International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Gaming Disability: Disability Perspectives on Contemporary Video Games

Edited by Dr Katie Ellis, Dr Mike Kent & Dr Tama Leaver
Internet Studies, Curtin University

Abstracts Due 15 February 2017

Video games are a significant and still rapidly expanding area of popular culture. Media Access Australia estimated that in 2012 some twenty percent of gamers were people with a disability, yet, the relationship between video gaming, online gaming and disability is an area that until now has been largely under explored. This collection seeks to fill that gap. We are looking for scholars from both disability studies and games studies, along with game developers and innovators and disability activists and other people with interest in this area to contribute to this edited collection.

We aim to highlight the history of people with disabilities participating in video games and explore the contemporary gaming environment as it relates to disability. This exploration takes place in the context of the changing nature of gaming, particularly the shift from what we might consider traditional desktop computer mediation onto mobile devices and augmented reality platforms. The collection will also explore future possibilities and pitfalls for people with disabilities and gaming.

Areas of interest that chapters might address include

· Disability narratives and representation in gaming

· Accessibility of gaming for people with disabilities

· Mods, hacks and alterations to games and devices for and by people with disabilities

· Augmented reality games and disability

· Disability gaming histories

· Mobile gaming platforms and disability

· Specific design elements (such as sound) in terms of designing accessible games

· Gaming, television and disability

· Future directions for disability and gaming

Submission procedure:

Potential authors are invited to submit chapter abstracts of no more than 500 words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords, and a brief bio, by email to Dr Mike Kent by 15 February 2017. (Please indicate in your proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you have or will gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will receive a response by 15 March 2016, with those provisionally accepted due as chapters of approximately 6000 words (including references) by 15 June 2016. If you would like any further information, please contact Mike Kent.

About the editors:
The editors are all from the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University and have a history of successfully publishing edited collections in the areas of and gaming, disability, and new media.

Dr Katie Ellis is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Her research focuses on disability and the media extending across both representation and active possibilities for social inclusion. Her books include Disability and New Media (2011 with Mike Kent), Disabling Diversity (2008), Disability, Ageing and Obesity: Popular Media Identifications (2014; with Debbie Rodan & Pia Lebeck), Disability and the Media (2015; with Gerard Goggin), Disability and Popular Culture (2015) and her recent edited collection with Mike Kent Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives (2017).

Dr Mike Kent is a senior lecturer and Head of Department in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Mike’s research focus is on people with disabilities and their use of, and access to, information communication technology and the Internet. His other area of research interest is in higher education and particularly online education, as well as online social networking platforms. His book, with Katie Ellis, Disability and New Media was published in 2011 and his edited collection, with Tama Leaver, An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, was released in 2014. His latest edited collection, with Katie Ellis, Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives is available 2017, along with his forthcoming edited collections Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education: What went right, what went wrong and where to now, with Rebecca Bennett and Chinese Social Media Today: Critical Perspectives with Katie Ellis and Jian Xu.

Dr Tama Leaver is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. He researches online identities, digital media distribution and networked learning. He previously spent several years as a lecturer in Higher Education Development, and is currently also a Research Fellow in Curtin’s Centre for Culture and Technology. His book Artificial Culture: Identity, Technology and Bodies was released through Routledge in 2012 and his edited collections An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World’s Largest Social Network, with Mike Kent, was released in 2014 through Routledge, and Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape, with Michele Wilson, was released through Bloomsbury Academic in 2016.

Pippi to Ripley 4: Gender and Sexuality in Fantasy, Science Fiction and Comics

deadline for submissions:
January 15, 2017

full name / name of organization:
Katharine Kittredge

contact email:
kkittredge@ithaca.edu

Pippi to Ripley 4:Sex and Gender in Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Comics

Ithaca College, April 21-22, 2017

Keynote: SAMMUS performs her acclaimed nerdcore hip-hop and talks about race, geekdom, and feminism.

