International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies

Special issue: The Intersections of Disability and Science Fiction

Guest editors: Ria Cheyne (Disability and Education, Liverpool Hope University) and Kathryn Allan (Independent Scholar, Canada)

“No other literary genre comes close to articulating the anxieties and preoccupations of the present day as clearly and critically as SF, making it a vital source of understanding advances in technology and its impact on newly emerging embodiments and subjectivities, particularly for people with disabilities.”
–Kathryn Allan, Disability in Science Fiction

Reflecting the status of science fiction as a genre that spans multiple mediums and audiences, this special issue of JLCDS seeks articles that explore the intersection(s) of science fiction, disability, and disability studies. What possibilities might science fiction or science fiction theory offer to disability activists and the field of disability studies? How might disability theory, or a disability-informed approach, enrich or transform our understanding of science fiction as a genre or as a mode of thought?

Topics might include, but are not limited to:
● Representations of disability in science fiction literature, comics/graphic novels, film, art, music, video games, or television, and their implications for our understanding of genre and/or disability.
● Science fiction fan culture (including conventions, fanfic and other forms of fan production).
● Science fiction and prosthesis.
● Science fiction and eugenics/genetic engineering.
● Science fiction and the posthuman.
● Accessibility and science fiction environments.
● The political and ethical consequences of imagining future worlds with or without disability.
● The figure of the alien or cyborg in science fiction and/or disability theory.
● Disability and queerness in science fiction.
● Disability and indigenous futures in science fiction.
● Science fiction, disability, and medical humanities.
● The influence of disability activism on professional or fan-based science fiction production.

Submissions that consider how disability intersects with other identity categories are particularly encouraged. The guest editors welcome contributions from independent scholars.

Please email a 500 word proposal to cheyner@hope.ac.uk and kathryn@academiceditingcanada.ca by March 15, 2017. Contributors can expect to be notified by April 26, 2017. Full drafts of the selected articles will be due by December 6, 2017. Please direct any questions to either guest editor.

Disability and Disciplines taking place next year in the UK.

Disability and Science Fiction

Calling all disability and science fiction scholars,

I am proposing a disability and science fiction panel for the Centre of Culture and Disability Studies, Liverpool Hope University’s “Disability and Disciplines”: The International Conference on Educational, Cultural, and Disability Studies on 5-6 July 2017. The conference is taking place in Liverpool in the UK and is, in general, looking for work that is interdisciplinary in nature. For example, I am putting forward a paper proposal that draws upon a range of disciplines that intersect Disability with Cosplay, Feminism, Psychoanalysis and Film Studies in order to examine a particular fan’s response to the female character, Imperator Furiosa, from the recent film, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Similarly, I would be interested in papers that intersect with other disciplines in their examination of disability and science fiction.

As a list of suggestions papers could intersect disability and science fiction with interests in the following:

Art and Performance, Fan Culture, Technology, Media/Social Media/Film, Medical Humanities, Literature in all its forms Novels/Graphic/Comics/Short Stories etc., Gender and Sexuality, Education.

Please email abstracts of 150-200 words and a short bio. Papers should be no more than 20 minutes. Please feel free to get in touch informally in order to discuss suggestions – sua.smith@ntlworld.com.

Deadline for abstracts is Friday 16th December 2016.

For more information here is a link to the conference’s general call for papers:

http://ccds.hope.ac.uk/ourconference.html

Regards,

Sue Smith (Independent Scholar)

Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends

2nd Global Conference

Call for Participation 2017

Tuesday 4th April – Thursday 6th April 2017

Lisbon, Portugal

In contemporary retellings of historic fairy tales certain characters recur without failure: wicked witches, evil stepmothers, Rumplestiltskin, jinn, gnomes, trolls, wolves and thieves, as well as fairy godmothers, departed beloved mothers, firebirds, dwarves, princesses, dragons, woodcutters and princes charming. Disney has established a near monopoly on how these characters are viewed in contemporary society and how their stories are retold but the Disney lens is not the only one available. Fairy tales, folk lore and legends are the common patrimony of us all and the canvas on which the vast mural of good versus evil plays out; our darkest dreams or nightmares struggle against our better selves and highest hopes in these tales. At the same time, the relationship between these tales and modern society is a complex one that invites closer consideration of the changing nature of the stories and how modern sensibilities have both challenged and been challenged by the values and viewpoints that underpin the narratives.

