The Gothic Studies area invites proposals which engage with the genre and culture of the Gothic as it is represented in film, television, literature, art, and society. We are especially interested in ways that the Gothic aesthetic defines itself against other predominate modes, or genres, of storytelling or culture. We also invite proposals concerned with subgenres of the Gothic across media, like the American Gothic, southern Gothic, feminine Gothic, the “weird tale,” and the ecoGothic as represented film, television, literature, music, fashion, art, and culture.
 

Last updated May 15, 2021 

 

CFP Journal of Dracula Studies [DEADLINE EXTENDED to 6/1/21]

Journal of Dracula Studies [DEADLINE EXTENDED to 6/1/21]

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/01/19/journal-of-dracula-studies-deadline-extended-to-6121

deadline for submissions:
June 1, 2021


full name / name of organization:
Anne DeLong/Curt Herr/ 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.
Please follow 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, 2021, in order to be considered for the Fall 2021 issue.
Send electronic submissions to journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu
Contact: Dr. Anne DeLong or Dr. Curt Herr 

Last updated May 2, 2021 

 

RIP Billie Hayes

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

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

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

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

CFP Dracones in Mundo: Dragons in Literature, Film, and Pop Culture: A Series of Edited Volumes (7/25/2021)

My thanks to Kristine Larsen for the heads up on this:

Dracones in Mundo: Dragons in Literature, Film, and Pop Culture: A Series of Edited Volumes UPDATE/EXTENDED DEADLINE

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/01/03/dracones-in-mundo-dragons-in-literature-film-and-pop-culture-a-series-of-edited

deadline for submissions: July 25, 2021

full name / name of organization: St. Thomas University

contact email: rachel.carazo@snhu.edu



Dracones in Mundo: Dragons in Literature, Film, and Pop Culture: A Series of Edited Volumes UPDATE/EXTENDED DEADLINE

deadline for submissions:
July 25, 2021

full name / name of organization:
St. Thomas University

contact email:
rachel.carazo@snhu.edu

I received a great response to the last call for papers regarding the volumes on dragons. As a result, I have been better able to refine and divide results.

Below are the new details for the updated call for papers:
As the popularity of mythical creatures in films and literature grows, there is one creature that remains prominent: the dragon. Dragons have become most visible recently in the cinematic versions of The Hobbit and in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones Series). However, there are other films, such as Dragonslayer (1981), Reign of Fire (2002), Dragonheart (1996), and the How to Train Your Dragon series (2010-2019), and numerous adult and children’s literature series that feature dragons.

This call for papers will result in several themed volumes under each of these main headings:

---

FULL VOLUME(S)

1) Wings, Wonders, and Warriors: Dragons in Children’s Literature and Graphic Novels



--

SEMI-FULL VOLUMES (Needing 5-8 essays)

The following two volumes need a few more essays to be considered full:

2) Dragons in Mythology

*Working Title: Flights of the Imagination: Dragons in Mythology and Folklore

3) Dragons in Film and Television

*Working title: Heroes and Villains on 'Silver' Wings: Representations of Dragons in Film and Television

---

OPEN VOLUMES (Needing between 8-10 essays)

4) Dragons in Fiction* [due to the plethora of romance fiction with dragons/shapeshifters, I would be interested also in a separate study or at least a section of the volume about these romantic works]
5) Dragon Games and Online Culture [video games/card games etc]
6) Dragons, Posthumanism, and Animality [since the idea of the posthuman seeks to question the dominating humanistic and anthropocentric perspective upon the nonhuman world, these essays are meant to use this framework to highlight innovations or non-anthropocentric observations on dragons in literature, film, and pop culture]. Topics may include shapeshifters, corporality, affectivity, and the relationship(s) between humans and dragons.
7) The Landscapes of Dragons [these essays seek to investigate ways in which dragons are specifically tied to landscapes, images of the idyll, or images of devastation]
8) Dragons and Ecocriticism [these essays seek ways in which works with dragons remark on the environment in political and critical ways, or how dragon-related narrative can enhance valuable reflections in dialogue with current debates on ecology]
9) Dragon Riders: [even though there is a volume on general fiction, there is a specific genre built around dragon riders as well, so I encourage essays on these topics to show specific intersections between works and relationships within specific works on aspects of riding dragons]
10) Dragons in Fairy Tales/Dragons and Fairy Tale Tropes: [this volume seeks to find aspects of fairy tales or entire tales that relate to dragons/dragon lore in innovative ways/ the editor already has an essay (based on a fairy tale) related to Wings of Fire in process, but all other topics are currently open]
11) Dragons and Pop Culture: Music, Coats of Arms, Dragon Symbols, and Miscellany [this volume seeks to cover media and topics that do not easily fit into the other categories]
12) Dragons in Internet Memes: essays on memes from single films or other themes.

