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Hello ICFA 38 Attendees!
A few reminders:
Please make sure to renew your membership and register for the conference. Early Registration ends on January 14th. Attendees should book their room at the Airport Marriott Lakeside no later than January 31st. Lastly, submissions for the Emerging Scholar Award are due on February 1st.
The call for papers for articles for the sections “Monograph” and “Miscellaneous” for the Vol. V n.º1 issue of Brumal. Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico /Brumal. Research Journal on the Fantastic is now open.
Scholars who wish to contribute to either of these two sections should send us their articles by June 30, 2017, registering as authors on our web page. The Guidelines for Submissions may be found on the Submissions section of the web page.
Monographic issue “The Fantastic and the Urban” (José Duarte and Ana Daniela Coelho, Coords.)
Deadline: June 30, 2017
There is a special connection between the Fantastic and the Urban, particularly in a subgenre like the Urban Fantastic, which describes works that are mainly set in the urban space. These matters have become increasingly popular since the late 90’s with well-known works as, for instance, Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman, 1996) or Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon, 1997). Exploring themes like the coexistence between the real and imagined worlds or the inscription of myths, magic or the supernatural in real cities, these works subvert the codes of reality with increasing complexity, presenting alternatives and visions that question identities and representations, and also reflect upon the cultural and social values of the nations they personify.
The objective of this monographic issue is to offer, in a series of essays, a broader but still specialized view on the urban and the fantastic, as well as the possible and the impossible, by focusing on different artistic expressions (literature, cinema, television series, comics/manga, among others), to analyze in depth the urban fantastic produced around the world. The monograph will consider works that not only explore the Urban Fantastic subgenre, but also those focusing on specific relationships between the urban experience and the fantastic, the real and the imagined, the futuristic and the historical settings, and other genres/works related to this topic.
Brumal will only consider works of a fantastic nature as defined by the journal, hereby only accepting papers on other non-mimetic genres such as the marvellous or science fiction if and when they are related to fantastic narrative.
Some areas of research include, but are not limited to:
• Urban Fantastic and the City;
• Cities: between reality and Fantasy;
• Place, Space and Liminality;
• Underground Tales/Real and Fantastic Urban Creatures;
• Adaptations (different perspectives: television, cinema, visual arts, comics, etc.);
• Past and Present Representations of the Urban Space;
• Videogames;
• Adult/Teen Fiction;
• Utopias/Dystopias;
• Possible and Impossible Urban Worlds.
Miscellaneous Section
This Miscellaneous section is open all year to receive any type of article on any of the diverse artistic manifestations of the fantastic (narrative, theater, film, comics, painting, photography, video games), whether theoretical, critical, historical or comparative in nature, concerning the fantastic in any language or from any country, from the nineteenth century to the present.
CfP: SFRA 2017 Unknown Pasts/ Unseen Futures
University of California, Riverside
28 June to 1 July 2017
We invite submissions to the 2017 SFRA Conference, held at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Riverside.
Our conference theme is Unknown Pasts/ Unseen Futures and our keynote speaker is Nnedi Okorafor.
Please see our CfP for more information: SFRA CFP 2017.
Pirates: Lifting the Jolly Roger in History and Popular Culture
Edited by Antonio Sanna
Since the times of their brutal aggressions to vessels journeying over the seven seas, pirates have firmly captured the imagination of writers, directors and producers all over the world and have elicited an incredible impact over contemporary culture. Pirates have been studied and represented by Daniel Defoe, Walter Scott, Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, but they have also appeared in the works of William Shakespeare, Ann Radcliffe and Lord Byron. Although their fictional representation is very different from the reality of the (either duller or more atrocious) actions that they actually committed, these eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers have modelled and defined the figure of the maritime outlaws that is still firmly impressed in our minds: expert mariners, bold hunters for treasures who were often obsessed with revenge, vulgar and ruthless predators roaming the coasts and the deep seas of the five continents. Cinema has equally invested in such a figure, from Albert Parker’s The Black Pirate (1926), Michael Curtiz’s The Black Hawk (1940) and Disney’s Treasure Island (1950) to the successful saga Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-2017) – whose most recent instalment will be in cinemas in 2017 – and Shinji Aramaki’s Space Pirate Captain Harlock (2013). Nevertheless, the figure of the pirate has not been confined to these media and has freely roamed through theatre, the visual arts, manga, anime, video games and park rides, thus demonstrating its centrality in contemporary popular culture.