Childhood itself, the presumed audience for most of these stories, has itself undergone radical redefinition since the tales first began to be collected or written. How have those changes influenced or been reflected in the retelling of the tales over time? Fairy tales can be interpreted in a variety of ways and from a variety of viewpoints: they can be psychological exposes, blueprints for dealing with the traumas of childhood and early adulthood, guides to navigating life, windows onto social realities long forgotten, remnants of ancient mythology or hints at how to access the Transcendent. How have adult sensibilities of what is appropriate for children appeared in the retellings or new collections? How many tales are actually retold for the benefit of adults, despite their supposed audience of children?

During the 2016 project, the unexpected preponderance of Disney-related discussions surprised all the participants. The Disney footprint seems to be inescapable when discussing this literature, whether a particular story has served as inspiration for a Disney film or not. That in itself is perhaps a subject worth discussing. The 2017 project meeting will focus on non-Disney retellings of the classic tales as well as those tales which Disney has chosen thus far to ignore.

The Fairy Tales interdisciplinary research and publishing stream investigates how fairy tales/folk tales/legends represent both good and evil, how these are personified or interact, what these reveal about the lives of those who have told them over the years, what they mean for us who read or listen to them today. Possible subjects for presentations include but are not limited to:

Exploring the Tales Themselves:

Functions of tales over time and across cultures

Socio-political context of tales and their capacity to serve as allegories for real life issues

Justice and morality in the tales

Fairy tale utopias and dystopias and the blurred lines between fiction, fact, reality, science fiction and mythology

How fairy tales shape ideas about happiness

Considerations of why tales are an enduring aspect of culture

Factors that make some tales more popular than others (and why popularity can shift over time)

(Re) interpretations and re-imaginings of the same tales differ over time or across cultures

Relationship between fairy tale characters and real life humans: do human ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ behave so differently from fictional goodies and baddies, where there times when characters that seem fantastic to modern folks were actually considered to be more realistic by historical readers/listeners, what factors shape the changes that cause people to perceive characters as more or less real

Relationship between fantastic and magical elements of tales and lived reality

Tales and monsters: monstrous animals, monstrous humans, children’s interaction with monsters

Intended lessons and values of stories and counter-interpretations, particularly in relation to gender, sex, materialistic values, notions of virtue and authority

Processes around the domestication of fairy tales

Tales as a source of/mechanism for oppression of individuals or groups

New/modern tales

Critical approaches to tales

Tales and their authors

Fairy tale artwork and imagery

Fairy tale geographies: spaces and places of both the worlds within fairy tales as well as the spaces and places where the narratives are told or written

Encountering Fairy Tales/Legends/Folk Tales:

Studies of readers/audiences across time and cultures

Listening versus reading: impact of oral traditions on the narratives, impact of illustrations in reception of the tales, etc.

Relationship between traditional and modern forms of interactive storytelling involving fairy tales

How adaptation to other mediums, such as film, television, visual art, music, theatre, graphic novels, dance and video games, affect the content of the tales themselves, appreciation of the narrative or our interpretations of narrative meaning

Uses of Fairy Tales/Legends/Folk Tales:

In advertising (re-imagining tales in advertising imagery, marketing the princess lifestyle, etc.)

Tales and pedagogy: using tales as teaching and learning tools

In tourism through destination marketing of spaces associated with fairy tales, Disneyfication of tales, etc.

