International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Context is for Kings – An Edited Collection on Star Trek: Discovery

51 years after Star Trek: The Original Series first aired on U.S. American TV, Star Trek: Discovery is updating the franchise for the 21st century. Like TOS was in the 60s, Discovery is firmly rooted in the zeitgeist and current political climate—a fact that has led to surprising amount of backlash from some corners of the fandom. Thanks to the advantage of streaming platforms over network television, the series is also updating the largely episodic structure of the earlier installments to a more serial and coherent storytelling that allows for longer narrative arcs as well as a focus on in-depth character development.

Set 10 years before The Original Series, Discovery is notably darker than any of the previous iterations of the franchise. Depicting the Federation at war with the Klingon Empire, the first season raises questions about identity and othering, war and trauma, and the conflict between idealism and pragmatism. It explores how Starfleet, an organization ostensibly dedicated to exploration and diplomacy, deals with the ethical questions surrounding war, and the lengths people are willing to go to win. These questions are deepened and complicated by the fact that the series, unlike any of the previous entries in the Star Trek canon, focuses not exclusively on the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery and the United Federation of planets, but also presents the events from the point of view of the Klingon Empire. A foray into the Mirror Universe dominated by the fascist Terran Empire throws Starfleet’s ideals and the characters’ struggles to live up to them into even sharper relief.

In addition to the questions raised by the narrative, Discovery has continued the franchise’s commitment to representing diversity on screen. Featuring a woman of color in the lead role, a racially and ethnically diverse main and supporting cast, and introducing the franchise’s first gay couple (played by out gay actors), the show is even more inclusive than any of the previous Star Trek series. Discovery thus has once more proven Star Trek’s continued cultural relevance and has, after only one season, already warranted an in-depth academic study that engages with the series from the perspectives of a variety of academic disciplines, such as cultural studies, gender and queer theory, political science, philosophy, and more.

We thus invite contributions to an edited collection to be published with a notable international publishing house or University Press.

We already have contributions on:
• Military Femininities (Admiral Cornwell, Captain/Emperor Georgiou, Michael Burnham, L’Rell, Silvia Tilly/Captain Killy)
• Gabriel Lorca, Ash Tyler and the Question of Masculinity
• “‘Lorca, I’m Gonna Miss Killing You:’” Possible Worlds and Counterfactuals in Star Trek: Discovery
• Fan Reception and Discussions of Political and Social Values in Discovery
• Cultural Relevance/Zeitgeist of TOS and Discovery in comparison

List of other possible topics can include, but are not limited to:
• Questions of racial diversity in casting and narrative
• Representation of femininities and masculinities
• LGBTQ representation on and off screen
• Depictions of war and trauma (portrayal of PTSD, torture, rape)
• Fandom (Fanart, fanfiction, conventions, cosplaying, etc.)
• The role of social media and resulting changes to fandom/fan engagement
• Discovery’s relationship to the Star Trek canon and expanded universe (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT; Star Trek novels)
• Serial storytelling and world building
• The portrayal of non-human/alien races, particularly the Klingon Empire and the Kelpien Saru
• The role of Science Fiction in the current political moment
• Discovery’s vision(s) of the future
• Depiction of scientific exploration (in general, and its conflict with the war effort in particular)
• Questions of moral philosophy and ethics

The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2018. Please include an abstract (300 words) on the topic you would like to write on, plus a short bio-blurb, and send it as a pdf to Mareike Spychala, M.A. (mareike.spychala@uni-bamberg.de) and Dr. des. Sabrina Mittermeier (Sabrina.Mittermeier@pecess.de).

We will inform all participants by May 15, and full papers (6500-8000 words in length) will have to be submitted by October 31, 2018.

