April 12th-13th 2012
The Manchester Museum, Oxford Road
Manchester, United Kingdom
This two-day interdisciplinary, cross-period conference will explore humanity’s perennial fascination with the monstrous. From children’s toys to religious architecture, from medical and legal definitions to Gothic romance – cultural products resonate with fear, obsession and desire for the monster.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Proposals are sought for 20-minute papers. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- Monsters in literature, art, music and film
- Architectural monsters
- Subjectivity and the monster
- Objectification and the monster
- Historical definition of the monstrous
- Medical and legal monsters
- Theorizations of the monstrous
- Mythology, folklore and legends
- Hybrids and hybridity
- Cyborgs and the posthuman
Please send 300-word abstracts to the conference convenors by Sunday 1st January 2012. For more information, please see our website.
Following the conference, there will be a two-day public Monsters Convention in Manchester. We would be interested in hearing from anyone interested in offering a talk or seminar at this convention. Please email Dr. Hannah Priest.
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Review: Jack Williamson, Darker Than You Think (1948; Gollancz, 2003)
Last year, in one of the discussion sessions at our conference on female werewolves, the keynote speaker (Prof. Peter Hutchings) mentioned a piece of 'classic' werewolf fiction that has been sadly overlooked in the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries - Jack Williamson's Darker Than You Think. Hutchings' description of the book's content and genre sparked a lot of interest. He mentioned that the book had been out of print for several years, but had recently been reissued. I remember predicting that sales of the new edition would probably go up immediately following the conference - and, though I don't know about any of the other delegates, I certainly went out and immediately bought a copy.Embarrassingly, despite buying the book last September, I have only just found time to read it. Mea culpa. But I've now read it, and here is my review!
Williamson's novel, first published in 1948, tells the story of Will Barbee, a former student of Dr. Lamarck Mondrick (an anthropologist/palaeontologist/archaeologist, with a background in psychiatry - bear with me on this one!) who is currently working as a journalist. The novel begins with Barbee arriving at an airport to cover the return of Mondrick and his team, who have been researching 'something' in Asia for the past two years. As he waits for the plane to land, he meets a mysterious young woman named April Bell, who is also apparently a journalist.
Immediately intrigued, attracted and frightened by April, Barbee begins to get a feeling of foreboding. As he surveys the families of Mondrick and his team, this feeling grows. Sure enough, when Dr. Mondrick arrives, the professor begins to make a startling announcement about a shocking discovery... and then promptly dies. This begins a series of frightening events, as Barbee becomes more closely involved with April Bell and slowly learns the truth of Mondrick's discoveries. As the title of the book suggests, the truth is "darker than you think".
The first chapter of the novel is entitled "The Girl in White Fur". The first description of April Bell reads as follows:
"She looked as trimly cool and beautiful as a streamlined electric icebox.
She had a million dollars' worth of flame-red hair. White, soft, sweetly
serious, her face confirmed his first dazzled impression - that she was
something very wonderful and rare. She met his eyes, and her rather large
mouth drew into a quick pleasant quirk." (p. 1)
It shouldn't be too difficult for you to guess what sort of creature April Bell is. If I add that dogs growl at her, she has an aversion to the silver jewellery worn by Rowena Mondrick and that she carries a bag with a kitten in it (the second chapter of the book is called "The Kitten Killing"), I don't think there is much room for doubt.
Sure enough, it is soon apparent that April is intent on leading Barbee into the world of "lycanthropy" (or, as is probably more accurate, shapeshifting). Much of the presentation of lycanthropy in Williamson's book will be familiar to fans of werewolf fiction. In 'were' form, Barbee and April speak of being "free", enjoying human blood and hunting, are nocturnal and murderous. Barbee's first transformation is somewhat painful, but it becomes easier and more desirable. As noted, the sexual allure of the female werewolf is made apparent throughout the book.
However, though Williamson's presentation of lycanthropy is (in some ways) a standard one, there are some interesting to note about Darker Than You Think. Firstly, and most obviously, the book is a very early example of this 'standard' representation. We might all know a lot of the tropes Williamson employs, but this is a result of the vast swathes of fiction that has come since (some of which has been influenced by Williamson's book directly, but not all).