Special guest: Breakout YA author LJ Alonge

Pippi to Ripley 4 is an interdisciplinary conference with a focus on women and gender in imaginative fiction. We invite papers devoted to fictional characters in all media, including: comics, films, television, and video games as well as in folklore, mythology, and children’s and young adult literature. This year’s conference includes a special focus on:

Fan Intersectionality: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Fan Communities

But we also welcome paper proposals on all aspects of female/gender queer representation within an imaginative context, including but not limited to:

•Young female and queer characters, especially in media for young adults and children (The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Song of the Lioness, His Dark Materials, The Runaways, Power Pack)
•Women and their place in futuristic or other worlds (Dystopic Fiction, Classic Science Fiction, Fantasy Worlds, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Babylon 5, Firefly)
•Female and queer protagonists in urban fantasy and paranormal romance (Buffy, Anita Blake, Sookie Stackhouse, Clary Fray)
•Gender politics after the apocalypse (Revolution, Falling Skies, Oryx and Crake, Y: The Last Man)
•Teaching imaginative fictive/offering imaginative fiction-based programming at all levels (Buffy-based courses; graphic novel units, YA dystopias, children’s fantasy)
•Female and queer characters in updated/adapted fairy tales (Once Upon a Time, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Snow White and the Huntsman, Grimm)
•The women of superhero films/television with a special focus on differently abled and gender non-conforming characters (Jessica Jones, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agents of SHIELD)
•Female-focused comic book series (Ms. Marvel,Wonder Woman, Pretty Deadly, Rocket Girl)

•Horrific women and women in horror (American Horror Story, Lamia, Carrie, Mama)
•Science fiction and reproductive body horror (Alien franchise, Twilight, Bloodchild)
•Cyberpunk and the redefinition of gender (William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Charles Stross)

Please send a 300-500 word abstract by January 15, 2017, to Katharine Kittredge, Ithaca College, Department of English, kkittredge@ithaca.edu.

Dark Arts Journal is currently taking submissions for two separate calls:

The Dark Arts Journal 3.1

The Dark Arts Journal is pleased to announce a call for papers for issue 3.1 for the topic of “Gothic Studies Today.” We invite innovative submissions on any aspect of the field of Gothic studies as it stands, including philosophical, theoretical or inter-disciplinary approaches to the area. Possible topics may cover, but are by no means limited to the following ideas:

Gothic studies and philosophy or literary theory
The interdisciplinary Gothic – theology/biblical studies/politics/art/media/sciences
Contemporary challenges or debates in Gothic studies
New methodologies or emergent Gothic fields in culture, media, text or society
Gothic history – new approaches to Gothic texts, interrogations of the Gothic canon etc.
All submissions should be emailed to darkartsjournal@gmail.com for the attention of the editor with the subject line “Dark Arts 3.1 Submission.” Papers should be between 4000-5000 words and use the MHRA style guide for referencing and footnotes. We welcome contributions from scholars at any stage in their careers, but preference will be given to postgraduate and early career researchers.

The deadline for submissions is 31st December 2016.

***

The Dark Arts Journal 3.2 Special Issue: Gothic Capitalism

Capitalism: for some the source of modern evil, for others a being of monstrous power to be worshipped, for Marx, an inherently haunted phenomenon. Recent years has seen a two way exchange emerge between New Economic Critics now reading the market as inherently spectral and cultural scholars focusing on the presence of money in classic gothic tales; from Ebeneezer Scrooge being haunted by his financial partner, to Dracula bleeding money, to Edgar Allan Poe’s fictional doubles signifying emerging understandings of corporate personhood. Since the 2008 crash, an event that saw the devastating destruction encapsulated within the market inflicted on a global scale, more and more questions are being asked about how we understand finance, the market, and whether modern capitalism can survive, or indeed, if we can survive modern capitalism. We therefore invite submissions on the theme of Gothic Capitalism for a themed edition.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

*Evil bankers

*Possessed commodities, or gothic commodification of the body

*The monstrous market

*Gothic formulations of accumulation, capitalist competition, and debt

*Neoliberalism in the gothic

*Gothic understandings of capitalism i.e. zombie banks

*Capitalist re-readings of classic gothic texts and films

*The Gothic as a commodity, gothic advertising, gothic tourism

*Money as a haunted concept and/or item

Submissions should be between 6000-9000 words and use the MHRA style guide for referencing and footnotes. We welcome contributions from scholars at any stage in their careers, but preference will be given to postgraduate and early career researchers.

