International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

2nd Science Fiction and Communism Conference
American University in Bulgaria
1-3 March 2019, Blagoevgrad

The American University in Bulgaria is pleased to announce a call for papers for the second edition of the Science Fiction and Communism Conference. The conference will discuss science fiction (SF) in the context of the Communist regime and the Cold War and will focus on the ways political regimes on both sides of the Iron Curtain utilized the concept of the future.

TOPICS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE CONFERENCE:

The Second Science Fiction and Communism Conference will continue to explore the political and cultural importance of SF in film, literature, architecture, science and politics.

We would like to invite submissions on the following topics in particular:

• Utopia and communist ideology
• Ideological control and its utilization
• Cosmism and Communist rhetoric
• Political commentary in Sci Fi East and West
• Gender and emancipation
• Practices of distribution and transmission of cultural products

The conference is open to all disciplines, approaches and methods. We welcome researchers, practitioners and students.

SUBMISSION:

Please send your proposals for papers, panels and/or presentations (CV, abstract of 300 – 500 words) to Yulia Pechanova at yulia@aubg.edu.

The conference language for presentations and discussions will be English.

Presentations should last no more than 20 minutes and be open to discussion afterwards.

Deadline for application is Dec. 21, 2018.

The applicants whose papers were selected will be informed by Jan. 7, 2019.

Participants are responsible for their own traveling and accommodation arrangements.

Attendees who are not submitting papers are encouraged to register.

Transportation from Sofia to Blagoevgrad will be organized by the host.

Gothic Terror, Gothic Horror
15th conference of the International Gothic Association: IGA 2019
July 30 – August 2, 2019, Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois, United States

Gothic writers from Ann Radcliffe to Stephen King have differentiated terror and horror: the former is intellectual, imminent, and escapable; the latter, visceral, immediate, and unavoidable. Terror excites the mind, while horror convulses the body. Terror elevates, while horror debases. The oppositional yet mutually constitutive relationship between Radcliffean terror and Lewisite horror joins a constellation of unstable binaries, including mind/body, high/low, and feminine/masculine, which have proven valuable for producers and consumers of the Gothic since the eighteenth century. Today, they offer us a potent theoretical framework within which to engage not only classical Gothic texts, but also contemporary ones ranging from political propaganda to body horror. With a focus at once sharp and wide, Gothic Terror, Gothic Horror will stimulate an eclectic and inclusive conversation about the essence of the Gothic.

We invite the submission of abstracts that explore the theme of Gothic Terror, Gothic Horror. We welcome proposed panels of three related papers. Since this IGA conference is the first to be held in the United States, we encourage proposals that consider the theme in relation to the American Gothic.

Topics may include—but are by no means limited to—the following.

Conceptual and creative distinctions and intersections between terror and horror across time periods, genres, geographies, media, etc.
Stimulating terror and horror in audiences
Masculine and feminine Gothic
Mind and body in the Gothic
Gothic propaganda
High and low Gothic
“On the Supernatural in Poetry,” Danse Macabre, and other critical approaches to terror and horror
Body horror
Terror and terrorism
Gothic subjectivity and objectivity
Torture porn
Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis
Terror, horror, and the uncanny
Gothic veiling and unveiling
The Gothic sublime
Eco-Horror and Eco-Terror
Queering Terror and Horror
Deconstructing the Gothic

Please submit a 250-word abstract by January 31, 2019 to igalewis@lewisu.edu, including your name, a short biography, affiliation (if any), and contact details.

http://www.internationalgothic.group.shef.ac.uk/

IV INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE VISIONES DE LO FANTÁSTICO:
“Women Creators and the Fantastic”
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
5, 6 and 7 of June 2019

​There is no doubt that an increasing number of women creators employ the fantastic as a form of expression, whether in literature, theater, film, TV, comics and other arts. This is opening new paths in the genre, including the development of themes and forms that are absent or little explored in the works by male authors.

However, at the same time it should also be noted that the presence of the women in the canons and academic studies on the fantastic is unsatisfactory (except for honorable exceptions), and aspect that negatively affects our understanding of the panorama of the fantastic and the cultural production carried out by women in general.

The main objective of this Conference is to highlight and make visible the work of the women creators (especially in genres apparently reserved for men, such as cinema, TV or comics), and to offer studies on the forms, themes, and styles of the multiple poetics of the feminine fantastic and their relationship with the fantastic in general.