Secondly, the novel's genre is quite difficult to define. The opening chapters have a noirish quality, with the hardbitten reporter meeting the femme fatale and getting drawn into a dangerous mystery - it should come as no surprise that Will Barbee drinks way too much whisky! Elsewhere, the book feels more like what is now known as urban fantasy, with episodes that read like science fiction, science fantasy and psychological thriller. For instance, the explanation of the mechanism of lycanthropy draws heavily on theoretical physics - though this may seem somewhat dated for those with a background in science - as well as on more traditional ideas of the animal 'spirit'.
I will confess, some parts of Williamson's novel left me less than enthused. The reason for this was that I felt that too much had been explained too soon. April offers Barbee a fairly lengthy explanation of her own circumstances early in the novel, as well as the 'scientific' explanation of lycanthropy. She tells him about the murders and why they must happen, and (apparently) what the strange box Mondrick has brought from Asia contains. Barbee's attempts to come to terms with this, and his vacillations between his 'human' nature and his murderous lycanthropy take up a large part of the novel.
However, what I wasn't prepared for was how much Williamson holds back until the final chapters of the novel. The final 'reveal' is most definite worth waiting for. Though the novel appears to be about the mystery of who the "Child of Night" actually is - and I must confess, I did work that out - what is really worth waiting for is the final 'tying together' of all the strange threads of the novel - Mondrick's research, his strange wife, the references to palaeontology, archaeology, psychiatry and physics, and the strange box that has returned from the expedition.
And I'll say no more on what that explanation is, as I think the book is well worth reading for that alone. The characters may be a little dated and cliched, and the plot a little far-fetched in places, but the final 'solution' and the novel's ending are certainly unlike most things you will find in a werewolf book. At the risk of sounding a little trite, lycanthropy in Williamson's novel really is "darker than you think".
On the back of the 2003 Gollancz paperback edition, Douglas E. Winter describes Darker Than You Think:
"It is arguably the best, and certainly the best remembered, American novel about lycanthropy."
I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this assessment, but I would certainly suggest that Williamson's novel is a must-read for any fans of werewolf fiction, and April Bell certainly belongs on a list of fascinating female werewolves.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
CFP: 1st Global Conference: Celebrity: Exploring Critical Issues
15th March - 17th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
The dream to be famous is as old as humanity itself. Celebrities are born every day and they often disappear after their Warholian fifteen minutes. Celebrity culture has long ceased to be of interest only to tabloids and merchandisers and the people that consume them. Its analysis permeates all disciplines of study, making celebrity a multifaceted concept. Though more obvious in the late 20th century, academics have continually called for a broader programme of celebrity studies; anthropologists have been identifying connections between celebrity status and religion (shamanism; idolatry; reliquaries); psychologists have been discussing the consequences of ‘celebrity worship’ and warning about the fate of those who rose to questionable fame within a fortnight. With the seemingly insatiable desire for the lifestyle, style-tips and emulation of celebrity sociologists have been describing new ways of representing, producing and, most importantly, consuming celebrity; all manner of consumer products, not least the medical world, has been engaging celebrities to promote a cornucopia of products as well as health-awareness programmes or as spokes-persons for the UN, UNICEF, ambassadors, charities and beyond.; more recently, economists have pointed to the entertainment sector to find areas which have not been drastically touched by recession.
This call for papers addresses a serious, interdisciplinary and multicultural analysis of the phenomenon of celebrity. Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to the following themes:
Definitions of celebrity-hood, stardom, charisma, uniqueness/singularity across cultures
The history of celebrity: the idols in the past and now
From zero to hero
The modern celebrity culture
Ideological conditions of celebrity culture
Celebrities as commodities
Representation of celebrities; ‘celebrification’ processes; the making of the ’star’
Celebrity and identity formation; empowerment or objectification; self-fashioning (public vs private self)
Celebrity culture and the audience (i.e. fandom; celebrity worship; stalking; role models; franchising)
Good and bad PR
Celebrities as cultural fabrications
Celebrity and power; political function of celebrity status
Politics and celebrities; celebrities in politics
Mass media and the formation of celebrity culture
Celebrity in the media: news, shows, tabloids
Celebrity and the law, accountability, morality, crime, transgressions
Celebrity status and gender
Celebrity as educators; their positive impact; celebrities and humanitarian actions; awareness-raising
Notorious celebrity/fame: The anti-heroes
Celebrities and their personnel
Child celebrities: Too young for fame?
Celebrity status as a burden; The weight of stardom
Forgotten celebrities: What happens when fame disappears?