The deadline for submissions is the 8th January 2017. Submissions should be sent to gothiccapitalism@gmail.com

For more information, please visit https://thedarkartsjournal.wordpress.com/.

Comics Remixed: Adaptation and Graphic Narrative

deadline for submissions:
December 1, 2016

full name / name of organization:
The Graduate Comics Organization at the University of Florida

contact email:
schalifour@ufl.edu

The Graduate Comics Organization at the University of Florida invites applicants to submit proposals to the 14th UF Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels, “Comics Remixed: Adaptation and Graphic Narrative.” The conference will be held from Friday, April 7 to Sunday, April 9, 2017.

The ongoing blockbuster expansions of the Marvel and DC comics universes into parallel cinematic and television universes have brought to mainstream attention the adaptation of print comics into other media. Comics scholars are also paying closer attention to the importance of adaptation as an aspect of comics production and reception. Liam Burke’s The Comic Book Film Adaptation (2015) has addressed the boom in Hollywood comic book movies during the 21st century. Stephen Tabachnick and Esther Bendit Saltzman’s 2015 collection Drawn From the Classics analyzes comic adaptations of literary classics. In 2015, the University of Leicester hosted the symposium “Comics and Adaptation in the European Context,” seeking to “bring the fields of comics and adaptation studies into critical dialogue.”

When traditionally print-based comics are adapted to other media, or when comics adapt works from other media, how does this change our understanding of what comics can accomplish? Comics adaptations, and adaptations of comics, are not limited to only visual and/or lexical source material; for example, P. Craig Russell has authored a successful series of comics adaptations of operas, and Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home has been adapted into a hit Broadway musical. Comics have a long history of borrowing from other media without, strictly speaking, adapting plot lines or character biographies, as seen in Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s adoption of techniques from German Expressionist film in the early Batman stories. In addition, comics culture may be viewed as long having undergone a process of adaptation as a consequence of changes in media ecologies: as the Internet allows fans to connect in different ways, how does this affect the construction of comics fandoms? Moreover, how does the evolution of comics production contribute to a process of adaptation?

The goal of this conference is to invite more extensive and nuanced investigation into these and other problems of comics adaptation. What are the known possible relationships between comics and other media, including but not limited to alphabetic texts, film and television, music, fine art, street art, videogames, and photography? How does the process of adaptation affect our understanding of the genres, themes, or political/aesthetic concerns of works being adapted, and the results of adaptation? The scope of this conference is not limited to trans-media adaptation. Are there instances where comics may influence and borrow from actual life? What is the place of comics adaptations in the multiple media landscapes of the 21st century and beyond?

Possible topics may include but are not limited to:

Comics-to-film adaptation (Marvel’s The Avengers, The Dark Knight, Ghost World, Persepolis)
Film-to-comics adaptations (Jack Kirby’s 2001, Dark Horse’s Alien comics, Mike Mignola’s Dracula)
Comics and TV (Jessica Jones, Arrow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek)
Film’s influence on comics (German Expressionism and Batman)
Comics-to-music and music-to-comics (Fun Home, P. Craig Russell’s The Ring of Nibelung)
Literature-to-comics (Classics Illustrated, The Book of Ballads and Sagas by Charles Vess, The Graphic Canon)
Comics-to-literature (Elliot S. Maggin’s Superman: Last Son of Krypton, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: The Book of Dreams)
Comics-to-radio/audio (Superman radio show)
Comics that adapt news stories (Marvel 9/11 issue, Torso, Green River Killers, Rick Geary’s Treasury of Victorian Murder)
Nonfiction/Comics journalism (Joe Sacco’s graphic novels)
Fanfiction, fan art, and other fan works

In addition to traditional, 15-20 minute presentations, “Comics Remixed” will also consider discussion panels from multiple presenters coordinating around a central topic or theme. Proposals should be between 200 and 300 words, and are due December 1, 2016. All proposals should be submitted to Spencer Chalifour at schalifour@ufl.edu.