Confirmed keynote speakers include five renowned specialists in the fantastic, gender studies, TV and comics: Carmen Alemany Bay (Universitat d’Alacant, Spain), Ana Merino (The University of Iowa, USA), Cecilia Eudave (Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico), Concepción Cascajosa (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain) and Meri Torras (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain).

The Grupo de Estudios sobre lo Fantástico (GEF) invites submission of abstracts focusing on fantastic women creators of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, both in literature as well as theatre, cinema, comic, TV or videogames, in any language and from any country.

Main themes:
Theoretical perspectives on the feminine fantastic
The feminist fantastic: ideology, criticism and transgression
Fantastic and feminine identity
Rhetorics of Fear
Female monsters
Fantastic spaces
Fantastic bodies
Representations of sexuality in the fantastic and its neighboring forms (hybridizations with science fiction and the marvelous)

To participate

Abstracts of a maximum of 300 words (including title, author and affiliation) must be submitted to:

visionesdelofantastico@gmail.com

Deadline for submissions is January 15, 2019. The organizing committee will notify the reception of proposals, and those accepted will be contacted before February 15, 2019.

Presentations must not exceed 20 minutes and can be in Spanish, Catalan, Galician, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese.

Those researchers who want to have their papers published as part of the conference proceedings must send them within the deadline (TBA). The academic committee will evaluate the papers and select the best proposals for their inclusion in the proceedings.

Deadline Extended — Lost and Found (Again): Finding One’s Way There and Back Again

deadline for submissions:
November 2, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Signum University and Johnson C. Smith University

contact email:
matthew.deforrest@signumu.org

Magnolia Moot 2018

Speakers

Corey Olsen

UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT; BOARD MEMBER EX OFFICIO; LECTURER, Signum University

Matthew M. DeForrest

Board Member, Professor of English and Mott University Professor, JCSU

Date

November 10, 2018, 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM EDT

Address

Johnson C. Smith University

The New Science Center

100 Beatties Ford Road

Charlotte, NC 28216

Johnson C. Smith University, Signum University, and the Mythgard Institute are pleased to announce the inaugural MagnoliaMoot 2018, a symposium on the theme “Lost and Found (Again): Finding One’s Way There and Back Again.” A mixture of paper presentations, panels, and discussions will be offered along with a keynote address by guest of honor Dr. Corey Olsen, “The Tolkien Professor.”

Call for Papers

Lost and Found (Again): Finding One’s Way There and Back Again

“But without a feast we shan’t remain alive much longer anyway,” said Bombur, and Bilbo heartily agreed with him. They argued about it backwards and forwards for a long while, until they agreed at length to send out a couple of spies, to creep near the lights and find out more about them. But then they could not agree on who was to be sent: no one seemed anxious to run the chance of being lost and never finding his friends again. In the end, in spite of warnings, hunger decided them, because Bombur kept on describing all the good things that were being eaten, according to his dream, in the woodland feast; so they all left the path and plunged into the forest together.” (The Hobbit)

Tolkien’s work has an interest in finding one’s place, both figuratively and metaphorically, in the wider world. It is not enough to have a place, one must understand it and one’s relationship to it to come to a clear understanding of what it means to belong in and to a place. This concept is not exclusive to Tolkien, but is also present in many works of science fiction and fantasy literature, films, and television. MagnoliaMoot will take up this theme, as well as other topics relating to the works of fantastic literature, television, and film. Please submit all abstracts by November 2, 2018 to matthew.deforrest@signumu.org. Acceptance will be notified on a rolling basis.

Registration

Registration fee includes light breakfast and boxed lunch.

Schedule

More information on the schedule will follow once the Call for Papers has closed. However, please keep in mind that events are due to begin at 9am, and should conclude by 4:30pm. Dr. Olsen will give the keynote address just after lunch, around 1pm.

Area Information and Accommodations

Johnson C. Smith University

The New Science Center

100 Beatties Ford Road

Charlotte, NC 28216

Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) is a private liberal arts university with proud HBCU traditions and a future aimed at diversity. Approximately 1,600 highly talented and motivated students from various backgrounds are enrolled at JCSU and its faculty and staff members are equally as unique, coming from all over the world.

JCSU has a limited number of suite-style rooms available in its Mosaic Village facility for those attending MagnoliaMoot. The closest hotel to the campus is the DoubleTree Hotel (Part of the Hilton Hotel Group). As a major business and banking center, there are a number of hotels and restaurants relatively close to JCSU’s campus.