Conference: 15th September 2018 at Birkbeck School of Arts

Deadline for Abstracts: 1st May 2018

Many SF critics have understood science fiction to be specifically guided by a rational empiricist epistemology, and have thus disregarded the important presence of magical, religious, spiritual and metaphysical phenomena in science fiction. Deploying the broad catch-all of ‘metaphysics’, this conference will explore SF’s lost history of engagement with the mythical and mystical. Central areas of focus will include an assessment of what role (if any) metaphysical phenomena have played in science fiction, and to what degree SF can be distanced from the spiritual, supernatural and numinous concerns of other literatures of the fantastic. Assessing SF’s complex relationship with the metaphysical opens into many other productive areas of inquiry as well: How can science fictional texts help us understand broader cultural processes of knowledge formation and paradigm shift? To what degree does SF act as a protected space for ideas that have been proposed within empiricist frameworks, but disproved and/or rejected by established scientific networks? In what way have references to religious cultures and institutions been used to reinforce or undermine normative gender roles in SF texts? How do treatments of metaphysical phenomena in Western SF differ from those which originate in other areas of the globe? How important are the symbols, tropes and imagery of an array of global religious traditions to the quality of enchantment that is as vital to SF as any other fantastic genre?

Other possible areas of research/interpretation include:

Philosophical explorations of metaphysics in SF

Intersections, tensions and harmonies between SF and mythical, magical or mystical traditions

The science fictional sublime (e.g. cosmic or divine horror, weird ontologies, Big Dumb Objects)

SF and the supernatural

Intersections between theoretical science and metaphysics in speculative fiction

The use of metaphysical phenomena to challenge or uphold dominant secularist or materialist discourses in SF
SF and ‘pseudoscience’

SF adaptations of images, concepts and practices from religious movements large (e.g. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.) and small (e.g. Raëlism, Discordianism, etc.)

Religious texts that reflect a science fictional narrative mode (e.g. in Theosophy and Scientology)

New Religious Movements founded on science fiction texts (e.g. Jedism from Star Wars; The Church of All Worlds from Stranger in a Strange Land)

SF as a forum for the exploration of religious experience

Technological simulation/production of alternative realities in SF (e.g. VR/AR, cybergods, hallucinogenic visions)

The liminal possibilities of the mind in science fiction—telepathy, clairvoyance, telekinetics, etc. Conversely, investigations of the Cartesian divide

Cognitive narratology

The boundaries of genre—metaphysical phenomena and definitional processes in science fiction scholarship
Metaphysical phenomena and the production of utopian/dystopian modes in SF

The conference will feature keynote addresses by Roger Luckhurst (Birkbeck) and Helen de Cruz (Oxford Brookes), as well as a roundtable with authors Justina Robson, Jeff Noon and Fiona Moore (Royal Holloway), moderated by Jim Clarke (Coventry)

Conference organizers: Rhodri Davies (PhD, Birkbeck), Aren Roukema (PhD, Birkbeck), Francis Gene-Rowe (PhD, Royal Holloway)

Submit abstracts of up to 300 words for 20 minute papers by 1 May 2018 to lsfrcmail@gmail.com. Two- to three-speaker panel proposals are also welcome. Please include a brief bio (c. 50 words). If accepted, abstracts and bios will be published in conference materials. Applicants will receive a response by 1 June.

Please click here for more information.

Future Histories of the Middle East and South Asia (edited volume)
Abstracts of up to 500 words are invited by June 15th, 2018 to futurehistoriesMESA@gmail.com

Contributions are invited for an edited anthology titled Future Histories of the Middle East and South Asia. The anthology will be open to articles dealing with future histories and science fiction across time periods written in any of the languages of the Middle East (including North Africa and Turkey) and South Asia (including Indian English). Addressing science fiction as a mode rather than genre, we bracket the question of how the line separating fictional from putatively non-fictional genres is articulated across cultures and languages and leave the door open for contextually sensitive studies of speculative uses of technological and scientific references within a wide range of fields, from novels and plays to jurisprudence and engineering. The anthology thus intends to fill the critical gap that exists with respect to future histories in the Middle East and South Asia while at the same time uncovering engagements with science-fictional modes of discourse that might otherwise be overlooked. It will be published with a leading academic press and will be targeted at an academic audience. Articles should range from 5000-7000 words including endnotes and bibliography and should be written in English. Discussions should have a strong theoretical underpinning or provide new insights on historical contextualization.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

