International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Type:
Call for Papers

Date:
October 31, 2018

Location:
Ohio, United States

Subject Fields:
Cultural History / Studies, Popular Culture Studies, Women’s & Gender History / Studies, Humanities, Digital Humanities

Call for Chapters: “Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” (edited collection)

In advance of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s tenth anniversary in 2021, this collection of essays seeks to investigate how the game hails its player as “dragonborn,” a calling that merges political, social, and religious narratives in the game toward the player’s assumption of the dragonborn identity position: savior of Skyrim. Our collection aims to identify and explore these hailed positions within the cultural ecology of the game, which is always connected to the player’s out-of-game realities. Situated on the threshold of intricately detailed “cultural” cities and the expansive “natural” wilderness, the dragonborn negotiates the complex political workings of life under the civil war between the rebel Stormcloaks and the Imperial Legion.

Being Dragonborn will be the first collection of critical inquiries into the Elder Scrolls franchise. Skyrim depicts the complexities of the video game medium as seen in the player’s precarious position between the in-game fantasy world and out-of-game subjectivities, realities, and positions. The game’s narrative, gameplay, iconography, music, and in-game mechanics and items are invested in a romanticized invention of medieval life and architecture, colonialist and militaristic structures of play amid civil war, and particular constructions of gender, class, race, and language. How these critical issues coalesce in the game, and through the experience of playing the game, make Skyrim a fertile space to consider what this winner of over 200 Game of the Year awards teaches its loyal players, modders, and enthusiasts.

The collection would be geared toward the interest of game studies scholars, game designers, Skyrim players, and instructors who may already incorporate Skyrim into the classroom—many of us wearing several of these proverbial hats simultaneously. The collection’s title—Being Dragonborn—speaks to the primacy of player ontology and identity within the game by means of the game’s colonial narratives, medieval resonances, in-game labor and economic conditions, aesthetically sublime environment, and its consumptive and productive practices. In an attempt to go beyond fraught dichotomies and territorial disputes within Game Studies that restrict discourse on the video game medium, the editors seek diverse and interdisciplinary approaches, readings, and methodologies.

The editors are looking for fresh, interpretive analyses of Skyrim that call attention to issues of culture, politics, theory, practices, game design, and the gaming industry. The collection welcomes contributions from emerging and established scholars on topics including the following:

Visual aesthetics of Skyrim – the sublime and the immanent 

Post-colonial approaches to the social and militaristic game narrative and play 

Neomedievalist approaches to Skyrim—tradition, lore, nostalgia, architecture 

Critical race theory—the ex-nomination of whiteness in Skyrim; racial hierarchies; 
confronting the racialized other in the game 

Religious studies approaches to Skyrim narratives, mysticism, or mythologies 

Politics and simulation of (civil) war in the game 

Music studies—in game songs, music, and covers that operate harmonically and/or 
contrapuntally with other in-game elements 

Marxist approaches to in-game labor, leisure, property ownership, 
production/consumption practices, and idyllic domestic spaces 

Linguistic and cultural studies of Dovahzul, the dragon language embedded in Skyrim 
shouts, word walls, names, and conversation. 

Modding Skyrim—analysis of modding community, modding interfaces, IP and 
economic concerns related to modders/industry
Gender, sex, and sexuality in Skyrim—queer readings of Skyrim
Psychoanalytic approaches to player experience, ludic forms, and game narrative 

Studies of spatiotemporality in the game and its historico-cultural affordances 

Skyrim VR—technical and/or metaphysical considerations of Skyrim in light of Skyrim’s 
recent VR release. 

Feminist and eco-feminist approaches to Skyrim ecologies 

Teaching with Skyrim—affordances and dangers of gaming pedagogies 

Philosophical and theoretical arguments emerging out of gameplay or fan experience 

Studies that account for the material engagements of the game’s design, marketing, 
promotion

400-word abstracts are due by October 31, 2018. Please send abstracts in .doc(x) format and queries to Mike Piero (mikepiero@gmail.com) and Marc A. Ouellette (mouellet@odu.edu) with the subject heading “Being Dragonborn.” This collection is under contract with McFarland & Company for their Studies in Gaming series, edited by Matthew Wilhelm Kapell. If your abstract is accepted, full essays between 5,000-7,500 words will be due by May 31, 2019. 
When submitting an abstract, please provide: 


Name, rank/position and affiliation, email address 

Proposed chapter title 

400-word abstract 

Up to 5 keywords for the essay 

Do you plan to include figures or images in the essay?