Hybridity and Monstrosity

deadline for submissions:
December 31, 2016

full name / name of organization:
University of Texas at Dallas Arts and Humanities Graduate Student Association

contact email:
utd.gsa@gmail.com

Conference website: http://www.utdgsaraw.com

University of Texas at Dallas
Arts & Humanities Graduate Student Association

utd.gsa@gmail.com

February 24 and February 25, 2017

Keynote speakers: Dr. Nnedi Okorafor and Dr. Stephen T. Asma

Theme: Hybridity and Monstrosity

Submission Deadline: December 31 , 2016

Early Acceptance Submission Deadline: November 15, 2016

The Arts & Humanities Graduate Student Association of the University of Texas at Dallas will hold its ninth annual RAW: Research, Art, Writing graduate symposium on February 24th and 25th at the UT Dallas campus in Richardson, TX. Organized by and for graduate students, RAW offers students from around the country the opportunity to share their work and ideas with peers across the humanities disciplines.

As part of our ongoing efforts to create access for graduate students and advanced undergraduates whose work challenges the boundaries of traditional academic endeavor, the theme for this year’s RAW symposium is “Hybridity and Monstrosity.” Hybridity of ideas or organisms is inherently creative, disrupting accepted cultural norms and producing new artifacts that may be mind-expanding, paradigm-shifting, or literally terrifying, but which always raise questions worthy of investigation. We encourage you to submit papers, artwork, or other projects that introduce new theoretical paradigms into the conventional discourse, that uncover the grotesque in the everyday, or that bridge the gap between seemingly incompatible modes of inquiry. We will, of course, also accept proposals for work that occupies the relatively tamer spaces in traditional humanities scholarship.

In this spirit of creative hybridity, we are excited to welcome two keynote speakers to the 2017 RAW symposium: Dr. Nnedi Okorafor and Dr. Stephen T. Asma.

Dr. Nnedi Okorafor is Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and an internationally recognized author of African-based science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism for both children and adults. Her 2015 novella B inti recently won both the 2016 Hugo and 2015 Nebula awards for best novella. Dr. Okorafor’s many other works of fiction include Who Fears Death (winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and rec ently optioned for film), Akata Witch (an Amazon.com Best Book of the Year and also optioned for film), Zahrah the Windseeker (winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature), and The Shadow Speaker (winner of the CBS Parallax Award). Dr. Okorafor’s creative work knits personal elements drawn from African culture with the fantastical elements we expect from science fiction to tell old stories of our world from new perspectives.

Dr. Stephen T. Asma is Professor of Philosophy and Distinguished Scholar at Columbia College Chicago, where he is also a founding Fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science, and Culture. Dr. Asma is a regular contributor to public radio and to many academic and popular periodicals; he writes regularly for the New York Times. His seven books i nclude O n Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears (2011) and the best-selling B uddha for Beginners (originally published in 1996 and reissued in 2008). His eighth book, T he Evolution of Imagination, will be published by the University of Chicago Press in 2017. Dr. Asma’s work connects developing theories in the science of mind with the evolution of human nature; he also somehow finds time to pursue his other interests as both a professional jazz musician and a professional illustrator.

Each interested participant may submit one 200-word abstract for a 15-minute individual presentation and/or one submission of a full panel that includes three to four individual presentations. There are no limitations on topic, field, genre, or methodology.

Submissions may include, but are not limited to:

• excerpt of an M.A. paper or thesis • excerpt of a seminar paper
• excerpt from a dissertation
• animation, video, or film projects

• excerpt from a novel, play, or short story

• M.F.A. final project

• selection of poetry

• dance or other performance piece

• art work (paintings, ceramics, drawings, etc.)