Celebrities and ageing
Unwanted fame
Intercultural perspective on celebrity: i.e. Bollywood vs Hollywood
(Post)colonialism and celebrity
(Auto)biographies of/by stars and idols: self-representation, truth/fiction
Celebrity confessional literature; Self-help books by celebrities
Papers will be accepted which deal with related areas and themes. Papers will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper of no more than 3000 words should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
E-mails should be entitled: Celebrity Abstract Submission.
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Katarzyna Bronk
Adam Mickiewicz University,
Poznan,
Poland
Dr Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road,
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
The conference is part of the Critical Issues series of research projects. The aim of the conference is to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
The dream to be famous is as old as humanity itself. Celebrities are born every day and they often disappear after their Warholian fifteen minutes. Celebrity culture has long ceased to be of interest only to tabloids and merchandisers and the people that consume them. Its analysis permeates all disciplines of study, making celebrity a multifaceted concept. Though more obvious in the late 20th century, academics have continually called for a broader programme of celebrity studies; anthropologists have been identifying connections between celebrity status and religion (shamanism; idolatry; reliquaries); psychologists have been discussing the consequences of ‘celebrity worship’ and warning about the fate of those who rose to questionable fame within a fortnight. With the seemingly insatiable desire for the lifestyle, style-tips and emulation of celebrity sociologists have been describing new ways of representing, producing and, most importantly, consuming celebrity; all manner of consumer products, not least the medical world, has been engaging celebrities to promote a cornucopia of products as well as health-awareness programmes or as spokes-persons for the UN, UNICEF, ambassadors, charities and beyond.; more recently, economists have pointed to the entertainment sector to find areas which have not been drastically touched by recession.
This call for papers addresses a serious, interdisciplinary and multicultural analysis of the phenomenon of celebrity. Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to the following themes:
Definitions of celebrity-hood, stardom, charisma, uniqueness/singularity across cultures
The history of celebrity: the idols in the past and now
From zero to hero
The modern celebrity culture
Ideological conditions of celebrity culture
Celebrities as commodities
Representation of celebrities; ‘celebrification’ processes; the making of the ’star’
Celebrity and identity formation; empowerment or objectification; self-fashioning (public vs private self)
Celebrity culture and the audience (i.e. fandom; celebrity worship; stalking; role models; franchising)
Good and bad PR
Celebrities as cultural fabrications
Celebrity and power; political function of celebrity status
Politics and celebrities; celebrities in politics
Mass media and the formation of celebrity culture
Celebrity in the media: news, shows, tabloids
Celebrity and the law, accountability, morality, crime, transgressions
Celebrity status and gender
Celebrity as educators; their positive impact; celebrities and humanitarian actions; awareness-raising
Notorious celebrity/fame: The anti-heroes
Celebrities and their personnel
Child celebrities: Too young for fame?
Celebrity status as a burden; The weight of stardom
Forgotten celebrities: What happens when fame disappears?
Celebrities and ageing
Unwanted fame
Intercultural perspective on celebrity: i.e. Bollywood vs Hollywood
(Post)colonialism and celebrity
(Auto)biographies of/by stars and idols: self-representation, truth/fiction
Celebrity confessional literature; Self-help books by celebrities
Papers will be accepted which deal with related areas and themes. Papers will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper of no more than 3000 words should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
E-mails should be entitled: Celebrity Abstract Submission.
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Katarzyna Bronk
Adam Mickiewicz University,
Poznan,
Poland
Dr Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road,
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
The conference is part of the Critical Issues series of research projects. The aim of the conference is to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
CFP: 13th Global Conference: Perspectives on Evil and Human Wickedness
15th March - 17th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
Hitler. Spitzer. Torquemada. Weiner. Genghis Khan. Lucrecia Borgia. Ronald Reagan. Ivan the Terrible. Bill Clinton. What do all these people have in common? They are all considered “evil” by a few, some, many, or all others who know anything about them. Why? What makes them evil? Or even just plain old “wicked?” What makes them not-evil or not-wicked? How does the label “evil” or “wicked” change our estimation of them? How has the use of those labels for these folk — and others — changed over time? How will the use of these labels continue to evolve?
Further, is evil an all-or-nothing term? Is some one either evil or not evil? Is it a term reserved for use in relation to ’special cases’? Serial killers? Paedophiles? Mothers who kill their children? Children who kill other children? Is it only people who can be evil? Can animals be evil? Can countries or nations be evil?