In the formation of national/cultural/ethnic identity

In the publishing business

Communities, biography and fairy tales: How social communal identity is forged around telling and re-telling tales

Tales, Health and Happiness

Tales and magical thinking in the human development

Tales and psychological/clinical practices involving tales

Tales and unhealthy behaviour/beliefs

Effect of tales on shaping notions of (un)happiness, (in)appropriate ways to pursue it and how to respond to respond to others’ (un)happiness

Tales and aging (“growing old” as a theme in tales, how tales shape perceptions of old age, etc.)

Live Performances of Tales

Theatrical, dance and other types of staged presentations

Pantomime

Vocal performances

Art installations

Readings

Curated film screenings

Further details and information can be found at the conference website:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/persons/fairy-tales-folk-lore-and-legends/call-for-participation/

Details about our reviewing policy can be found here:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/probing-the-boundaries/persons/fairy-tales-folk-lore-and-legends/call-for-participation/details-and-information/

What to Send

300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be submitted by Friday 28th October 2016.

All submissions be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed.

You will be notified of the panel’s decision by Friday 11th November 2016.

If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 3rd March 2017.

Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.

E-mails should be entitled: Fairy Tales Abstract Submission

Where to Send

Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs:

Organising Chairs:

Stephen Morris: smmorris58@yahoo.com

Rob Fisher: fairy2@inter-disciplinary.net

Conference Outcomes and Outputs

The conferences we organise form a continual stream of conversations, activities and projects which grow and evolve in different directions. The outcomes and ‘outputs’ which can productively flow from these is a dynamic response to the gatherings themselves. And as our meetings are attended by people from different backgrounds, professions and vocations, the range of desirable outcomes are potentially diverse, fluid and appropriate to what took place.

For detailed information on possible outcomes and outputs, please click here. (This will open a new window).

All accepted papers presented at the conference are eligible to be selected for publication in a hard copy paperback volume (the structure of which is to be determined post conference and subject to certain criteria). The selection and review process is outlined in the conference materials. Other publishing options may also become available. Potential editors will be chosen from interested conference delegates.

Additional possible outputs include: paperback volumes; journals; open volume on-line annuals; social media outputs (Facebook pages, blogs, wikis, Twitter and so on); collaboration platforms; reviews; reports; policy statements; position papers; declarations of principles; proposals for future meetings, workshops, courses and schools; proposals for personal and professional development opportunities (cultural cruises, summer schools, personal enrichment programmes, faculty development, mentoring programmes, consultancies); and other options you would like us to consider.

Call for Papers: ‘Beyond the Graphic’ – Considering Violence, Sexuality and Obscenity in Comics

EXTENDED DEADLINE
Special blog series – US Studies Online
Edited by Dr Harriet Earle

Since the 1970s, the comics form has skyrocketed in popularity and the types of comics we are reading – and how we are engaging with them – has changed dramatically. This new and developing type of comic is often referred to as a ‘graphic novel’, a term that is not universally accepted but allows readers to understand the ways in which the form is being used to tell multifaceted stories.

However, it is a problematic term because it is so often applied to comics that are not fictional (as most novels are) and the word ‘graphic’ comes with a host of connotations related to sex, violence, swearing and ‘mature themes’. Additionally, despite a growing academic interest and a huge number of critically acclaimed comics being published each year, the reputation of the form has not developed accordingly; for some, comics is still a cheap, ‘pop’ form that does not engage with authentic social history and intricate narratives and themes.

In truth, the comics form is ideally suited to the retelling of complex, nuanced stories and to the effective and affective representations of sex and violence. Rather than disposable, needlessly ‘graphic’ stories of no value, a vast number of comics narratives are finely constructed, rather than straight-up debased, providing a platform for the telling of ‘difficult tales’, of which there is no shortage in America!

This blog series aims to provide a side-long look at comics and the ways in which the form engages with both traditionally ‘graphic’ narrative themes and arcs, and also its own ignominious past. Comics studies is a multi- and inter-disciplinary field that incorporates aspects of comics history, publications & media history, textual & visual analysis, questions of reception & reader response, sociological theory, psychoanalysis, and literary criticism & theory.