• games

Proposals are due by December 31, 2016. Proposals submitted by November 15, 2016 will receive a response by December 1, 2016. Full-panel proposals have a higher acceptance rate. All proposals must include the following:

• A complete mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, field, and affiliation of participant

• An abstract of no more than 200 words for the proposed presentation; must include 3 to 5 keywords

• For creative pieces, the medium and space requirements for the work/presentation

Panel proposals must include a proposal for the panel, a short description of each presentation, and the above information for each participant.

Send submissions and questions to utd.gsa@gmail.com. Registration information will follow. For additional information, see www.utdgsaraw.com.

A Wizard of Their Age 2: Critical Essays from the Harry Potter Generation

deadline for submissions:
December 31, 2016

full name / name of organization:
Kate Glassman and Jenny McDougal | St. Catherine University

contact email:
kgglassman@stkate.edu

Since its first volume hit UK stores in 1997, Harry Potter has become a best-selling phenomenon that has forced readers and critics to reconsider how and what we read, and revolutionized the publishing industry from the bottom up. With countless accolades and roughly 500 million English copies in print, eight feature films, with another on its way, and merchandise that continues to sell too well to be pulled from shelves, Harry Potter remains a fixed cultural icon 20 years on.

Now, in light of J.K. Rowling’s resurgence of material, with the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film series, a redesigned Pottermore with controversial new universe building, and the authorized fan-play “The Cursed Child,” great minds are once again turning towards Hogwarts.

We are seeking critical essays that expand our understanding of this universe and these characters, particularly those that offer a new lens through which to view readers’ long-established perceptions of the series.

Please review the Table of Contents of the first volume of A Wizard of Their Age: Critical Essays from the Harry Potter Generation (SUNY Press) to see previous topics or, perhaps, what is missing

We welcome any approach, though we are particularly interested in analyses of

race and ethnicity
class
gender, sex, and sexuality
the YA genre
women writers (their approach and reception)
thorough exploration of any element, group, or creation of that universe
the worlds beyond the text (Pottermore, the Wizarding World theme park, fandom/fanfiction, etc.)
and character analyses beyond the Golden Trio

Guidelines:

Authors must fall within the “generation” of Harry Potter – those who were with Harry from the very start (or soon thereafter), and were of the age originally targeted by the series. Though we celebrate the phenomenal reach of the series across age (among many other boundaries), this collection is centering on the voices of those who grew up with Harry Potter. [Undergraduate or recent graduates]

Send abstracts of 250 words to kgglassman@stkate.edu no later than October 31st. Final essays of no more than 30 pages (double-spaced), by December 31st.

This follow-up collection will be edited by Professors Jenny McDougal and Kate Glassman (St. Catherine University) in partnership with a board of contributing editors.

GFF 2017: Realities and World Building
University of Vienna, September 20th-23rd 2017

The creation and experience of “new” worlds is a central appeal of the fantastic. From Middle Earth to variations of the Final Frontier, the fantastic provides a seemingly infinite number of fantastic “worlds” and world concepts. It develops and varies social and cultural systems, ideologies, biological and climatic conditions, cosmologies and different time periods. Its potential and self-conception between the possible and the impossible offer perspectives to nearly every field of research.

The plurality and concurrent existence of different, even contradictory concepts of reality is an established topos in cultural and social sciences.[1] In a similar fashion, scientific narratives can simultaneously coexist with fantastic ones within the cultural network of meaning[2] – without creating an existential antagonism between them. The reason for that is not that one of these narratives is true while the other is not, but – following Hayden White, who assumed that scientific and literary narratives have more in common than not[3] – because both of them are fictional. If a fantastic narrative is internally consistent, it is in a Wittgensteinian sense[4] as true as Newton’s laws. This poses an existential problem for the fantastic: if it applies to every consistent narrative, what is the defining difference between fantastic and other narratives?

In our everyday practice, however, we seem to easily distinguish the fantastic from other aspects of reality. How is that possible? How can fantastic worlds emerge within and besides other multiple world-conceptions? What are the functions of fantastic worlds in the construction of reality? In designating texts as fantastic, we explicitly assert their fictitious character. Which practices do we employ to facilitate this designation?