The scope of the present call is still broad. All topics regarding the themes and impact of dragons in film, literature, games, and online culture will be considered. Possible topics include (non-comprehensive list):

• Dragons as non-human animals
• Dragons and the environment
• Dragon symbolism
• The intersections of childhood, gender, race, and ethnicity with dragons
• Changes in the representations of dragons over time
• Visual aspects and attributes of dragons
• Representations of good and evil in connection with dragons

Deadline for proposals: July 25, 2021

Deadline for first drafts: September 25, 2021* [this deadline may be extended for volumes outside of the first depending on how many abstracts are received and which volumes are completed first]

How to submit your proposal
I will have a co-editor for three volumes: *Posthumanism, *Landscapes, and *Ecocriticism with Stefano Rozzoni (PhD Candidate, University of Bergamo), so proposals regarding those topics should be emailed to both rachel.carazo@snhu.edu and stefano.rozzoni@unibg.it
Please send all other abstracts, a short biographical note, and the name of the volume that the paper is for to Rachel L. Carazo at rachel.carazo@snhu.edu



rachel.carazo@snhu.edu

Rachel Carazo



Last updated April 7, 2021
This CFP has been viewed 200 times.

CFP Studies in the Fantastic General Call and Focus on HBO's Lovecraft Country (6/1/2021)

Studies in the Fantastic

Source: https://utampapress.org/studies-in-the-fantastic/sitf-current-cfp

Current CFP

HBO’s recent series Lovecraft Country takes up the monsters of H. P. Lovecraft’s universe, but flips the script to make the heroes an African-American cast battling various demons in the Jim Crow era. Arguably, the show aimed at a re-appropriation or détournement of the pulp legend’s troubling racism, but critics seem divided on the show’s success. In Dr. Kinitra Brooks’s writings on the series for The Root, she situated it as “a part of the contemporary arts movement that media professor John Jennings coined as ‘Racecraftian,’ inspired by Karen and Barbara Fields in their 2014 book, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life.” Therein, racecraft is defined as a practice: racism produces the illusion of race, and Jennings adopted the term (thinking specifically of its homology with Lovecraft’s name) to signify horror narratives that engage with critical race studies for the purpose of dismantling constructions of race. As an adaptation of Lovecraft’s universe, the HBO series would seem to be speaking back to the pulp legend.

Studies in the Fantastic, a journal founded by Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi, seeks submissions for a special issue on any aspect of the show, but we are especially interested in essays that delve into this debate, the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Lovecraft Country, and the Racecraftian turn. Acknowledging that the series is new and that many conferences this year are cancelled due to the pandemic, we are accepting shorter essays (3500-6000 words) driven by scene analyses for this collection that seeks to gather together scholars’ “First Thoughts on Lovecraft Country.” Submissions for this special issue should be received by June 1, 2021. Send to the editor at fantastic@ut.edu

Studies in the Fantastic is a journal publishing refereed essays, informed by scholarly criticism and theory on both fantastic texts and their social function. Although grounded in literary studies, we are especially interested in articles examining genres and media that have been underrepresented in humanistic scholarship. Subjects may include, but are not limited to, weird fiction, science/speculative fiction, fantasy, videogames, science writing, futurism, and technocracy. Electronic access to Studies in the Fantastic is available via Project Muse. Follow us on twitter: @study_fantastic

Studies in the Fantastic requests submissions for our biannually published peer-reviewed academic journal. As always, essays examining the fantastic from a variety of scholarly perspectives are welcome.

Studies in the Fantastic has recently launched a reviews section. We publish reviews of scholarly works pertaining to the field but may also be open to scholarly reviews on works of fiction, film, or (video)games. (See issues 8, 9 for examples.) Pitches may be sent to the reviews editor at fantastic_reviews@ut.edu.

 

CFP Jounal of Dracula Studies 2021 (5/1/2021)

Apologies for having missed this earlier:

Journal of Dracula Studies

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/01/19/journal-of-dracula-studies

deadline for submissions: May 1, 2021


full name / name of organization: Anne DeLong/Curt Herr/ 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.

Please follow 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, 2021, in order to be considered for the Fall 2021 issue.