· Historical studies of future histories in the Middle East and South Asia regions, including science fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction

· Thematic studies of race, gender, colonialism, politics, ecology, and class issues in future-oriented speculative literature

· Future histories and science fiction adaptations in other media, including film, television, and the visual arts

· Political anxieties and aspirations as reflected in future histories

· Reworking of regional histories in future histories and speculative literature

· The entanglement with religion and mythopoetic thought from the region in future histories

· Inter- and intra-regional differences and similarities between different genre traditions

· Histories of societies, clubs and associations devoted to the discussion and/or fandom of science fiction, technological speculation and similar modalities

· Methodological considerations with respect to genre classifications and alternative genre aesthetics

· Reception studies of future histories

Abstracts of up to 500 words are invited by June 15th, 2018 to : futurehistoriesMESA@gmail.com

Please attach a current CV/short bio with institutional affiliation along with your abstract.

Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 15th July. The deadline for completed articles is 10th January 2019.

Editors
Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Teresa Pepe, Joakim Parslow
(Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo)

Call for Papers (Phase 2) ++

NOW OPEN: Submission for individual paper proposals —>
http://www.worlding-sf.com

Deadline: April 18, 2018

“Worlding SF: Building, Inhabiting, and Understanding Science Fiction Universes”
University of Graz, Austria
December 6–8, 2018

Confirmed keynote speakers (in alphabetical order):
Mark Bould
(University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom)

Gerry Canavan
(Marquette University, United States)

Cheryl Morgan
(Owner of Wizard’s Tower Press; Director of San Francisco Science
Fiction Conventions)

The conference “Worlding SF” seeks to explore these three thematic
clusters—(a) world- building, (b) processes and practices of being in
fictional worlds (both from the characters’ and
readers’/viewers’/players’/fans’ points of view), and (c) the
seemingly naturalized subtextual messages these fantastic visions
communicate (or sometimes even self-consciously address).

Based on the panel proposals we received in phase 1 of our call for
papers, we would like to invite interested scholars to propose
individual papers to the following thematic clusters:

* A and Gray: Non-Heteronormative Sexualities in Imagined Worlds
* Afro-Futurist Worlds
* Asian SF Worlds
* Between Scarcity and Abundance in SF Worlds
* Between Transmedia Storytelling and Money-Making: Franchising SF Worlds
* Beyond Petromodernity: Alternative Energy Futures
* “By the time you read this, you’ll be older than you remember”: Age
and Aging in SF Worlds (fan cultures included)
* Celebrating Brian Aldriss’s SF Worlds
* Celebrating Ursula K. Le Guin’s SF Worlds
* “Constants and variables”: Building the Multiverse
* Eastern-European SF Worlds
* Feel, Perform, and Picture the World: World-Building beyond Storytelling
* Gaia in Outer Space: SF Worlds as Sentient and/or Feeling Entities
* “How do we know that 2 and 2 make 4?” Ontologies (and
Epistemologies) of SF Worlds
* Indigenous Cosmologies
* “Infinite diversity in infinite combinations”: World-Building in Star Trek
* “It’s a trap!” Exploring the Star Wars Universe
* Movement is Key: Moving in/through SF Gameworlds (not restricted to
digital games!)
* Muslim SF Worlds
* Performing Fandom: Inhabiting SF Worlds in the “Real” World
* “The planet has survived everything […]. It will certainly survive
us”: Imagining and Building Non-/Post-/Transhuman Worlds
* The “Real” World Feeding Off of SF Worlds
* Regenerative Play in Utopia: Exploring Playful Counter-Discourses in
Eco-SF Games
* There and Back Again: The Shared World-Building Experiences of Video
Gamers and Game Designers
* Trans* Worlds: Imagining Non-Binary Futures

Of course, there is also an open track for proposals that do not quite
fit into these (rather broad) thematic clusters.