We call narratives fantastic that violate our common reality consensus, thus establishing their own counter-reality consensus – in other words, a different world. This is done in different ways, thereby defining fantastic genres: for example, science fiction uses key motives like objects and cultural practices (interstellar travels, wormhole-generators, etc.) for world-building that belong to a realm of conceivable future possibility. While the modern scientific reality consensus does not categorically preclude beaming, it does deny the very possibility of a demon summoning.

In order to serve as a foil to the real, the fantastic has to play an ambiguous role: key motives of its multiple worlds have to be recognizable as imaginary, but at the same time at least some of these elements have to be linked with common reality consensus. A typical strategy for achieving this ambiguity is the incorporation of cultural practices that remind us of established perceptions of history, most prominently perhaps the European Middle Ages. Thus, a perceptible distance between the narrative and the recipient’s common reality consensus gets established, while using parts of this very consensus to render the narrative comprehensible.

Wolfgang Iser considers the “fictive” to be an intentional act, and the “imaginary” the recipient’s conception of the fictionalization’s effects.[5] World Building is part of every narrative, but as a result of variable cultural contexts, every narrative is involved in different modes of production and perception. The conference aims to emphasize and reflect these very acts of fictionalization used to build fantastic worlds – in different media, and on theoretical as well as methodological levels.

Accepted Keynotes:

Stefan Ekman (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
Farah Mendlesohn (Anglia Ruskin University, UK)

Possible Topics:

· Intermedia (and media-specific) features and indicators of fantastic worlds in film, TV, literature, (digital) games, etc.
· How does the extradiegetic constitute fantastic worlds and vice versa? Social and cultural systems, ideologies, biological and climatic conditions, cosmologies, etc.
· World-building methods and practices: reflections on economic and technical resources; transparent world-building (Making-ofs, exhibitions, interviews, etc.)
· Construction plans: sourcebooks, world editors, Table-Tops, miniatures, dioramas, LARPs
· We are of course open to further suggestions. The conference will also feature an “Open Track” for presentations beyond the scope of this CFP.

The GFF awards two stipends to students to help finance traveling costs (250 Euro each). Please indicate if you would like to be considered.

Call open till January 31st 2017: short bio & abstracts (500 words max.) to
thomas.walach@univie.ac.at

BFS Journal 17

deadline for submissions:
December 31, 2016

full name / name of organization:
The British Fantasy Society

contact email:
bfsjournal@britishfantasysociety.org

BFS Journal 17 is due out in January/Feburary.

The journal is a mix of articles and is keen to accept submissions from people who want to write about fantasy, horror and science fiction. Our focus is primarily the former, but our readers have interests across all three genres.

Academic articles for the BFS Journal should be between 2500 and 6000 words. We prefer nearer the former, as this is about the size of a conference paper. References in the text should be (Author, Date of Edition: Page Number) with a full publication listing for the bibliography given for each article at the end. Please don’t use footnotes in your submissions.

The journal is peer reviewed and we are currently developing a open access database for articles to comply with the guidance for REF 2020.

The deadline for submissions on this edition is 31st of December.

Please feel free to email me with any ideas for pieces you would like to include or any other questions.

CFP: BUFFY AT 20
April 1, 2017
Marquette University
Milwaukee, WI

CFP DEADLINE: DECEMBER 19, 2016
Please submit 250-500 word abstracts to gerry.canavan@marquette.edu and james.south@marquette.edu.
Participants will be notified by January 15, 2017.

Keynote Speaker: Sherryl Vint, University of California, Riverside

This one-day conference invites scholars working on film and television, literature, philosophy, history, folklore studies, religion, and related academic disciplines to explore the ongoing legacy of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer as it turns twenty years old this year. Undoubtedly one of the best-loved (and best-studied) television programs of all time, Buffy has left an indelible mark on contemporary genre fiction and contemporary fandom both. But where do we go from here? What is the place of Buffy today, in a media ecology that in many ways has moved beyond the stale genre conventions and offensive sexist assumptions that made it feel so revolutionary in its moment? Does Buffy really still matter, all these years later? We submit it does, and invite papers that advance novel and innovative interventions in Buffy studies that point the way towards another twenty years (at least)