Send electronic submissions to journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu
Contact: Dr. Anne DeLong or Dr. Curt Herr

Last updated January 21, 2021

Buffy+

Following the recent/ongoing controversy over Josh Whedon, there's an inspiring post on the Facebook of the Whedon Studies Association regarding their evolution as a group and of their rebranded mission and journal, now to be titled Slayage: The International Journal of Buffy+. 

I'll update links to their sites as soon as the name changes are effective,

CFP Northeastern Monsters (8/1/21; NEPCA virtual 10/21-23/21)

Here's the second special call for NEPCA 2021:


Northeastern Monsters

Session Proposed for the 2021 Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association

Sponsored by the Monsters & the Monstrous Area

Virtual event, Thursday, 21 October, through Saturday, 23 October 2021.

Proposals due by 1 August 2021.



The Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (a.k.a. NEPCA) prides itself on holding conferences that emphasize sharing ideas in a non-competitive and supportive environment. We welcome proposals for presentations of 15-20 minutes in length, from researchers at all levels, including undergraduate and graduate students, junior faculty, and senior scholars, as well as independent scholars. NEPCA conferences offer intimate and nurturing sessions in which new ideas and works-in-progress can be aired, as well as completed projects.

For this session, we’re looking for papers that explore and highlight the Northeast’s contributions to monster lore, including authors, events, individuals, locations, and, of course, monsters.



If you are interested in joining this session, please submit the following information into NEPCA’s online form at http://bit.ly/PopCFP2021.

• Proposal Type (Single Presentation or Panel
• Subject Area (select the “Monsters and the Monstrous” from the list)
• Working Title
• Abstract (250 words)
• Short bio (50-200 words)

Address any inquiries to the area chairs: Michael A. Torregrossa at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com.

Presenters are also required to become members of NEPCA for the year.

CFP The Mouse’s Monsters: Monsters and the Monstrous in the Worlds of Disney (8/1/21; NEPCA virtual 10/21-23/21)

The first of two special calls for NEPCA 2021:

The Mouse’s Monsters: Monsters and the Monstrous in the Worlds of Disney

Joint Session Proposed for the 2021 Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association

Sponsored by the Monsters & the Monstrous Area and the Disney Studies Area.

Virtual event, Thursday, 21 October, through Saturday, 23 October 2021.

Proposals due by 1 August 2021.



The Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (a.k.a. NEPCA) prides itself on holding conferences that emphasize sharing ideas in a non-competitive and supportive environment. We welcome proposals for presentations of 15-20 minutes in length, from researchers at all levels, including undergraduate and graduate students, junior faculty, and senior scholars, as well as independent scholars. NEPCA conferences offer intimate and nurturing sessions in which new ideas and works-in-progress can be aired, as well as completed projects.

For this session, at present, we’re most interested in proposals related to representations of monsters and the monstrous in the traditional Disney brand and to Pixar. Submissions related to more recent properties and acquisitions (for example the Muppets, ABC, ABC Family/Freeform, Saban Entertainment, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Twentieth Century Fox, and Hulu) might be set on an alternate panel. All submissions will also be considered for inclusion in a collection of essays based on the topic.



Potential topics might include the following:

• Adaptations of classic monster stories.
• Aliens.
• Animals as monsters.
• Attractions.
• Bad dreams.
• Communities of monsters.
• Constructs.
• Cryptids.
• Curses.
• Dinosaurs.
• Disguises.
• Disney as monstrous.
• Disney Villains.
• Gargoyles.
• Ghosts.
• Halloween.
• Halloween-themed productions.
• Horror-themed productions.
• Human “monsters”.
• Imaginary creatures.
• Legendary creatures.
• Magical creatures.
• Magic-users.
• Othered individuals.
• Reanimated dead.
• Shape-shifters.
• Technology and monsters.
• Undead/zombies.
• Underworld and other realms of the dead.
• Vampires.
• Weather-related monsters.

If you are interested in joining this session, please submit the following information into NEPCA’s online form at http://bit.ly/PopCFP2021.

• Proposal Type (Single Presentation or Panel)
• Subject Area (select the “Monsters/Disney (Joint Session)” at the bottom of the list)
• Working Title
• Abstract (250 words)
• Short bio (50-200 words)

Address any inquiries to the area chairs: Michael A. Torregrossa (Monsters & the Monstrous) at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com and Priscilla Hobbs (Disney Studies) at p.hobbs-penn@snhu.edu.

Presenters are also required to become members of NEPCA for the year.