We invite contributions from researchers and academics in any field within the remit of comics studies. Suggested topics for posts may include:

• Physical violence on the comics page
• Violence and social comment
• Crime comics
• Sexual violence and rape
• Swearing, ‘obscenity’ and the ‘grawlix’
• The history and development of comics as a form for ‘difficult stories’ (especially the rise of autographics and historical conflict narratives)
• Representing sex and intimacy
• Porn comics and Tijuana Bibles
• Controversial texts and debates around reception (e.g. Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent or the Murderdome debacle)

Please refer to the USSO submission guidelines for further information on style: http://www.baas.ac.uk/usso/blog-3/submission-guidelines/

c. 250 word abstracts should be sent to drharrietearle@gmail.com by 31st October 2016.

The series is due to be published in March 2017.

Publication schedule:
Submission of abstracts: 31st October 2016
Notification of abstract acceptance: 13th November 2016
Submission of full posts: 31st January 2016
Publication date: March 2017

The Vampire in Literature, Culture and Film

deadline for submissions:
October 1, 2016

full name / name of organization:
The Popular Culture-American Culture Association National Conference San Diego 2017

contact email:
mfindley@vtc.edu

The Vampire in Literature, Culture, and Film

2017 PCA/ACA Annual National Conference

San Diego: Wednesday, April 12th – Saturday, April 15th

The co-chairs of the Vampire in Literature, Culture, and Film area—Dr. Philip Simpson of Eastern Florida State College and Mary Findley of Vermont Technical College—are soliciting papers, presentations, panels and roundtable discussions which cover any aspect of the vampire for the Annual National Joint Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference to be held in San Diego from April 12th through April 15th. We are particularly interested in papers, presentations, and panels that cover:

The vampire on television (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, The Strain)
recent vampire films, such as Byzantium, Only Lovers Left Alive, What We Do in the Shadows, and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
the fraught relationship between vampires and werewolves
vampire lifestyles and subculture
the glorious return of the Vampire Lestat
the international vampire
and anything and everything in between!

Indeed, feel free to view past programs of the PCA/ACA conference at www.pcaaca.org to see what has been covered during recent conferences.

To have your proposal/abstract considered for presentation, please submit your proposal/abstract of approximately 250 words through the PCA/ACA Database—http://ncp.pcaaca.org/ — by October 1st, 2016. Here you will submit your paper proposal/abstract and also provide your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information. Responses/decisions regarding your proposals will be provided within two weeks of your submission to ensure timely replies.

Complete panel proposals of 3-4 people are also welcomed, as are proposals for roundtable discussions with two or more featured speakers and a moderator. For more information, visit the PCA/ACA at www.pcaaca.org.

Special issue on “Transatlantic Renaissance Supernatural”

deadline for submissions:
October 1, 2016

full name / name of organization:
Revenant: Critical and Creative Studies of the Supernatural

contact email:
ens310@lehigh.edu

Revenant, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal dedicated to the study of the supernatural, the uncanny and the weird, based out of Falmouth University in the United Kingdom is looking for submissions for a special theme issue dedicated to the “Transatlantic Renaissance Supernatural”. Guest-edited by Ed Simon of Lehigh University, Revenant is looking for scholarly, academic and creative exploration of the supernatural during the Renaissance across literature, history, folklore, philosophy, science, religion, sociology, and popular culture. In addition to scholarly articles, Revenant promotes new writing on the supernatural, the uncanny and the weird and is looking to publish ghost stories, tales of the extraordinary, poems and nature writing.