Papers, presentations, reports and workshops are invited on issues on or broadly related to any of the following themes:
1. Wrestling with ‘Evil’
- does the language of ‘evil’ make sense in the 21st Century?
- what is ‘evil’? What is the concept of ‘evil’?
- when we use the term ‘evil’ what do we seek to convey?
- understanding the language of evil
- ‘evil’ and other possibilities: morally objectionable; morally wrong; bad; immoral; iniquitous; reprobate; sinful; wrong; depraved; diabolical; heinous; malevolent; wicked
2. The Nature of Evil
- the contexts of evil; the ‘meaning’ of evil as context dependent
- the roots of evil
- what counts as evil? Evil, Evils. Is there such a thing?
- the boundaries of evil; the forms of evil; types of evil; instances of evil. Universal evil?
- the practices of evil
- taking evil seriously; enjoying evil; satisfying evil
3. Explanatory Frameworks
- what are we looking for? The possibility of explanations
- what is an explanation?
- what does or should an explanation seek to achieve?
- is evil capable of explanation?
- explanation as evil
4. Understanding Evil
- from the perspectives of the disciplines indicative examples: anthropology, art, art history, criminology, cultural studies, history, legal studies, literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and theology
- from the perspectives of professions indicative examples: accountants, architects, diplomats, doctors, engineers, lawyers, pharmacists, planners, teachers, vets; people working in economics, forensics, medicine, nursing, politics, prison services, psychiatry
- from the perspectives of vocations indicative examples: people working in altruistic vocations,
professional vocations, voluntary vocations, religious vocations, humanitarian campaigning and activities
- from the perspectives of ngos indicative examples: United Nations, international ngo’s, business oriented ngo’s, governmental ngo’s, quango’s, civil society ngo’s; people working with interest groups, lobbying activities; charity organisations; relief organisations; occupational organisations; not-for-profit networks
5. Representations of Evil
- art, art history, visual culture
- cinema, tv, theatre, radio
- music; metal
- media
- technological and multi-media representations
- video games and on-line communities
- subcultural formations and identities
- fashion and evil
- gothic subjectivities and Othering
6. Confronting Evil
- how is it possible to confront evil?
- can evil be resolved? Should evil be resolved?
- the work of Truth and Reconciliation commissions; the International Criminal Court; the role of law and local criminal justice procedures
- the work of international organisations
- the role of charities
The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 1st October 2010. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 4th February 2011.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Stephen Morris
Hub Leader (Evil)
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s) or for inclusion in the Perspectives on Evil journal (relaunching 2011).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
Hitler. Spitzer. Torquemada. Weiner. Genghis Khan. Lucrecia Borgia. Ronald Reagan. Ivan the Terrible. Bill Clinton. What do all these people have in common? They are all considered “evil” by a few, some, many, or all others who know anything about them. Why? What makes them evil? Or even just plain old “wicked?” What makes them not-evil or not-wicked? How does the label “evil” or “wicked” change our estimation of them? How has the use of those labels for these folk — and others — changed over time? How will the use of these labels continue to evolve?
Further, is evil an all-or-nothing term? Is some one either evil or not evil? Is it a term reserved for use in relation to ’special cases’? Serial killers? Paedophiles? Mothers who kill their children? Children who kill other children? Is it only people who can be evil? Can animals be evil? Can countries or nations be evil?
Papers, presentations, reports and workshops are invited on issues on or broadly related to any of the following themes:
1. Wrestling with ‘Evil’
- does the language of ‘evil’ make sense in the 21st Century?
- what is ‘evil’? What is the concept of ‘evil’?
- when we use the term ‘evil’ what do we seek to convey?
- understanding the language of evil
- ‘evil’ and other possibilities: morally objectionable; morally wrong; bad; immoral; iniquitous; reprobate; sinful; wrong; depraved; diabolical; heinous; malevolent; wicked
2. The Nature of Evil
- the contexts of evil; the ‘meaning’ of evil as context dependent
- the roots of evil
- what counts as evil? Evil, Evils. Is there such a thing?
- the boundaries of evil; the forms of evil; types of evil; instances of evil. Universal evil?
- the practices of evil
- taking evil seriously; enjoying evil; satisfying evil
3. Explanatory Frameworks
- what are we looking for? The possibility of explanations
- what is an explanation?