Limited funding for independent scholars and graduate students may be
available. In order to create a more inclusive environment for
international scholars who may have funding, scheduling, and/or travel
issues, the conference will feature a Skype track. We expect papers to
be presented live (and not to be pre-recorded), however.

Organizers: Stefan “Steve” Rabitsch, Michael Fuchs, and Stefan Brandt
(University of Graz)

We plan to publish a volume based on selected conference papers in the
New Dimensions in Science Fiction series, which is published by the
University of Wales Press. The series is co- edited by Paweł Frelik
(Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin) and Patrick B. Sharp
(California State University, Los Angeles). UWP is distributed by the
University of Chicago Press in North America.

Please join our Facebook event by clicking here.

If you have any questions, please send us an email to contact@worlding-sf.com.

PKD Day 2018

We welcome proposals for twenty-minute presentations from both creative and academic practitioners, and from undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, and established scholars.

Please see our call for papers here: PKD-Day-2018-Call-For-Papers

PKD Day 2018 is hosted by Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. The event is free and will be held at the Guild Rooms with the Edinburgh Filmhouse.

Stranger Things: The Weird, the Paranormal, and the Problem of Belief

British Modernities Group, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

20–21 April 2018, Urbana, IL

Keynote Presentation: “Listening to the Dead: W. B. Yeats’s Communication with Spirits”

By Dr. Catherine E. Paul, Professor Emerita, Clemson University

Additional speakers TBA

The British Modernities Group (BMG) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites graduate students from all disciplines to present papers at its thirteenth annual interdisciplinary conference: “Stranger Things: The Weird, the Paranormal, and the Problem of Belief.”

Ghosts, spirits, and supernatural beings occupy much of our contemporary cultural imagination, as shown by the runaway successes of David Lynch’s revamped Twin Peaks and the Netflix original series Stranger Things. At the same time, the humanist modes of thinking that Western philosophy has relied on to make sense of the world have proven insufficient. What we have assumed to be inanimate, insentient, nonexistent, or even dead has come to haunt our previous theories and has helped to spur developments in critical thought that include object-oriented ontology, thing theory, and critical animal and/or plant studies. All these developments have troubled humanity’s relationship with the world in ways that may be termed “weird.” Indeed, these new approaches assure us, to borrow from Hamlet, that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies.

Our conference brings together innovative work in literature, film, philosophy, religious studies, history, psychology, and related fields to consider the significance of the weird and paranormal in art, culture, and critical theory. Some questions we hope to reflect on include: How do encounters with the weird and/or paranormal manage to inspire both horror and pleasure? How should we as readers account for the beliefs of an author, or the beliefs we ourselves bring to a work of art? Following Marx and Derrida, what sort of spectres haunt contemporary society? How might attending to stranger things help us imagine, and possibly create, alternate futures? What do we do with the weird—and what does the weird do to us?

The British Modernities Group invites novel paper proposals from any discipline and theoretical background. Past presenters have included Americanists, Classicists, Medievalists, and scholars from fields outside of literary studies. We would love to hear from a wide range of specialties! Possible paper topics, methodologies, and fields of inquiry include, but are not limited to, the following:

Animacy
Belief, Unbelief, and Heresy
(Dis)Enchantment
(Dis)Embodiment
Fairy Tales and Myth
Faith and Skepticism
Ghosts, Hauntings, and Spirits
The Gothic
Hauntology and the Spectral Turn
Hybridity
Memory Studies
Monstrosity
Mysticism and Spirituality
Object-Oriented Ontology
The Occult
The Paranormal
The Postsecular Turn
Psychology, Parapsychology, and Madness
Religion in Art and Culture
Speculative Fiction and Science Fiction
The Trace
The Uncanny
The Weird

Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words for individual papers (or 350 words for panels) to Patrick Kimutis and Sabrina Lee at modernities@gmail.com by 14 February 2018. Please include your name, along with your departmental and institutional affiliations, in your email. Conference papers must not exceed 20 minutes.