CFP Poe Studies Association at MLA 2022 (3/17/21; Washington DC 1/6-9/22)

 More from the Poe Studies Association's website:

Modern Language Association Annual Convention
Washington, D.C., 2022

Poe scholars and Poe aficionados are always talking about Poe and always reading and rereading his works. He is ubiquitous—in print, film, popular culture, and all over the internet. His online presence increased even more in the late winter and early spring of 2020 as the world wrestled with the COVID-19 pandemic. For those of us who teach Poe and those of us who write about him, doing so in 2020 and 2021 seems more timely than ever, but it also feels different.

Why should we read or teach Poe “now”? How is or isn’t Poe relevant in the midst/wake of a global pandemic and serious social conflict? Is his work timely, timeless, both, neither? Submit 250-word proposals and 1-page CVs to emronesplin@gmail.com by Wednesday, March 17.

Depending on the number and quality of submissions, this session will either run as a 3-4 person panel or as a roundtable including several participants.

CFP Poe Tales Boston Conference (6/15/21; Boston 4/7-10/21)

From the Poe Studies Association's website. I included the call below.

Poe Takes Boston

The Fifth International Edgar Allan Poe Conference

Boston, MA April 7-10, 2022

The Fifth International Edgar Allan Poe Conference will take place at the historic Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston. For more information, see the attached call for papers and flyer.

CFP Romancing the Gothic (3/31/21)

Came acoss this a while ago but forgot to post it. My apologies.

Romancing the Gothic 

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2020/12/04/romancing-the-gothic


deadline for submissions: March 31, 2021


full name / name of organization: Romancing the Gothic Project


contact email: hollyhirst84@gmail.com




Romancing the Gothic is online education project which offers free classes on the Gothic, horror, folklore, queer literature, romance and hidden histories. We are an interdiscplinary project with scholars taking part from many different fields and from all over the world. We have a regular audience as well as open sign-ups. To find out more about the project - see the website - https://romancingthegothic.com



We are looking to put together our 2021 schedule for Saturday Classes/Talks, Sunday Talks and Monthly Writing and Creative workshops. We are looking for scholars willing to submit on a variety of topics including: Horror and Gothic film and literature, National Traditions of Supernatural Literature, Demonologies, Intersections of Medicine and Literature, Queer Gothic and Horror. For a full list of requested talks see the website - https://romancingthegothic.wordpress.com/2020/12/05/call-for-talks-class...



This is an opportunity to engage with an international audience and interact with a growing network of scholars from all areas of academic life. It is also a good opportunity for both experienced and inexperienced presenters and speakers as full support is offered prior to the talk being given.



Please follow the link provided above for further details. Send a title and abstract (100-300 words) to sam@romancingthegothic.com


Last updated January 17, 2021 

 

CFP Nightmare Before Christmas Essay Collection (5/3/2021)

Sorry to have missed this earlier.

CFP: Nightmare Before Christmas (Key Films/Filmmakers in Animation series, Bloomsbury)

Source: https://fanstudies.org/2021/01/28/cfp-nightmare-before-christmas-key-films-filmmakers-in-animation-series-bloomsbury/


This edited collection will consider Nightmare Before Christmas as a milestone in animation and film history as well as a key cultural object with lasting impact. The book will be inserted in Bloomsbury’s Key Film/Filmmakers in Animation series.

In the thirty years since its release, Nightmare Before Christmas has drawn repeated academic attention. Many of these contributions have seen the film as an entry point to larger arguments about Tim Burton’s work, whether in terms of its animation (Cuthill 2017), representations of gender (Mitchell 2017), and use of fairy tales (Burger 2017). Less often, Nightmare Before Christmas has been considered in relation to other frameworks, such as its presence beyond the film industry, in theme parks (Williams 2020a, 2020b), and the way it negotiated changing cultural expectations of children’s media and horror (Antunes 2020). Though this literature has shed light on several aspects of the film’s significance, there is to date no sustained scholarly inquiry that brings these insights together and examines the historical and cultural significance specifically of Nightmare Before Christmas. This edited collection seeks to address this gap, considering the different layers of meanings and history of Nightmare Before Christmas from pre-production to the present day.

Nightmare Before Christmas was released quietly in 1993 under Disney’s Touchstone banner and sold primarily on the art-house appeal of its animation technique, amid fears that a close association with child audiences would harm Disney’s reputation. But the film was an immediate success and has since been reclaimed by Disney as one of its most beloved family titles. Growing into a cult phenomenon, Nightmare Before Christmas still cultivates a dedicated fandom across the globe today with an array of merchandise, tie-in products, and other media.