- what does or should an explanation seek to achieve?
- is evil capable of explanation?
- explanation as evil
4. Understanding Evil
- from the perspectives of the disciplines indicative examples: anthropology, art, art history, criminology, cultural studies, history, legal studies, literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and theology
- from the perspectives of professions indicative examples: accountants, architects, diplomats, doctors, engineers, lawyers, pharmacists, planners, teachers, vets; people working in economics, forensics, medicine, nursing, politics, prison services, psychiatry
- from the perspectives of vocations indicative examples: people working in altruistic vocations,
professional vocations, voluntary vocations, religious vocations, humanitarian campaigning and activities
- from the perspectives of ngos indicative examples: United Nations, international ngo’s, business oriented ngo’s, governmental ngo’s, quango’s, civil society ngo’s; people working with interest groups, lobbying activities; charity organisations; relief organisations; occupational organisations; not-for-profit networks
5. Representations of Evil
- art, art history, visual culture
- cinema, tv, theatre, radio
- music; metal
- media
- technological and multi-media representations
- video games and on-line communities
- subcultural formations and identities
- fashion and evil
- gothic subjectivities and Othering
6. Confronting Evil
- how is it possible to confront evil?
- can evil be resolved? Should evil be resolved?
- the work of Truth and Reconciliation commissions; the International Criminal Court; the role of law and local criminal justice procedures
- the work of international organisations
- the role of charities
The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 1st October 2010. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 4th February 2011.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Stephen Morris
Hub Leader (Evil)
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s) or for inclusion in the Perspectives on Evil journal (relaunching 2011).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
CFP: 3rd Global Conference: Urban Fantasies: Magic and the Supernatural
15th March - 17th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
Jimmy Paz. Harry Dresden. Matthew Swift. Felix Castor. Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton.
These are among the more recent characters that fill the shelves of “Urban Fantasy” in local or online bookshops. The novels that constitute the genre are set in cities or gritty inner-cities and contain one or more fantastic elements. Alien races, mythological characters, paranormal beings, and the manipulation of magical forces all appear in these novels. Self-esteem issues and tragic pasts often color or shape the principal characters. Although most often “contemporary,” the tales are sometimes set in the past or future as well. The books and stories demonstrate how magic or the supernatural interact with everyday quotidian life, either changing it forever (as in the *Shadow Saga*) or remaining a hidden force that protects the unknowing residents of the city (as in *The Chamber of Ten*).
This “Urban Fantasy” thread is part of a larger project concerned with Magic and the Supernatural in all its myriad forms. The fascination and appeal of magic and supernatural entities pervades societies and cultures. The continuing appeal of these characters is a testimony to how they shape our daydreams and our nightmares, as well as how we yearn for something that is “more” or “beyond” what we can see-touch-taste-feel. Children still avoid stepping on cracks, lovers pluck petals from a daisy, cards are dealt and tea leaves read.
A belief in magic as a means of influencing the world seems to have been common in all cultures. Some of these beliefs crossed over into nascent religions, influencing rites and religious celebrations. Over time, religiously-based supernatural events (”miracles”) acquired their own flavour, separating themselves from standard magic. Some modern religions such as the Neopaganisms embrace connections to magic, while others retain only echoes of their distant origins.
Papers from any discipline are welcome on any aspect of the Urban Fantasy genre as well as those concerned with Magic and the Supernatural in more general terms or other subheadings. Possible subjects include, but are not limited to, these:
* Gender and sexual stereotypes/roles in UF stories
* Updating and rewriting of traditional mythologies in UF
* Role of / interaction of magic/philosophy/religion in UF
* Magical practice as religion in UF
* Changes in UF as reflections of /opposition to contemporary culture
* Cultural and racial stereotypes in UF
* Comparison of UF and other fantasy sub-genres
* Importance of geographic location (ex. London, Salzburg, Venice) in UF
* Importance of historical accuracy and fidelity in UF
* Explanations for how “magic” functions/operates in varying UF stories
* Magic as “paranormal,” anything alleged to exist that is not explainable by any present laws of science
* the distinctions between “magic” and “religion” and “science”
* Magical thinking and the equation of coincidence with causality
* Folk magic and “traditional” systems of magic
* “Magick” and “Wicca” as religious systems in modern society
* Witchcraft in the European context
* “Witchcraft” and animism in African or Asian contexts
* Magic as illusion, stagecraft, sleight-of-hand
* Magic in modern literature (ex. Harry Potter, Harry Dresden, the saga of Middle Earth, the Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) and in traditional literatures (folk or fairy tales, legends, mythologies, etc.)