Visit our website (https://modernities.wordpress.com/) or check us out on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/BritishModernitiesatUIUC/ ) and Twitter (@BMGmodernities) for more information about the BMG.

Worldcon’s Academic Track has extended its Call for Papers deadline to March 1, 2018. We recently received a generous donation from The Heinlein Society for a $250 cash prize for “Best Academic Paper” and want to give scholars additional time to submit.

This $250 prize will be awarded based on presentations given at Worldcon 76.

For full information, see http://www.worldcon76.org/

Revised CFP is copied below:

– – –
Academic Track at the 76th World Science Fiction Convention — August 16-20, 2018
San José McEnery Convention Center (San José, California)

Science fiction always plays a part in recreating our world and directing civilization’s progress. While much SF takes place in a hypothetical “future,” the entire body of speculative literature influences and interacts with our world—suggesting potentialities, solutions, organizational methods, alternative cultures, and paths to follow or avoid. In that spirit, the 76th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in San José, California has chosen “Make the Future” for its overarching theme.

The Academic Track Committee welcomes proposals for scholarly presentations, especially those that study content tied to our “Make the Future” convention theme, such as the following examples:
* Any and all utopian or futurist novels, short stories, comic books, or other media
* Classic SF works that changed the direction of their era
* Dystopian novels, comic books, and other media that portray catastrophic scenarios to prevent them from happening in reality (1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Water Knife, Bitch Planet, etc.)
* SF groups as progressive communities (“slan shacks,” writers’ colonies, online communities, etc.)
* Ties between SF literature and socio-political movements
* Ties between maker culture and science fiction, including DIY art and music, steampunk, dieselpunk, and any other design aesthetics
* Major movements in the SF genre’s history

The Heinlein Society has generously approved at $250 prize for “Best Academic Track Paper at 2018 Worldcon.” Additionally, we are interested in proposals incorporating Worldcon visiting authors, timely content, or regional interest (such as California/Western authors or settings). Such topics might include:
* Guests of Honor Spider Robinson and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, or Ghost of Honor Edgar Pangborn
* Works and influence of Robert A. Heinlein
* Other authors planning to attend Worldcon 76
* Silicon Valley in SF
* Science fiction in Wild West dime novels and pulps
* Mill Valley and San Francisco in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (book and/or films)
* Philip K. Dick’s writing during his years living in Point Reyes Station
* Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Three Californias” trilogy and related works
* Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at its 200th anniversary

As part of Worldcon programming, academic-track audiences often include a blend of scholars, writers, artists, readers, and fans. Presentations should be academically rigorous, but also accessible to a wide variety of interests and backgrounds. We welcome papers from scholars at all stages of their research careers, including advanced undergraduate students and independent scholars. Panels or roundtables that include SF creators (writers, directors, game designers, etc.) are highly encouraged as well.
In many ways, Worldcon’s academic track offers an ideal opportunity for scholars to reach audiences they might not see at exclusively academic conferences.
The committee is seeking three kinds of proposals:
* Paper – one 20-minute long presentation
* Panel – a group of 3 to 4 related presentations of 15- to 20-minute length each
* Roundtable – a group of speakers on a specific topic moderated by one individual for an hour plus question/answer period

WHAT TO SUBMIT:

For INDIVIDUAL PAPERS, include the following items (clearly labeled) in a single document:
1. Your name and contact information
2. Maximum 300-word abstract summarizing the focus and concept of your presentation
3. Maximum 100-word biographical note including academic affiliation (if applicable), sample prior publications/presentations, and any other connections to SF community

For PANELS, include the following items (clearly labeled) in a single document:
1. Name and contact information of panel’s chair
2. Title of panel and a maximum 200-word statement describing its focus
3. Maximum 300-word abstract summarizing the focus and concept of each presenter’s paper
4. Maximum 100-word biographical note for each speaker, including academic affiliation (if applicable), sample prior publications/presentations, and any other connections to SF community