Possible topics might include:
* Buffy/Angel spinoff media, including the video games, Fray, and the seasons 8-10 comics
* Where are they now? Post-Buffy careers
* Buffy/Angel fan commentary and fan fictions
* Bingewatching Buffy
* Re-(re-(re-))watching Buffy
* Buffy and philosophy
* Buffy and history
* Buffy and religion
* Buffy and contemporary identity politics
* Buffy/Angel and the wider Mutant Enemy culture industry (Firefly, Dollhouse, Doctor Horrible, The Cabin in the Woods, Much Ado about Nothing, the Marvel Cinematic Universe)
* Buffy and nostalgia
* Buffy and mythopoesis
* classic episodes / classically bad episodes
* the rise of Whedon Studies / Buffy in the academy / Buffy in the classroom
* Buffy in the Anthropocene
* Buffy in the Age of Trump
* Buffy’s impact, legacy, ongoing relevance, and future

Conference organizers:
Gerry Canavan (gerry.canavan@marquette.edu)
James South (james.south@marquette.edu)

CFP: BUFFY at 20

Collection of Essays on Transgressive Women in Global Speculative Fiction, Film, and Digital Media

deadline for submissions:
December 30, 2016

full name / name of organization:
Valerie Guyant/ Montana State University & Kate Aho/ University of Wisconsin

contact email:
valerie.guyant@msun.edu

The interconnection of speculative fiction, transgressions against social norms, gender studies, and global perspectives is compelling because speculative fiction allows for a unique approach to social critiques. The worlds that are created in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and dystopian futures allow the genre to explore new or imaginative societies, detached from existing or historical social structures. Such an environment of speculation has led many authors to utilize the genre to comment on women’s concerns. Many of these works have, understandably been extensively critically examined.

Exploring the conversation further, the editors solicit critical approaches for our anthology that examine female characters in contemporary writers of speculative fiction, film, or digital media who are underrepresented in present scholarship, emphasizing the global reach of speculative fiction. We specifically request essays that examine female characters who operate outside social norms [either real world norms or those of their created cultures] and whose transgressive behavior is transformative and critically interesting. We are especially interested in global perspectives, global representations of authors, including Hiromi Goto, Marcela Sola, Irmtraud Morgner, Vandana Singh, Nalo Hopkinson, Zoran Drvenkar, Rinsai Rossetti, Karen Lord, Malinda Lo, Serenity Alyanna Edward, and Alex Garland, as well as subgenres such as anime [including ONA], manga, horror, steampunk, and slipstream works.

In no way should this be considered an exhaustive list. Particularly engaging ideas about underrepresented creators in fiction, film, and all digital media from any locale are encouraged.

We are NOT accepting critical explorations of well-known authors or film makers who have already been the focus of significant critical work.

Facets of transgression may include gender performance and breaking bounds of gender normativity; issues regarding motherhood, reproduction, and other-mothers; enacted or experienced violence; non-heteronormative, non-monogamous sexuality; the questioning or embracing of religion; and any behavior which breaks, bends, or questions other social paradigms. Our intent is that this anthology will contribute to an understanding of global uses of speculative fiction as a prism for examining the intersectionalities and problematization of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, concentrating on characters who engage women’s concern and female-identified characters including transgender women, androgynes, queered, or transgressive gender.

The anthology will be divided into overarching themes of gender performance and sexuality; violence and peace; identity formation and othering; and mothering, reproduction, and other-mothering. While essays that engage any of these topics are solicited, other considerations of transgressive female characters in speculative fiction are welcome, as are email inquiries to the editors.

Having received strong interest in the collection from Gylphi Press, we invite abstracts of 400-500 words [excluding sources cited], along with a CV and tentative list of sources, to both valerie.guyant@msun.edu and ahokg@uwec.edu.edu by December 31, 2016.

Please note: Graduate students and independent scholars are strongly encouraged to submit.

If accepted, contributors will be invited to submit completed essays of approximately 6000 words.