Contact Info:
Mike Piero, Associate Professor of English, Cuyahoga Community College, and Ph.D. Candidate, English, Old Dominion University, mikepiero@gmail.com


Marc A. Ouellette, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English, Old Dominion University and Learning 
Games Initiative Research Fellow, mouellet@odu.edu 


Contact Email:
mikepiero@gmail.com

CFP, edited volume: Food and Drink in Science Fiction

“But now, we must eat!”
Food and Drink in Science Fiction

Deadline for abstracts: November 15, 2018

Edited by Cindy Miller, Steve Rabitsch, and Michael Fuchs this volume will discuss food and drink in science fiction across media—movies, television shows, literature, video games, comics, etc. Of course, as forms of sustenance, food and drink are among the essential elements of life. But this is also precisely why representations of food and drink are always ripe with meaning. As this book will show, science fiction uses food and drink to explore pertinent issues ranging from the homogenization of food in a globalized economy to the exploitation of our natural resources and the attendant phenomena of water, air, and soil pollution, deforestation, and the scarcification of food.

If you are interested in contributing to this volume, please submit a 500-word proposal to science.fiction.food@gmail.com. All submissions will be acknowledged. If you do not receive a confirmation of receipt within 48 hours, you may assume that your email hasn’t reached us for some reason. In that case, please re-submit. Please also direct any questions you might have to the email address indicated above.
We will most likely first approach European university presses with this project, as they generally move ahead faster than their American counterparts.

Please check out this attached CFP for more details, and do not hesitate to drop us a line if you have any questions.

Analog Games and Gender

deadline for submissions:
September 10, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Steven Dashiell

contact email:
steven.dashiell@umbc.edu

Analog Games and Gender

Panel for Game Studies Section

PCA 2019

Washington DC

April 17-20,2019

Concepts of gender have been a cornerstone of contemporary discussion in the field of game studies (Hayes 2011; Kafai et al 2008; Shaw 2014; Williams, Ratan, and Harrison 2011) . While much of the research is firmly tied to video games, understandings of gender in analog games has slowly come to the fore. Increased media related to live action role playing games (larp), the unpredicted resurgence of Dungeons & Dragons, and the longevity of collectible card games like Magic The Gathering demonstrate analog games as a durable subsection of game studies that is ripe for academic analysis in terms of gender.

This panel hopes to give rise to the critical research occurring in analog games among the various disciplines which contribute to popular culture. Building on the strong work in feminist theory, critical theory, queer theory, broader humanities and the social sciences, the panel will examine the panoply of academic conversations involving the intersection of non-digital games and gender. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

– Portrayal of gender in analog games
– Limitations or augmentations tied to gender representations in analog games
– Perceptions of participation in various analog games based on gender
– Visibility of gender in analog game art and text
– Critical, feminist, or queer analyses of gendered artifacts or ephemera
– Gaming power structures (GM, DM, leader) and gender
– Media related to analog games (e.g. Critical Role, Friends at the Table) and gender
– Historical appeals of analog game participation via the lens of gender
– Examinations of masculinity or femininity in analog games systems, players, or characters

Interested individuals should submit an abstract to Steven Dashiell at steven.dashiell@umbc.edu before 10 September 2018. If sufficient abstracts are submitted, we may request more than one panel.

Call for Papers: Crafting the Long Tomorrow: New Conversations & Productive Catalysts Across Science and Humanities Boundaries as the Global Emergency Worsens

Deadline: Oct. 22, 2018

Crafting the Long Tomorrow is a three-day, small-scale conference at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 near Tucson, Arizona. Biosphere 2 has emerged as a leading site for arts, sciences and humanities dialogues. This meeting, which coincides with the 101st anniversary of the death of the world’s last Carolina Parakeet, will encourage innovative and inventive presentations and conversation, with an eye toward public-facing engagement outcomes. It will take place Feb. 21-24, 2019, and is currently sponsored by the University of Arizona (Office of Research, Discovery and Innovation; College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; College of Science) and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society/Ludwig Maximillian University and the Deutsches Museum, Munich, which provided initial seed money. Additional sponsors are, we hope, forthcoming.