* Magic in art and the depiction of magical creatures, practices or practitioners
* the associations of magic with the “monstrous” or “evil;” does one imply the presence of the other?
* the portrayal of magic, magical creatures, and magical practices or practitioners on television and in film
* the roles or uses of magic in video games, on-line communities, role-playing games, subcultural formations and identities
* the similarities and differences of magical creatures across societies and time periods
* the interplay of “magic” and “religion” as well as “science”
* the “sciences” of demonology and angelology
* the role of divination or prophecy in societies or religions
* the use of “natural” vs. “supernatural” explanations for world events
* Magic and the supernatural as coping mechanisms for individuals and societies
The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2011. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Stephen Morris
Hub Leader (Evil)
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s) or for inclusion in the Perspectives on Evil journal (relaunching 2011).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
Jimmy Paz. Harry Dresden. Matthew Swift. Felix Castor. Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton.
These are among the more recent characters that fill the shelves of “Urban Fantasy” in local or online bookshops. The novels that constitute the genre are set in cities or gritty inner-cities and contain one or more fantastic elements. Alien races, mythological characters, paranormal beings, and the manipulation of magical forces all appear in these novels. Self-esteem issues and tragic pasts often color or shape the principal characters. Although most often “contemporary,” the tales are sometimes set in the past or future as well. The books and stories demonstrate how magic or the supernatural interact with everyday quotidian life, either changing it forever (as in the *Shadow Saga*) or remaining a hidden force that protects the unknowing residents of the city (as in *The Chamber of Ten*).
This “Urban Fantasy” thread is part of a larger project concerned with Magic and the Supernatural in all its myriad forms. The fascination and appeal of magic and supernatural entities pervades societies and cultures. The continuing appeal of these characters is a testimony to how they shape our daydreams and our nightmares, as well as how we yearn for something that is “more” or “beyond” what we can see-touch-taste-feel. Children still avoid stepping on cracks, lovers pluck petals from a daisy, cards are dealt and tea leaves read.
A belief in magic as a means of influencing the world seems to have been common in all cultures. Some of these beliefs crossed over into nascent religions, influencing rites and religious celebrations. Over time, religiously-based supernatural events (”miracles”) acquired their own flavour, separating themselves from standard magic. Some modern religions such as the Neopaganisms embrace connections to magic, while others retain only echoes of their distant origins.
Papers from any discipline are welcome on any aspect of the Urban Fantasy genre as well as those concerned with Magic and the Supernatural in more general terms or other subheadings. Possible subjects include, but are not limited to, these:
* Gender and sexual stereotypes/roles in UF stories
* Updating and rewriting of traditional mythologies in UF
* Role of / interaction of magic/philosophy/religion in UF
* Magical practice as religion in UF
* Changes in UF as reflections of /opposition to contemporary culture
* Cultural and racial stereotypes in UF
* Comparison of UF and other fantasy sub-genres
* Importance of geographic location (ex. London, Salzburg, Venice) in UF
* Importance of historical accuracy and fidelity in UF
* Explanations for how “magic” functions/operates in varying UF stories
* Magic as “paranormal,” anything alleged to exist that is not explainable by any present laws of science
* the distinctions between “magic” and “religion” and “science”
* Magical thinking and the equation of coincidence with causality
* Folk magic and “traditional” systems of magic
* “Magick” and “Wicca” as religious systems in modern society
* Witchcraft in the European context
* “Witchcraft” and animism in African or Asian contexts
* Magic as illusion, stagecraft, sleight-of-hand
* Magic in modern literature (ex. Harry Potter, Harry Dresden, the saga of Middle Earth, the Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) and in traditional literatures (folk or fairy tales, legends, mythologies, etc.)
* Magic in art and the depiction of magical creatures, practices or practitioners
* the associations of magic with the “monstrous” or “evil;” does one imply the presence of the other?