For ROUNDTABLES, include the following items (clearly labeled) in a single document:
1. Name and contact information of roundtable’s organizer and moderator
2. Title of roundtable, its topic, and a maximum 300-word statement describing its focus
3. Short list of sample discussion topics
4. Maximum 100-word biographical note for each speaker, including academic affiliation (if applicable), sample prior publications/presentations, and other connections to SF community
We will accept only one presentation per scholar, although presenters are welcome to moderate or chair one other session.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

All proposals should be sent as Word or PDF email attachments to callforpapers@worldcon76.org by midnight PST, on our new deadline, March 1, 2018. Please provide a subject line that identifies the type of presentation using this format: “[Panel or Paper or Roundtable] Proposal: [your title]
Example: Paper Proposal: Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the Bay Area
Note: All selected speakers will be responsible for their own Worldcon membership, travel, and all related expenses. For more information on purchasing membership, see the Worldcon 76 convention website. Membership includes access to the entire convention, not just the academic track.
For more on the Worldcon’s history and theme, visit http://www.worldcon76.org/about-worldcon
For questions, contact Dr. Nathaniel Williams, Worldcon 76 Academic-Track Coordinator at nathanielwms@worldcon76.org
Worldcon 76 – Academic Track Call for Papers

Brumal is a peer-reviewed journal of the Grupo de Estudios sobre lo Fantastico and based at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona]

Monographic issue “Horror and the Fantastic” (Coord. David Roas)
[NB: We also accept miscellaneous submissions year-round]

Deadline: June 10, 2018

Since its birth, the fantastic has been an excellent way to explore our
fears of the unknown – “the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind”,
as Lovecraft stated in his well-known essay The Supernatural Horror in
Literature (1927). The aim of the fantastic is to destabilise the codes that
we have established to understand and represent the real: when we are
confronted with the conflictive coexistence of the possible and the
impossible in a realistic world like ours, our certainties about the real
stop working. Faced with this, fear is our only defence.

This is the type of experience that we want to examine in this monographic
issue of Brumal. For this reason, we will exclude forms of fear that arise
from a natural source (serial killers, terrorism, animal attacks, etc.).
Instead, we encourage reflections on the multiple ways through which what we
have called “metaphysical fear”– an effect that is inherent and
exclusive to the fantastic – is spread, generated by the transgressive
irruption of the impossible.

This monographic issue of Brumal will accept works focused on the
relationship between Horror and the Fantastic in literature, cinema, TV,
comic, theatre, etc.

Some areas of research include, but are not limited to:

Theoretical perspectives on horror
The rhetoric of fear
From classical fears to postmodern horror
The monster as the fantastic anomaly
Space as source of horror
Horror and its boundaries
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 the
fantastic narrative.

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.
http://revistes.uab.cat/brumal/pages/view/callforpaper

Thanks for the continuing interest in our work,
Comité Redacción
Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, España.
Phone +34 93 586 8079
Fax +34 93 581 1686
revista.brumal@uab.cat

Going Global: Steampunk and Transnational Cultures

Call for Papers

The Asylum Steampunk Festival Conference
Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln
25th – 26th August 2018

Keynote Speaker:
Yomi Ayeni – Transmedia Author, Producer, and Filmmaker

Following on from the success of the inaugural 2017 symposium, we invite abstracts for this year’s steampunk conference at the Asylum Festival. To celebrate a decade of Europe’s largest steampunk festival, we will be focussing on steampunk on the global scale.
Since the creation of the Asylum Festival, steampunk has grown in popularity, expanding from its initial literary forms and subcultural communities to infiltrate and inform many areas of popular culture and mass media. As it has been adopted and adapted around the world, so it has started to shift away from its Anglocentric, (neo-)Victorian roots. This has led to the rise of vibrant and diverse steampunk cultures and communities across the globe. This conference will explore the nature of what has become a worldwide phenomenon. It will reflect on the factors that have encouraged steampunk’s global development, and examine the ways in which steampunk has been appropriated and inflected by countries and cultures across the planet.
Each August Lincoln (UK) becomes the temporary capital of European steampunk culture. This is your opportunity to join us in a celebration of steampunk, to share papers and exchange ideas, and to participate in lively cross-disciplinary discussion.