Canadian Society for the Study of Comics Annual Conference

deadline for submissions:
December 31, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Canadian Society for the Study of Comics

contact email:
csscscebd+cfp2019@gmail.com

Call for Papers:

Annual Conference of the
Canadian Society for the Study of Comics

Appel à textes:

Conférence annuelle de la
Société canadienne pour l’étude da la bande dessinée

University of British Columbia
June 4–5, 2019

Université de la Colombie-Britannique
4–5 juin, 2019

La version française suit

The Canadian Society for the Study of Comics invites proposals for papers and pre-constituted panels on any and all aspects of comics, broadly conceived (including cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, picture books, and visual poetry) to be presented at our 2019 annual conference. For the first time ever, the CSSC/SCEBD conference will be held as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The comics form has been theorized as an inherently hybridized mix of words and images. In keeping with the theme of this year’s Congress, Circles of Conversation, we are particularly interested in proposals that explore comics’ potential to communicate across boundaries. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

comics and intercultural dialogue
inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches to the study of comics from across the social sciences and humanities
diverse representations and authors
circulation, adaptation, and transmedia narratives
comics worlds and world comics
comics and fan cultures
creative communities and corporate culture, gatekeeping and backlashes
comics in professional practice (comics and education, graphic medicine, graphic justice, comics journalism, etc.)

Please submit a 200–300 word abstract, short biography, and contact information in a Word document to csscscebd+cfp2019@gmail.com by December 31, 2018.

Keynote Lecture:
“Latinographix: Taking a Can Opener to the History of Alternative Comics”

We are also pleased to welcome this year’s keynote speaker, Frederick Luis Aldama. Dr. Aldama is Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor, University Distinguished Scholar, and University Distinguished Teacher at The Ohio State University. He is the award-winning author, co-author, or editor of 36 books, editor or co-editor of 8 academic press book series, and editor of the trade-press graphic fiction and nonfiction series Latinographix. He is founder and director of LASER, the Latinx Space for Enrichment & Research, and has been inducted into both the Academy of Teachers and the National Cartoonists Society.

About the CSSC/SCEBD

The CSSC/SCEBD is a national, bilingual scholarly association that promotes the academic study of comics. Founded in 2010, the CSSC/SCEBD is a venue for Canadian and international scholars to discuss all aspects of comics as an art form and cultural phenomenon. Please find information about the CSSC/SCEBD on our website: comics-scholars.com.

About Congress

The Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is an annual umbrella meeting for over seventy Canadian scholarly associations. Each year, it meets on the campus of a different host university. In addition to the individual association conferences, a series of lectures, workshops and cultural events are organized by the host institution and the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Information on the Congress and its constituent conferences may be found at congress2019.ca.

La société canadienne pour l’étude de la bande dessinée invite des propositions pour des présentations individuelles ou en groupe (panel de 3) sur tout aspect touchant à la bande dessinée-BD au sens large (caricatures, comic strips, comic books, BD numérique, livres d’images, et poésie visuelle) pour notre conférence annuelle en 2019. Pour la première fois, la SCEBD/CSSC aura lieu dans le cadre de la Fédération des sciences humaines (Congrès des sciences humaines).

La forme BD/comics a été théorisée comme étant intrinsèquement hybride résultant d’un mélange de mots et d’images. En gardant en tête le thème de cette année de la Fédération, « Cercles de conversation », nous sommes particulièrement intéressé/e/s par des propositions qui explorent les possibilités que les BD/comics ont de communiquer au-delà des limites et frontières traditionnelles. Les sujets potentiels incluent mais ne sont pas limités à:

BD et dialogue interculturel
Approches inter- et multiculturelles de l’étude des BD à travers les sciences humaines
Circulation, adaptation , et narration transmédiatiques
Les mondes de la BD et les BD mondiales/globales
BD et cultures de fans
Communautés créatives et culture entrepreneuriale, censure, « Gardiens des Temples » (gatekeepers), réactions et contre-réactions
BD dans les pratiques professionnelles: éducation, médecine, justice, journalisme, etc.

Veuillez soumettre un résumé de 200-300 mots, une bio-bibliographie et une adresse de contact sur un document Word à csscscebd+cfp2019@gmail.com avant le 31 décembre 2018.

Conférence plénière inaugurale:

“Latinographix: Ouvrir l’histoire de la BD alternative avec un ouvre-boîte”

Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir le conférencier de cette année, Frederick Luis Aldama. Dr. Aldama est Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor à l’université de l’Ohio (OSU/Ohio State U.). Il est l’auteur, co-auteur et éditeur de 36 livres, éditeur et co-éditeur de 8 séries de presses universitaires, et éditeur de la série Latinographix par les presses commerciales de fictions et non-fictions graphiques. Il est aussi le fondateur et directeur de LASER/Latinx Space for Enrichment & Research, et fait partie de l’Académie des Professeurs et de la Société Nationale des Cartoonistes.