* the portrayal of magic, magical creatures, and magical practices or practitioners on television and in film
* the roles or uses of magic in video games, on-line communities, role-playing games, subcultural formations and identities
* the similarities and differences of magical creatures across societies and time periods
* the interplay of “magic” and “religion” as well as “science”
* the “sciences” of demonology and angelology
* the role of divination or prophecy in societies or religions
* the use of “natural” vs. “supernatural” explanations for world events
* Magic and the supernatural as coping mechanisms for individuals and societies
The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2011. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Stephen Morris
Hub Leader (Evil)
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s) or for inclusion in the Perspectives on Evil journal (relaunching 2011).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
CFP: 1st Global Conference: Sin, Vices and Virtues
18th March - 20th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
In 2008, Archbishop Girotti triggered a heated public discussion when he identified new types of sins that wreak the modern world. The traditional list of the Church Fathers was unofficially updated to include social sins prevalent in what he called the era of “unstoppable globalisation”. and not necessarily embracing Christians only. Thus, apart from the familiar, but Christianity specific: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed, Sloth, which individuals were to test their conscience for, the Church now cautions the whole of humanity inter alia about: Genetic modification and human experimentations; Polluting the environment; Social injustice; Causing poverty; Paedophilia, contraception, abortion; Taking drugs; and Financial gluttony. Not only are the ‘new sins’ not necessarily Christian in nature but they seem inter- and transcultural, disregarding religious persuasion. It seems no longer the matter of individual transgression that has spiritual repercussions, but rather the sin whose subject is the entire, global society.
Are we then to talk about a completely new hamartiology, new schematization, or are we just are revising, or adapting the Seven Deadly Sins to fit the secularized world of the 21st century? What are the real changes between medieval, originally Christian hamartiology and today’s religious/moral doctrines preached across the modern world? And what about non-Christian cultures with different categories of religious/spiritual transgressions. May one actually still talk about ’sin’ at all or is it an obsolete word in a multicultural world? Is the concept of religious transgression being secularised as well? Are all Western sins and virtues other cultures’ vices too?
This interdisciplinary conference seeks a new, provocative, intercultural perspective on some enduring truths concerning virtues and vices, sins and transgressions. Do we need a new list of moral commandments in the globalised, multicultural 21st century? Should they be religious or secular in nature? What are the foundations behind morality of the ‘modern (wo)man’. And, finally, is it possible, reaching back to the origins of humanity, to find common denominators between religious/spiritual definitions of vices and virtues of all belief systems?
Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to the following themes:
* The genealogy of the idea of sin or religious transgression in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Sinful/Transgressive actions and evil thoughts in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Lexicon of sinfulness/transgression and virtuousness in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Social functions of sins and virtues
* Modern sins and vices: Individual and social; religious and secular; intercultural
* Social sins: ‘Institutional’ and ’structural’; their social ramifications
* Communal versus individual sins/transgressions: Do societies sin?
* The concept of sin or spiritual transgression/deviation and philosophy
* Sins and vices on the political arena (secular morality or no morality)
* Psychology of sin (’sinful’ or ‘abnormal’?; the concept of sin after Darwin, Nietzsche and Freud)
* Representation of sins and sinners, vices, transgressions and virtues in art, literature, movies in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Genderization of sins, vices and virtues in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Ideology of sin/religious transgression and technological progress: G/god or the Machine; 'sins' of productive necessity
* Sins/Vices and/in the Media (ie advertising)
* Medieval crusades and modern (holy) wars
* Sinless, non-transgressive life in 21st century: Possibility or wishful thinking?
* Fear of the confessional or ‘McDonald-isation’ of spiritual life; is confession needed at all?
* Penitential practices across the ages and cultures
* Punishment for sin/transgression and rewarding virtue across the ages and cultures: individual and collective
* Visions of Hell and Paradise across cultures
* Virtues in the modern times; virtues in a modern man
Papers will be accepted which deal with related areas and themes. Papers will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper of no more than 3000 words should be submitted by Friday 27th january 2012.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
E-mails should be entitled: Sins and Virtues Abstract Submission.
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Katarzyna Bronk
Independent Scholar,
Poznan,
Poland
Dr Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road,
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
The conference is part of the At the Interface series of research projects. The aim of the conference is to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
In 2008, Archbishop Girotti triggered a heated public discussion when he identified new types of sins that wreak the modern world. The traditional list of the Church Fathers was unofficially updated to include social sins prevalent in what he called the era of “unstoppable globalisation”. and not necessarily embracing Christians only. Thus, apart from the familiar, but Christianity specific: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed, Sloth, which individuals were to test their conscience for, the Church now cautions the whole of humanity inter alia about: Genetic modification and human experimentations; Polluting the environment; Social injustice; Causing poverty; Paedophilia, contraception, abortion; Taking drugs; and Financial gluttony. Not only are the ‘new sins’ not necessarily Christian in nature but they seem inter- and transcultural, disregarding religious persuasion. It seems no longer the matter of individual transgression that has spiritual repercussions, but rather the sin whose subject is the entire, global society.