This anthology will explore the figure of the pirate from multidisciplinary perspectives. This volume seeks previously-unpublished essays that explore the heterogeneous representations of both historical figures and fictional characters. We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the subject. There are indeed several themes worth exploring when analyzing the historical and fictional representation of pirates, utilizing any number of theoretical frameworks of your choosing. Contributions may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:
Historical pirates (in the seven seas)
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literary pirates
Twentieth-century and contemporary representations of pirates in literature
Manga and anime
Pirates in the visual arts and on the stage
The Pirates of the Caribbean saga
Video games
Pirates and philosophy
Pirates and sea creatures (including monsters and mermaids)
Humour, Black Humour and the Macabre
Gender and queer readings
Ecocriticism
Alienation and misperception, conformity/nonconformity
Disfigurement, deformity and (dis)ability
Death and the afterlife
Adaptations, Remakes and Appropriations
Music in films on pirates
Fan practice and fan communities
The anthology will be organized into thematic sections around these topics and others that emerge from submissions. We are open to works that focus on other topics as well and authors interested in pursuing other related lines of inquiry. Feel free to contact the editor with any questions you may have about the project and please share this announcement with colleagues whose work aligns with the focus of this volume.
Submit a 300-500 word abstract of your proposed chapter contribution, a brief CV and complete contact information to Dr. Antonio Sanna (isonisanna@hotmail.com) by 1 March 2016. Full chapters of 4000-6000 words would be due by June/July 2017. Note: all full chapters submitted will be included subject to review.
Tolkien Conference at University of Vermont
deadline for submissions:
February 1, 2017
full name / name of organization:
14th Annual Tolkien at UVM Conference
contact email:
cvaccaro@uvm.edu
14th Annual Tolkien at UVM Conference
Saturday April 8th, 8;30am-5:30pm, Campus
Theme: Romances in Middle-earth
Organizers of the Tolkien at UVM Conference are now accepting abstracts for the 2017 conference until the February 1st deadline.
We welcome papers on every topic but will give priority to those addressing the theme. Tolkien wrote that he had the romances of William Morris in mind when writing The Lord of the Rings. We also know he was ispired by the Arthurian romances of England, Wales, and France. Tolkien’s own interlacing narrative style is very much derived from this medieval genre (while also anticipating the Post-modern). Additionally, Tolkien wrote of numerous romances of great intensity and poignncy within his narrative framework. Papers might consider these within the context of miscegenation, gender fluidity, or the homo-erotic, or they might explore other areas of interest.
Please submit abstracts by the February 1st deadline to Christopher Vaccaro at cvaccaro@uvm.edu
Please find attached the Call-for-Papers for the Current Research in Speculative Fiction (CRSF)’s 2017 postgraduate conference! CRSF is a conference for postgrads by postgrads in the fields of speculative, fantastic, and weird fiction (and all related areas).
Returning for it’s 7th year, the conference will take place at the University of Liverpool, on the 9th of June 2017, and this year we have the pleasure of welcoming Dr Bernice Murphy from Trinity College Dublin and Dr Robert Maslen from the University of Glasgow.
The deadline for abstracts is the 31st of March 2017.
CFP: Star Wars and Folkloristics
by John Price
The Folk Awakens: Star Wars and Folkloristics in Popular Culture
A special issue of New Directions in Folklore
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ndif
The resurgence of the Star Wars film franchise provides folklorists a unique insight into the performance, reception, transmission, and creation of folklore in real-time. As a trademarked franchise, Star Wars encompasses movies, television shows, toys, games, clothing, and countless other forms of consumable popular culture artifacts. Allegedly built as a new version of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, the franchise lives in the culture as more than just popular productions, but as a hybrid narrative form that imposes a top-down narrative structure onto a fan community that reciprocates and participates through performative world building. The producers of Star Wars and its fans have in effect created an entire folk system around the movies, including fan-productions like books, costumes, and holidays. This special issue of New Directions in Folklore will frame Star Wars and its role in culture in the context of folkloristic and ethnographic methodologies. Contributions are welcome from any folkloristic perspective on topics such as the following:
The intersection of popular culture and folklore
The transmission of narratives over generations
Embodied fandom and cosplay
Vernacular religions and its evolution
Crafting fandom in a hybridized digital culture
Nostalgia and memory through cinema
The complexities of narrative
The future of the narrative museum
The question of authorship and formal folklore
The power of cinema on popular culture
Ethnographic analyses of fan communities
The role of digital culture in formalizing vernacular culture
Proposals accepted no later than January 31, 2017. Please submit your name, CV, abstract (200-300 words), and a brief note on your research methods (~100 words) to newdirectionsinfolklore@gmail.com.