The physical sciences tell us civilization and the biosphere face extreme consequences from global trends humans have set in motion, especially climate change. Multiple disciplines can illuminate both the global emergency and the long tomorrow’crafting approaches, some likely deeply unsettling, that could extend the lifespan of our species and others. Some still deliberate about the messiness of what used to be called the two cultures of arts and sciences, even as scholars have usefully blurred those boundaries. However, disciplinary divides both continue to be breached in welcome fashion by collaborations in such emerging fields as ‘art/sci,’ ‘environmental humanities,’ ‘geohumanities’ and more. (If you haven’t heard those terms, however, you are not alone, and we’re speaking to you too.)

Still, reflexive attitudes toward technology and economics, in particular, can sometimes foreclose debate and discussion. Such lacunae help no one. Neither do the insufficiencies of jargon, those specialized terms or methodological assumptions that are not shared outside fields.

How might a geographer talk to a particle physicist about the kind of future we (which ‘we’’) want to craft’ How might a poet talk to a climate engineer? A theorist or a philosopher to a conservation biologist or a geneticist?especially about the Anthropocene’s multiple challenges? Science and technology studies scholars certainly have built bridges among humanities/technological/scientific fields, but those of us not in STS might have our own ways of crossing. How do we breach jargon and present perspectives and solutions for the wider publics of policy-makers and others? How do we involve diverse publics?

This conference is designed to be more conversational than presentational and so we have some particular approaches to presentations that are rather out of the ordinary. We are discouraging traditional paper readings and/or PowerPoint slide-shows in favor of shorter, more energetic talks and more innovative visual formats. It will be a single-track conference so that everyone attends all sessions.

We will ask those interested in attending to offer a 500-word ‘idea pitch’ for a talk that would be no more than 5-7 minutes long. (Option 1). We want to discourage formal reading of traditional papers in favor of grouping individuals (and pairs/teams of attendees) into panel discussions. The idea pitch could include a brief precis of one’s research (a research briefing) but mostly should focus on questions and concerns regarding the topics of the conference. The conference will have two broad themes: 1) Arts/sciences or, simply, multi-disciplinary developments and opportunities in research, creative activity, teaching and community engagement across multiple, sometimes previously unlinked fields as we face tremendous social, political and environmental changes. 2) Specific technologies and approaches (such as climate engineering, ecomodernism, dark ecology, science fictional thinking, etc.) to the present-day and the looming future.

We will encourage presenters to bear in mind the broad diversity of the audience and to avoid jargon or, at least, explain clearly what particular terms, methods, etc. mean. Also to that end, we also seek 500-word proposals for short slide Pecha Kucha presentations on KEY WORDS and KEY CONCEPTS in the arts, humanities, engineering, sciences, etc. (Option 2). We see these presentations as critical to establishing the relevance and understanding of such terms as risk, theory (as used by scientists), critical theory in the humanities, entropy, transgression, intervention, ecosystem services, the new materialism, hybridity, social construction, biodiversity, epigenetics, wildness, the land ethic and so on. As you can see from this list, we are casting a wide net. We hope the Pecha Kucha talks will give us a common ground, a bit of playful informality despite the importance of the topics and spark discussions. Don’t know what a Pechu Kucha is? That’s cool. Look it up. They’re fun! and illuminating. Maybe you want to do both Option 1 and Option 2?

We are also working hard to make the conference free of registration, lodging and meal costs.

We wish to cultivate synthesis among specialists and create work among old and new collaborators to make a public-facing difference in how we are imagining and making the future of cultures and creatures across the Earth. We will ask presenters (individuals or teams) to craft and present a plan by February 2020 for doing at least two of the following: an innovative non-expert engagement project; an article in a well-read public venue; curriculum developed for a team-taught course; a book proposal; a scholarly journal article; grants; other informal community dialogue; a library or museum display; and so on. In order to encourage this rather ambitious outcome activity, we will be seeking additional funding to serve as post-conference fellowships. Award is contingent on completion of the outcomes. The stipend level will depend on additional funding. We see this as part of a permanent post-conference networking development.

Organizers will also select a series of presentation materials from the conference to publish as a mini-proceedings in a relevant venue. Videos of talks and conversations will be posted on the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society webpage and YouTube channel, as well as relevant University of Arizona channels. Conference organizers will use social media to drive traffic to these once they are public. We envision at least one public dialogue and/or talk held at B2.

That said, the conference will be on the smaller side’between 60 and 100 participants’in order to foster a respectful and challenging community.