A propos de la SCEBD/CSSC

La SCEBD/CSSC est une association académique nationale bilingue qui promeut les études des BD/comics (et autres dénominations comme les mangas, fumetti, etc.). Fondée en 2010, elle est un lieu pour les chercheurs canadiens et internationaux pour discuter tous les aspects des comics/BD comme forme artistique et phénomène culturel. Veuillez trouver plus d’informations sur le site de la SCEBD/CSSC: comics-scholars.com.

A propos du Congrès:

La Fédération des sciences humaines organise une rencontre annuelle (Congrès des sciences humaines) qui abrite plus de 70 associations académiques canadiennes. Chaque année, elle est accueillie sur un campus universitaire différent. En plus des conférences des associations individuelles, elle offre une série de lecture, de séminaires et d’événements culturels co-organisés par l’université hôte et par la Fédération des sciences humaines. Visitez congress2019.ca pour plus de renseignements sur la Fédération et ses Associations.

CFP: SCIENCE FICTION RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2019
Friday, June 21 – Monday, June 24, 2019
Chaminade University, Honolulu, Hawaii

Conference Theme: Facing the Future, Facing the Past: Colonialism, Inidigeneity, and SF
Keynote Speaker: Nalo Hopkinson

The Science Fiction Research Association invites proposals for its 2019 annual conference, to be held on the campus of Chaminade University, Honolulu, Hawaii.

“I ka wā mua, ka wā ma hope” is a Hawaiian proverb that can be translated, “In the past lies the future,” or more literally, “In what is in front of you is found what is behind you.” In the Native Hawaiian way of thinking, according to scholar Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa, “The Hawaiian stands firmly in the present, with his back to the future, and his eyes fixed upon the past, seeking historical answers for present-day dilemmas.” Another way of interpreting this saying might be, you must face the past to prepare yourself for the future. Thinking about this Hawaiian proverb in the context of science fiction brings up questions about ways of knowing, ways of orienting ourselves in time and space, the relation of our notions of the possible to our understanding of history, the ethical and political obligations of our scientific-technological practice in relation to the past and the future, and our expectations of social change as well as our sense of how it comes about.

SFRA 2019 will meet in Hawai‘i, a set of islands that after two and a half centuries of Western contact has become the world leader in species extinction, while being transformed during the nineteenth century from a wholly self-sustaining civilization into a plantation economy dominated by export crops and ravaged by epidemics that reduced the Native Hawaiian population by 80% or more, and whose political sovereignty was stolen by the settler-controlled and US-military-aided overthrow of the monarchy in 1893. As we plan to meet on this occupied land with its long history of indigenous resistance to colonial incursion, we welcome papers and panels on the relation of science fiction to colonial history and its ongoing effects, to the contemporary ecological crisis, to issues of political and economic justice, and to past and ongoing visions of the future.

Topics related to the conference theme include the relation of SF to the following:

* indigenous futurism
* colonial fantasies & indigenous survivance
* explorers, settlers, and natives
* indigenization v. cultural assimilation of forms & genres
* the dynamics of recognition, versions of the colonial gaze
* the “post” in postcolonialism
* decolonial speculative fiction
* the symbiosis of colonialism & capitalism
* epistemology in the contact zone
* speculative technologies of resistance
* Native and regional disruptions of the colonial biopolitical order
* indigenous intellectual property in light of transgenics, genetic modification, & other man-made mutations
* biopolitical imperialism, biopiracy, bioprospecting
* food security, organic & smart farming
* ecocriticism & the anthropocene
* progress v. sustainability
* estranging empire, rethinking centers and margins
* world systems & world construction
* world, nation, & culture: imagined communities and communities of practice

We also welcome papers on topics relevant to science fiction research broadly conceived that are not specifically related to the conference theme.

Graduate students are encouraged to apply and attend; as with previous SFRA conferences, the first day of conference programming will include roundtables and workshops targeted at early-career teachers and researchers working in SF studies and in the study of popular culture more generally.

300-500 word abstracts should be sent to rieder@hawaii.edu by March 1, 2019. Notification of acceptance will occur by April 1, 2019. We also welcome submission of preconstituted panels and roundtables.