All submissions should be original works that are not previously published or currently under consideration for publication.
CFP for Console-ing Passions Panel: Black Mirror, Bleak Future: Representations of Technology, Feminism, and the Future
deadline for submissions:
January 10, 2017
full name / name of organization:
Console-ing Passions
contact email:
brookeb@usc.edu
CFP for Console-ing Passions Panel: Black Mirror, Bleak Future: Representations of Technology, Feminism, and the Future
Brooke Bennett (University of Southern California) and Emma Bedor Hiland (University of Minnesota) are looking to construct a panel for the Console-ing Passions Conference taking place at East Carolina University (Greenville, NC) during July 27-29, 2017. The conference submission deadline is Monday, January 16, 2017.
We are creating a panel proposal on the Channel 4 (2011-2014)/Netflix (2014-present) program Black Mirror, and are soliciting other potential participants whose work on the show relates to one (or more than one) of the following:
Technology and identity;
Feminist media studies;
Governmentality;
Social media;
Digital and/or affective labor.
Proposals on aspects of Black Mirror that are not listed above are also welcome. If interested in joining the panel, please submit an abstract of 250 words to Brooke Bennett at brookeb@usc.edu by Tuesday, January 10, 2017.
Mythmoot IV: Invoking Wonder
deadline for submissions:
February 28, 2017
full name / name of organization:
Mythgard Institute by Signum University
contact email:
events@mythgard.org
Mythmoot combines academic conference, literary creative meet-up, and fan convention all into one. It develops studies in fields not considered primary in literary scholarship such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, gothic, folklore, children’s literature, etc., in a way that academics and enthusiasts will appreciate.
Mythgard Institute from Signum University is turning Mythmoot IV into a secondary-world experience for academics, friends, and fans. Confirmed guest speakers are Dr. Verlyn Flieger and Dr. Mike Drout, with more special guests to be announced. Mythmoot IV will be held from June 1st to 4th, 2017, at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, VA. This year’s theme is…
Invoking Wonder
Mythmoot IV is accepting Paper, Panel, Workshop, and Creative Presentation (storytelling, music, visual arts, etc.) Proposals related to:
Imaginative Literature — Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction from Mary Shelley and H.P Lovecraft to Ursula Le Guin and Neil Gaiman.
Tolkien and Inklings Studies — Research on the works and lives of the Inklings as they interact with each other, their modern context, and classic and imaginative literature.
Germanic Philology — Explore relationships between language and literature in the past, present, and future.
Anything Else — Academic research or creative presentations that traverse literature in its wondrous variety.
~ Paper proposals should be approximately 100 words. Presentations will be under 20 minutes long.
~ Panel proposals must be submitted in one inclusive email, with approximately 100 words describing each paper. Panels will be presented in 1-hour sessions.
~ Workshop proposals should be approximately 200 words. Workshops will be allotted 1 hour in total.
~ Creative Presentation proposals should provide a short description (fewer than 200 words) of the presentation. Creative Presentations should be no longer than 30 minutes.
Proposals are accepted through 28 February 2017. Send proposals to events@mythgard.org with a subject line of “Paper Proposal,” “Panel Proposal,” “Workshop Proposal,” or “Creative Presentation Proposal.” Include a brief bio and A/V requirements. Please note that submission of any proposal is considered agreement by the presenter to attend Mythmoot IV and deliver the presentation if it is accepted. Presentations of any form will not be delivered in absentia.
Visit http://mythgard.org/events/mythmoot-iv/ and http://signumuniversity.org/event/mythmoot-iv-invoking-wonder/ for more details and registration.