We especially encourage interest from graduate students and junior faculty and those from non-Western backgrounds and institutions. Proposals due: Oct. 22, 2018. Please send no more than 500 words for each talk option, with additional 100-word biographies of presenter(s). E-mail proposals or questions with Crafting the Long Tomorrow in the subject heading to Christopher Cokinos, University of Arizona: cokinos@email.arizona.edu

Speculative Fiction, Pedagogy, and Social Change (Seminar), NeMLA

Primary Area / Secondary Area
Pedagogy & Professional / Interdisciplinary Humanities

Chair(s)
Meghan K. Riley (University of Waterloo)

Abstract

In their 2011 text, Teaching Science Fiction, Andy Sawyer and Peter Wright posit that science fiction is “one of the most effective genres for challenging the perspectives of a student body” (1). Yet Teaching Science Fiction is one of the few recent compendiums on teaching speculative fiction; the last significant scholarly focus on speculative fiction and pedagogy was in the 1970s and 1980s. The majority of publications after 2000 on teaching science fiction consider the teaching of science through science fiction. Very few of the more recent texts consider how instructors of science fiction might engage with concepts of social justice, or how instructors who teach social justice concepts could do so by engaging with speculative fiction literature.

The last decade has seen incredible progress in a genre that has been fraught with racism and sexism at least as much as it challenges it. With the mainstream success of Black Panther, N.K. Jemisin’s ouevre, Janelle Monae’s music and videos, Tomi Adeyemi’s book and movie deals, and Netflix series such as Black Lightning, it is clear that the authorship and readership of speculative fiction is changing.

Moreover, instructors in literature and the cognate disciplines are already – and have been for some time – teaching social justice concepts through speculative fiction. However, there is little scholarly conversation about why and how we do it, how to teach social justice through speculative fiction more effectively, or how to have successful conversations with administrators about teaching social justice through speculative fiction.

Proposals on secondary education and teacher education are particularly welcome.

Description

Instructors have taught social justice through speculative fiction for some time, but there are few recent publications – particularly comprehensive ones – that address social justice, pedagogy, and speculative fiction. This seminar asks instructors of speculative fiction and social justice to share their strategies, lesson plans, reading lists, and rationale, in order to develop (and hopefully maintain) a community of scholars interested in teaching social justice through speculative fiction. Proposals on secondary education and teacher education are particularly welcome.

To submit an abstract, please go to https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/17701.

More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in Contemporary Popular Culture (ICoMS Kalamazoo 2019)

deadline for submissions:
September 15, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Michael A Torregrossa / Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

contact email:
Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com

More than Marvel: Representations of Norse Mythology in Contemporary Popular Culture

Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

54th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

9-12 May 2019

Proposals due by 15 September 2018

Myths and legends from the Middle Ages remain important links to the past, and there has been much interest in recasting this material into post-medieval contexts, forging a bridge between our forebears and our modern selves. Creators of our own time have been especially prolific in reviving these stories for new audiences. The tales told of the gods of the Norsemen are one such medieval legacy to find currency today, and they have appeared in a variety of media, including comics. For example, Marvel Comics’ representation of the Norse god Thor has been an important element of its shared world since his debut in 1962, and, in its incorporation of the character into the Marvel Universe, the publisher has done much in the service of Medieval Studies through its widespread dissemination across the globe of a relatable depiction of the Norse Gods and the intricate mythology associated with them. Marvel’s account of Thor and his compatriots has also featured in an array of media beyond the pages of its long-running comic book series, and the recent release of three feature films centered around the Asgardian as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the world’s most popular and prosperous movie and television franchises, has provided additional texts to further knowledge of the Nine Worlds and its inhabitants. Nonetheless, while Marvel remains the most prominent creator of modern tales of the Norse gods, the company does not hold the exclusive rights to this material. Other writers, comics creators, filmmakers, television producers, and game designers have also appropriated the stories and legends of the gods of Asgard and further individuals within the cosmology of the Nine Worlds for their own purposes, yet their work remain relatively unknown when compared to the phenomenal success and reach of Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios.

It is the intent of this session to shed the spotlight on these other examples of Nordic-inspired medievalisms and to bring them into ongoing conversations and debates about the reception of the medieval in the post-medieval world. We are especially interested in the reach of Marvel’s versions beyond the United States and how other approaches to the material engage with, react to, or ignore Marvel’s work. In addition, we hope to include coverage of texts from non-Western media (like anime and manga) that have embraced the traditions of the Norse gods in innovative ways.