Nightmare Before Christmas marks an important moment of technological development in stop-motion animation, and the technique has continued to have a key presence in the industry, particularly associated with horror- and gothic-inspired narratives (Selick’s Coraline and ParaNoman, or Burton’s Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie), where it blurs questions of suitability for child audiences and continues to fuel debates about the art of animated films and its target audiences. Indeed, the specific combination of stop-motion and children’s horror in Nightmare Before Christmas is key to how the film has negotiated genre, suitability, and other cultural categories in its original and retrospective reception, questions which often become tangled with ideas of nostalgia.

More recently, Nightmare Before Christmas continues to serve as a point of reference for negotiations of genre and of the boundaries between mainstream and niche cultures, both on screen and in spaces of fandom. Its many afterlives expand well beyond the film industry, occupying manga and comic books , board games, and other paraphernalia, as well as physical rooted localities through events such as the live-staged musical, theme parks, and in exhibits (Hicks 2013), as well as through the fan practices that the film has inspired, such as fan fashion (Cuthill 2017) and makeup, cosplay, textual production, and transcultural fandom.

How can we best understand Nightmare Before Christmas and its significance in the history of film and animation? What is Nightmare Before Christmas’ legacy thirty years on, and how does it continue to challenge and delight audiences, scholars, and industry today?

This book aims to collect diverse and original insights into the meanings and impacts of Nightmare Before Christmas from a range of disciplinary perspectives and methods. Some suggested topics include:

• Nightmare Before Christmas in animation and film history;
• animation and genre (musicals/fairy tales/horror/family/etc);
• narrative structure in Nightmare Before Christmas and the audience;
• stop-motion as animation technique and cultural object;
• animation and branding practices;
• Nightmare Before Christmas as seasonal media (Christmas/Halloween);
• suitability, animation, and young audiences;
• children’s horror animation before and after Nightmare Before Christmas;
• animation and nostalgia;
• animation, technology, and art;
• the music of Nightmare Before Christmas (songs, covers, re-releases, etc.);
• the politics of representation in Nightmare Before Christmas;
• childhood in Nightmare Before Christmas and its associated texts and practices;
• authorship and associated debates (Burton/Selick/Elfman/Disney), including the links between Nightmare Before Christmas and other works;
• franchises and franchising relationships;
• live and experiential events linked to the film (live musicals, theme park attractions, the Beetle House restaurants in New York and Los Angeles, Tim Burton exhibitions, etc.);
• transmedia and merchandise (Funko figures, action figures, board games, clothing and make-up, cookbooks, etc.);
• transnational critical and audience/fan reception;
• fandom, subcultures (Goth/emo), and fan practices, including transformative works (fan animation, fanfiction, fan videos,…);
• cosplay and the body in Nightmare Before Christmas fandom.

JQuestions and informal discussion can be directed at any of the three co-editors: Filipa Antunes (a.antunes@uea.ac.uk), Brittany Eldridge (brittany.eldridge.18@ucl.ac.uk), and Rebecca Williams (rebecca.williams@southwales.ac.uk). Formal proposals (under 300 words) and short bio should be emailed to Rebecca Williams by 3 May 2021.

CFP Japanese Horror Essay Collection (5/1/21)

Last Call for Chapters: Japanese Horror

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/03/15/last-call-for-chapters-japanese-horror


deadline for submissions: May 1, 2021


full name / name of organization: Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns


contact email: citeron05@yahoo.com




Last Call for Chapters: Japanese Horror



Edited by Subashish Bhattacharjee (Jawaharlal Nehru University),

Ananya Saha (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and

Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)

http://artes.filo.uba.ar/pagnoni-berns-gabriel



We, the editors, are looking for four additional chapters for our book on Japanese horror. The deadline for the full manuscript to Lexington Press is May 10, 2021, so potential contributors must have in mind the process will be quickly as possible. Below, our original CFP.