Papers might consider (but are certainly not limited to) some of the following topics:

• Multicultural steampunk – steampunk fictions and cultures around the world.

• Asian, African, Latin American and Australasian steampunk.

• The cultural functioning of global steampunk – cultural appropriation, adaptation, splicing and cross fertilisation.

• Steampunk, imperialism and anti-imperialism – re-reading, rewriting, reimagining and reclaiming histories.

• Steampunk as a reflection of and reaction to transcultural and transnational concerns.

• Steampunk and global politics; steampunk, neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism.

• The construction and operation of global steampunk networks and online communities; steampunk’s relationship to communication technologies.

• Steampunk and transnational cultural modes – film, video gaming, comics; steampunk and commercialisation.

• Steampunk aesthetics and their national manifestations.

• Steampunk as resistance and challenge to prevalent cultural modes.

• Steampunk fashion – global, national, and local styles.

• Non-European perspectives on European steampunk and its early science fiction predecessors (Jules Verne, Albert Robida, H.G. Wells, etc)

• Steampunk temporalities- multicultural notions of time; steampunk beyond its neo-Victorian origins.

• Steampunk and technology – old, new, and recycled.

• Cross-disciplinary approaches to steampunk – steampunk’s relationship with science, engineering, philosophy, politics, anthropology, etc, alongside more traditional fields such as art, literature and film.

Please send an abstract (300 words max) for a 20 minute paper, and a short bio (150 words max), to karl.bell@port.ac.uk and christine.berberich@port.ac.uk by Friday March 30th 2018. We welcome proposals from individuals and pre-arranged panels.

We are now calling for papers for The Tolkien Society Seminar 2018, which will be held on Sunday 1 July in Leeds at the Hilton Leeds City. The theme is Tolkien the Pagan? Reading Middle-earth through a Spiritual Lens.

Call for Papers

Tolkien the Pagan? Reading Middle-earth through a Spiritual Lens

The Tolkien Society invites individuals from both scholarly and non-academic backgrounds who have an interest in Tolkien to apply.

Papers may consider, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Characters’ faith and devotion within Tolkien’s narratives
• Non-Christian readings of Tolkien’s fiction
• Neo-pagan movements based on Tolkien’s mythology
• Invented religions in fantasy fiction

Considering the nature of the conference’s topic, delegates are encouraged to exercise restraint and be mindful of the individual beliefs of their fellow conference-goers.

We are now accepting proposals for 20-minute papers, followed by questions. Prospective speakers are invited to send abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with a short biography, by Friday 6 April.

Submit your abstract online here.

About the Seminar

The Tolkien Society Seminar is a one-day conference of academic of talks and panel discussions on a specific theme. Held most years since 1986, the date and venue used to vary each time, but it is now held in Leeds on the Sunday before the start of the International Medieval Congress (IMC).

There will be six Tolkien-related sessions at the IMC in 2018:

• Memory in Tolkien’s Medievalism, I (Monday 2 July, 11:15–12:45)
• Memory in Tolkien’s Medievalism, II (Monday 2 July, 14:15–15:45)
• ‘New’ Tolkien: Expanding the Canon (Monday 2 July, 16:30–18:00)
• Tolkien: Medieval Roots and Modern Branches, I (Tuesday 3 July, 14:15–15:45)
• Medieval Roots and Modern Branches, II (Tuesday 3 July, 16:30–18:00)
• Tolkien in Context(s): A Round Table Discussion (Tuesday 3 July, 19:00–20:00)

Visit Dr Dimitra Fimi’s blog for more information.

Registration

Registration is now open.

Registration costs £25 for members and £30 for non-members, and includes refreshments throughout the day, catered breaks and sandwiches for lunch.