The special issue on the Transatlantic Renaissance Supernatural is looking for contributions that analyze how the supernatural was understood in both the Old and New World during the early modern period (broadly conceived as the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries). In terms of potential topics that could be explored there are the rich variety of Renaissance and Reformation issues including:

The supernatural in drama, for example in Shakespeare
As well as the proto-gothic theater of Marlowe, Webster, Greene, Ford and Jonson,
The high magic of astrologers like Dee, Forman and Lilly,
The folk beliefs of the English and early American working class population
Astrology, alchemy and/or the cunning men
Witch-craft accusations in both England and New England,
Hermetic beliefs as practiced by Christian (and Jewish) kabbalists
The Cambridge Neo-Platonists, and hermeticism in canonical writings by Donne, Herbert, Vaughn and Traherne.
The editor is particularly interested in papers addressing seventeenth century unorthodox religion in America, the multicultural aspect of magic in early America (as exemplified by the folk beliefs of the early Pennsylvania Dutch), and the material culture of grimoires or magic books published and printed in England and read in the colonies. But all other proposals relating to the subject will be considered too.

Creative reflections whether as poetry, drama, art or prose, which focuses on this time period, are also encouraged.

Please submit proposals for critical studies and creative pieces to Ed Simon: ens310@lehigh.edu by 1 October, 2016. Finished pieces due February 2017.

Details of submission guidelines and past issues can be found at www.revenantjournal.com.

Please address any questions to both Ed Simon ens310@lehigh.edu (guest editor) and Ruth Heholt (general editor): revenant@falmouth.ac.uk.

Essays on the Evil Dead

deadline for submissions:
January 15, 2017

full name / name of organization:
Ron Riekki / Jeffrey Sartain (contracted anthology)

contact email:
jeffrey.sartain@gmail.com

CFP: Essays on the Evil Dead Anthology

Call for chapter contributions to an edited anthology

Abstracts of 400 words may be submitted any time before September 30, 2016.

Chapters of 3000-7000 words will be due January 15, 2017.

Essays on The Evil Dead is an academic anthology, edited by Ron Riekki and Jeffrey A. Sartain, examining the extended legacy of one of the all-time great horror motion pictures. Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Slant, and a long list of any magazine that makes lists include The Evil Dead as one of the masterpieces of horror cinema. With the 2013 remake of the film, the 2015 debut of the new Ash vs. Evil Dead television series, the musical, and the ongoing comic series, The Evil Dead franchise is more popular than ever, demanding more than ever, critical examination and explanation for fans and critics alike. One of the top grossing independent films of all time, the original Evil Dead, made by Michigan natives Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, sparked a worldwide cult following that has resulted in sequels, remakes, musicals, comic books, conventions, video games, and a wildly successful television series on Starz, now filming its second season. Essays on The Evil Dead gives a variety of theoretical perspectives, including feminist film theory, Marxist film theory, psychoanalytical film theory, materialist theories of adaptation, and more.

With this call for papers, the editors are seeking essays of 3000-7000 words onany aspect of The Evil Dead films and media franchise:

Film and television studies essays related to Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), Army of Darkness (1992), Evil Dead (2013), and/or Ash vs. Evil Dead (2015- ) such as horror, comedy, affect, corporeality, embodiment, materiality, gender studies, psychoanalysis, production and distribution, cinematography and technology, history of cinema, independent film, media franchises, sequels, adaptations, long form television, or others.
Essays about comics and graphic narratives, as well as issues related to adaptation that are related to any of the numerous Evil Dead/Army of Darkness comics by a variety of publishers
Essays on video games, gaming narratives, and adaptations into games of any of the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness video games.
Essays related to Evil Dead: The Musical, drama, adaptation, theater and performance studies.
Essays related to the various toys, miniatures, collectibles, and other material ephemera associated with the Evil Dead franchise.
The editors are also open to projects with any other emphases that are related to the Evil Dead media franchise.
The anthology is under contract with McFarland and will be released in 2017.

Please submit abstracts of up to 400 words anytime before September 30, 2016 to jeffrey.sartain@gmail.com. Completed essays of 3000-7000 words will be due January 15, 2017.