Potential Topics: (a good starting point is the “Norse mythology in popular culture” page on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_mythology_in_popular_culture)

The Almighty Johnsons
American Gods
Day of the Giants (Lester del Rey)
Fafner in the Azure
Doctor Who
Everworld (K. A. Applegate)
Gods of Asgard (Erik A. Evensen)
Graphic Myths and Legends series
Hammer of the Gods (Michael Avon Oeming and Mark Wheatley)
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys / Xena: Warrior Princess
The Incredible Hulk Returns
Last Days of the Justice Society of America
The Life Eaters (David Brin and Scott Hampton)
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (Rick Riordan)
The Mask
The Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
Mythquest
Norse Myths: A Viking Graphic Novel series
Odyssey of the Amazons (DC Comics)
Oh! My Goddess!
Ragnarok (Myung Jin Lee) / Ragnarok Online
Stargate
Supernatural
Valhalla (Peter Madsens)
Witches of East End

Presentations will be limited to 15 or 20 minutes depending on final panel size.

Interested individuals should submit, no later than 15 September 2018, (1) paper proposal or abstract of approximately 500 words, (2) a 250 to 500-word academic biographical narrative, and (3) a completed Participant Information Form (accessible at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions) to the organizers at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com using “More than Marvel” as their subject heading.

In planning your proposal, please be aware of the policies of the Congress (available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/policies).

Further information about the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and its outreach efforts can be accessed at The Medieval in Popular Culture (https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/).

Of especial interest, the Association hosts sites devoted to both medieval-themed films and comics. These can be accessed at Medieval Studies on Screen (http://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/) and The Medieval Comics Project (https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/), respectively.

“I’d Rather Be A Cyborg”: Posthuman and Feminist Approaches to Literary Conceptions of Bodies

deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2018

full name / name of organization:
NeMLA 2019

contact email:
forj15@yorku.ca

NeMLA

Washington D.C.

March 19-23

From Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg” to Rosie Bradiotti’s “Vitruvian woman,” posthuman studies and feminist studies have both used images of the female body as tangible metaphors in order to disrupt and critique boundaries and binaries. This roundtable will explore 20th and 21st century literature that illuminates the entanglement and correspondence between posthuman and feminist discourses, specifically in the notion of the female or post-gender body.

Papers for this roundtable are invited to reflect the following questions through literary readings:

What are the conceptual premises for the modern female body and how are they challenged in literary narratives? how do bodily metaphors mobilize, catalyze, or destroy identity? What does it mean to integrate female (or any body) with technology? What trends, novel methods, gaps, or fallbacks are present as posthuman and feminist theories converge? How are bodies shown as political agents through posthuman approaches, particularly in relation to nonhuman figures? Further, how do narrative strategies of the body translate across media or time periods compare or contrast?

Possible approaches include, but are not limited to:

-Evocations and portrayals of the bodies as metaphors in literature

-Hybridity and crossing boundaries

-Processes of inclusivity and exclusivity

– Conceptualizations (or re-conceptualizations) of agency

– Implications of gender and performativity

– Gendered Space and Binaries

– Comparing literary to media representations

– Implications of embodiment (animal bodies, dead bodies, and techne-bodies)

– Adaptations of bodies

– Transhumanism

– Narratives of Post-gender

Session Format: 3-8 participants give brief, informal presentations (8-10 minutes) and the session is open to conversation and debate between participants and the audience.

Sumbit Abstracts for NeMLA 50th anniversary convention here: http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention/callforpapers.html

Contact Forrest Johnson (York University)

forj15@yorku.ca

Brutal Themes in Brutal Times: Teaching Edgar Allan Poe in a Culture of Violence

deadline for submissions:
September 30, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Northeast Modern Language Association

contact email:
chendricks@goodwin.edu

This panel seeks papers that explore pedagogical strategies for teaching the horror stories of Edgar Allan Poe and his contemporaries. With the looming, true-to-life violence bombarding us every day in the news and in other media outlets, the macabre tales of our favorite authors resonate too well. Teaching the violent and psychologically disturbing short stories of Poe, and others writing in this genre, can be challenging in the current climate of violence in America. Exploring the depths and darkness of humanity through literature can be traumatic for contemporary students who are bombarded with violent words and images every day through social media and news outlets. This panel seeks papers that explore pedagogical strategies devoted to travelling through dark literary themes while maintaining a safe atmosphere in the classroom. How can instructors align class discussions, specifically the ones that take a sociopolitical turn, to heal the contemporary student in an America riddled with nihilism, senseless violence, and psychological desperation? The significance of this panel is to uncover innovative teaching strategies when bringing students classic horror tales for discussion in the milieu of a terrorizing era in American history.