The cultural phenomenon of Japanese Horror has been of the most celebrated cultural exports of the country, being witness to some of the most notable aesthetic and critical addresses in the history of modern horror cultures. Encompassing a range of genres and performances including cinema, manga, video games, and television series, the loosely designated genre has often been known to uniquely blend ‘Western' narrative and cinematic techniques and tropes with traditional narrative styles, visuals and folklores. Tracing back to the early decades of the twentieth century, modern Japanese horror cultures have had tremendous impact on world cinema, comics studies and video game studies, and popular culture, introducing many trends which are widely applied in contemporary horror narratives. The hybridity that is often native to Japanese aestheticisation of horror is an influential element that has found widespread acceptance in the genres of horror. These include classifications of ghosts as the yuurei and the youkai; the plight of the suffering individual in modern, industrial society, and the lack thereof to fend for oneself while facing circumstances beyond comprehension, or when the features of industrial society themselves produce horror (Ringu, Tetsuo, Ju on); settings such as damp, dank spaces that reinforce the idea of morbid, rotten return from the afterlife (Dark Water)—these are features that have now been rather unconsciously assimilated into the canon of Hollywood or western horror cultures, and may often be traced back to Japanese Horror (or J-Horror) cultures. Besides the often de facto reliance on gore and violence, the psychological motif has been one of the most important aspects of Japanese Horror cultures. Whether it is supernatural, sci-fi or body horror, J-Horror cultures have explored methods that enable the visualising of depravity and violent perversions, and the essence of spiritual and material horror in a fascinating fashion, inventing the mechanics of converting the most fatal fears into visuals.

The proposed volume will focus on directors and films, illustrators and artists and manga, video game makers/designers and video games that have helped in establishing the genre firmly within the annals of world cinema, popular culture and imagination, and in creating a stylistic paradigm shift in horror cinema across the film industries of diverse nations. We seek essays on J-Horror sub-genres, directors, illustrators, designers and their oeuvre, the aesthetics of J-Horror films, manga, and video games, styles, concepts, history, or particular films that have created a trajectory of J-Horror cultures. Works that may be explored in essay-length studies include, but are not limited to, Kwaidan, Onibaba, Jigoku, Tetsuo: The Iron Man and its sequels, Audition, Fatal Frame, the Resident Evil game franchise, Siren, Uzumaki, Gyo, Tomie, besides the large number of Japanese horror films that have been remade for the US market, including Ringu, Ju on, Dark Water, and Pulse among others, and a host of video games with Western/American settings (such as the Silent Hill franchise) and film adaptations (Resident Evil franchise)—analysing the shift from the interactive game form to consumable horror in the cinematic form. For adaptations, we are also looking for essays that analyse the shift from the interactive game form or image-and-text form to consumable audiovisual horror in the form of cinema and vice versa. Analyses of remakes could also focus on the translatability of Japanese horror vis-à-vis American or Hollwood-esque horror, and how the Hollywood remakes have often distilled western horror cinematic types to localise the content.

Directors, designers and manga artists working in the ambit of Japanese horror cultures who may be discussed include, but are not limited to, Nobuo Nakagawa, Kaneto Shindo, Masaki Kobayashi, Hideo Nakata, Takashi Miike, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Ataru Oikawa, Takashi Shimizu, Hideo Kojima, Junji Ito, Kazuo Umezu, Shintaro Kago, Katsuhisa Kigtisu, Gou Tanabe and others. Other issues that may be explored in J-Horror cultures may include the issue of violence and gore, gender and sexuality, sexual representation, the types of the supernatural, cinematic techniques and narrative techniques and others.

At this stage we are looking for both, submission of complete articles of up to 7000 words or abstracts for proposed chapters up to 500 words.

Enquiries and submissions are to be directed to Fernando Pagnoni Berns at citeron05@yahoo.com





Subashish Bhattacharjee is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of North Bengal, India. He edits the interdisciplinary online journal The Apollonian, and is the Editor of Literary Articles and Academic Book Reviews of Muse India. His doctoral research, on the cultures of built space, is from the Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he has also been a UGC-Senior Fellow. His recent publications include Queering Visual Cultures (Universitas, 2018), and New Women's Writing (Cambridge Scholars, co-edited with GN Ray, 2018).



Ananya Saha is a PhD scholar in the Centre for English Studies, JNU, New Delhi. Her research is on the idea of the 'outsider' in Japanese and non-Japanese manga vis-a-vis globalization. Other research interests include Fandom and Queer studies, Translation theory and practice, New Literatures and so on. She has published in international journals, including Orientaliska Studier (No 156), from the Nordic Association of Japanese and Korean Studies. She is the co-editor of the volume titled Trajectories of the Popular: Forms, Histories, Contexts (2019), published by AAKAR, New Delhi. She has been the University Grants Fellow, SAP-DSA-(I) in the Centre for English Studies, JNU (2016-17), and has been awarded a DAAD research visit grant to Tuebingen University, Germany under the project "Literary Cultures of Global South."



Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns is an Assistant Professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) - Facultad de Filosofía y Letras (Argentina)-. He teaches courses on international horror film and is director of the research group on horror cinema “Grite.” He has published chapters in the books To See the Saw Movies: Essays on Torture Porn and Post 9/11 Horror, edited by John Wallis, Critical Insights: Alfred Hitchcock, edited by Douglas Cunningham, A Critical Companion to James Cameron, edited by Antonio Sanna, and Gender and Environment in Science Fiction, edited by Bridgitte Barclay, among others. He has authored a book about Spanish horror TV series Historias para no Dormir and has edited a book on director James Wan (McFarland, 2021).

Contact Email:

citeron05@yahoo.com



Last updated March 16, 2021 

 

CFP Fairies: A Companion (6/30/21)

This sounds like a great idea:

Fairies: A Companion

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/03/03/fairies-a-companion

deadline for submissions: June 30, 2021


full name / name of organization: Simon Bacon and Lorna Piatti-Farnell


contact email: lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz




Stories about fairies and the fae have long populated the imagination of many cultures around the world. Fairy histories have been the focus of much scholarly debate, and so has the figure of the fairy as a cultural icon.

Fairies and the fae have also gained a noticeable importance in the 21st century, bringing with them an increased cultural focus on traditional beliefs and indigenous identities. Indeed, while the connection to the folkloristic and the literary remains strong—with the multiple re-incarnations Tinkerbell from Peter Pan taking centerstage here—fairies have also found renewed life in modern and contemporary re-imaginings.

Film and television, as well as recent SVOD platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, have provided a fertile arena for fairies to grow in influence and representation, especially considering their continued centrality in the cross-century genres of paranormal romance and fantasy. From the highly sexualities creatures of True Blood (2008–2014) to the ethnically diverse groups portrayed in Carnival Row (2019), from the gender-swap production of A Midsummer Nights Dream (2020) to the portrayal of Billy Porter as a gender neutral Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (2021), these re-envisionings give the old tropes of classic fairy texts new life.

Merging old lore with contemporary socio-cultural and socio-historical politics, the newly re-vamped fairies operate as central figures in the evolution of identity politics. Alongside this lies is an obvious connection to the environment, where fairies become representative and protectors of the eco-system, though not just as preservers of the past but as augers of a future where humanity and the planet can survive together. In their multiple incarnations, fairies prove how the magical can be returned into the everyday.

In answer to the evolutionary portrayals of fairies and the fae in our cultures, histories, and narratives, the editors welcome chapter proposal for selection and inclusion into Fairies: A Companion. The volume will be part of the Fiction, Genre and Film Companions for Peter Lang, Oxford.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Fairies and folklore
• Fairies and history
• Fairies and narrative genres
• Fairy tales, and tales about fairies
• Fairies and magic
• Fairies and gender
• Fairies and body politics
• Fairies and diversity
• Fairies and ethnicity/race
• Fairies and national identities
• Fairies and ecology
• Fairies and religion
• Fairies and food
• Fairies and politics
• Fairies and tradition
• Fairies and the Gothic
• Fairies and horror
• Fairies in media and popular culture
• Fairy and cosplay and lifestyle (from carnival to Halloween)
• Fairies in children’s literature and media
• Fairies in games, gaming and roleplay
• Fairy songs, music and performance
• Fairies, in/post-humanity, and hybridity
• Fairy merchandise
• Transformations in fairy representation
• Transnational and intercultural cultural approaches to fairies

The editors invite abstracts of 300 words on or around any of the above topics. Final essays will be 3,000 words in length.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is June 30, 2021. Please email your abstracts (together with a short bio, 100 words max) for consideration to both editors: Simon Bacon, baconetti@googlemail.com; and Lorna Piatti-Farnell, lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz.



Last updated March 4, 2021

NecronomiCon Providence 2021 now 2022

 A brief update on the status of NecronomiCon Providence 2021.

It appears the organizers and conference site have worked out their concerns. Per their website:

NOTE: given the very real dangers posed by the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, and in agreement with our local partners, we’ve decided to move the event to 2022 in order to minimize the risks involved while still bringing you the best event experience we can. We look forward to welcoming you all to Providence!

The event is now scheduled for summer 2022.

NecronimiCon Providence 2021 Updates

I just discovered some updates today on the NecronomiCon Providence event scheduled for August 2021.

At present, the convention is still scheduled as a face-to-face event, owing to its contract with the venue hotel, but it is possible that the convention will be postponed to 2022.

In related news, the academic track of NecronomiCon has been cancelled for 2021 due to travel restrictions.

Updated Thursday, 4 March 2020.

 

CFP Dark Economies: Anxious Futures, Fearful Pasts Conference (2/1/21; Falmouth, Eng. 7/7-9/21)

(There is a note at the bottom suggesting the event may be converted to a virtual one. I haven't seen notice of that as of this post. I assume details will appear on the conference site at https://darkeconomies.co.uk/.)

Dark Economies: Anxious Futures, Fearful Pasts Conference

https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2020/10/27/dark-economies-anxious-futures-fearful-pasts-conference

 

deadline for submissions: 

February 1, 2021

 

full name / name of organization: 

Falmouth University, UK 7 - 9 July 2021

 

contact email: 

ruth.heholt@falmouth.ac.uk

After the success of the Folk Horror in the Twenty First Century conference hosted by Falmouth University, we are holding another related conference in 2021.

 

We are aiming to have a face to face conference at the beautiful Falmouth Campus in Cornwall. With sub-tropical gardens and the beach nearby, there will be a ‘Welcome to Dark Falmouth’ cemetery walk above the lovely Swanpool lake, an art exhibition, a gig and street food in place of the more usual staid conference dinner. If we’re going to beat Covid we want to do it in style!*

 

The present is dark. With the rise of Covid-19, right-wing populism, global migrations and immigrations, continued violence, abuse and crime, prejudice and intolerance, there is increasing anxiety about the future. The Earth itself is under threat from environmental catastrophe and a mass extinction event is anticipated. The collapse of society, morality, and the environment was often also feared in the past, particularly in Gothic, horror and dystopian fictions and texts. What were the monsters of the past? What are our monsters now?

 

Anxieties and uncertainties abound in the age of the post-human and the post-digital. Ours is a world with the dark web and past and present dark economies. Yet, there is radicalism and light here too as boundaries are traversed, subverted and annihilated. Gender binaries are collapsing. The old patriarchal order is at least seriously under threat (if not yet quite dead) in the light of movements such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, Black Lives Matter and the LGTBQi wave of positivity. Capitalism is shaking and activism is reshaping the world.

 

This conference addresses these issues head on. By encouraging provocative, radical and respectful discussions, we aim to generate serious interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary engagements with scholars, practitioners, artists, and activists. The conference will look back to the past in its examination of how dark concerns and anxieties were envisioned, and to the future and the visionary imaginings of how things can be. The debates will range from the local to the global. While the conversations will be transnational, the setting for the conference will be Cornwall, UK. Historically associated with pirates, piskies, and general lawlessness, Cornwall is a Celtic fringe that literally hangs off the end of England. With sublime landscapes, surging seas and deep mines, Cornwall is made up of black granite and makes the perfect backdrop for a conference on dark economies.

 

The papers called for and selected will be asked to address some of the following issues:

 

• Covid-19
• The climate emergency
• The destruction of the environment
• The politics and economies of fuel and energy
• Extinctions and annihilations
• Decadence and/or Degeneration
• Past fears of environmental changes (agricultural revolution and legal amendments) and their effects on the rural population
• Degeneration and moral disintegration
• The ‘monsters’ of the present and past, and their representations and responses in Horror and Gothic fictions and texts
• Crime and criminality throughout the ages
• The dark side of gender abuse and violence in the time of  #MeToo and Incel rages
• Anxieties around the digital – the dark web, AI and the non-human
• Consideration of the post-human
• Slavery: modern and historical
• Issues of immigration and displacement
• Gendered fears
• Fears surrounding progress: industrialisation, new technologies, medical scientific and advances
• Fears and anxieties surrounding colonisation
• Dystopian representations of the future
• Dystopian representations from the past
• Historic ecological visions
• Folklore and Folk Horror
• Dark economies and tourism in the regions and localities, including Cornwall
• The rise of populism
• Racism in politics and society

 

Each pper will present a clear challenge to conventional and traditional ways of thinking. The aim of the conference is to explore the fears of the past and the contemporary, as well as the grave anxiety being expressed by many groups and individuals about the future – for both humanity and the world.

 

Please send 250 word abstracts + a short bio to: Darkeconomiesconference@gmail.com

 

We also welcome panel proposals, ideas for screenings of short films, or workshop proposals.

 

Submission deadline: 1 February 2021

 

* However, if the darkness continues we will move the conference online or to a blended format.

Last updated October 28, 2020