Are we then to talk about a completely new hamartiology, new schematization, or are we just are revising, or adapting the Seven Deadly Sins to fit the secularized world of the 21st century? What are the real changes between medieval, originally Christian hamartiology and today’s religious/moral doctrines preached across the modern world? And what about non-Christian cultures with different categories of religious/spiritual transgressions. May one actually still talk about ’sin’ at all or is it an obsolete word in a multicultural world? Is the concept of religious transgression being secularised as well? Are all Western sins and virtues other cultures’ vices too?
This interdisciplinary conference seeks a new, provocative, intercultural perspective on some enduring truths concerning virtues and vices, sins and transgressions. Do we need a new list of moral commandments in the globalised, multicultural 21st century? Should they be religious or secular in nature? What are the foundations behind morality of the ‘modern (wo)man’. And, finally, is it possible, reaching back to the origins of humanity, to find common denominators between religious/spiritual definitions of vices and virtues of all belief systems?
Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to the following themes:
* The genealogy of the idea of sin or religious transgression in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Sinful/Transgressive actions and evil thoughts in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Lexicon of sinfulness/transgression and virtuousness in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Social functions of sins and virtues
* Modern sins and vices: Individual and social; religious and secular; intercultural
* Social sins: ‘Institutional’ and ’structural’; their social ramifications
* Communal versus individual sins/transgressions: Do societies sin?
* The concept of sin or spiritual transgression/deviation and philosophy
* Sins and vices on the political arena (secular morality or no morality)
* Psychology of sin (’sinful’ or ‘abnormal’?; the concept of sin after Darwin, Nietzsche and Freud)
* Representation of sins and sinners, vices, transgressions and virtues in art, literature, movies in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Genderization of sins, vices and virtues in Christian and non-Christian cultures
* Ideology of sin/religious transgression and technological progress: G/god or the Machine; 'sins' of productive necessity
* Sins/Vices and/in the Media (ie advertising)
* Medieval crusades and modern (holy) wars
* Sinless, non-transgressive life in 21st century: Possibility or wishful thinking?
* Fear of the confessional or ‘McDonald-isation’ of spiritual life; is confession needed at all?
* Penitential practices across the ages and cultures
* Punishment for sin/transgression and rewarding virtue across the ages and cultures: individual and collective
* Visions of Hell and Paradise across cultures
* Virtues in the modern times; virtues in a modern man
Papers will be accepted which deal with related areas and themes. Papers will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper of no more than 3000 words should be submitted by Friday 27th january 2012.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
E-mails should be entitled: Sins and Virtues Abstract Submission.
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Katarzyna Bronk
Independent Scholar,
Poznan,
Poland
Dr Rob Fisher
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Priory House, Wroslyn Road,
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
The conference is part of the At the Interface series of research projects. The aim of the conference is to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
CFP: 2nd Global Conference: Trauma: Theory and Practice
21st March - 24th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine and explore issues surrounding individual and collective trauma, both in terms of practice, theory and lived reality. Trauma studies have emerged from its foundation in psychoanalysis to be a dominant methodology for understanding contemporary events and our reactions to them. Critics have argued that we live in a “culture of trauma”. Repeated images of suffering and death form our collective and/or cultural unconscious. The second global conference seeks papers on a variety of issues related to trauma including the function of memory and trauma, collective and cultural trauma, time and trauma, testimony and trauma, and strategies of dealing with/coming to terms with personal/political trauma.
In addition to academic analysis, we welcome the submission of case studies or other approaches from those involved with its practice, such as people in the medical profession and therapists, victims of events which have resulted in traumas on either an individual or mass scale, journalists or authors (including playwrights and poets) whose work deals with both fictional and factual trauma, and theatre professionals.
Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:
1. Public and Political Trauma
~ War and trauma, both past and present
~ Public disasters and trauma including environmental catastrophes
~ Disease, public health and trauma
~ Political trauma, silencing dissent/voicing dissent
2. Personal and Individual Trauma
~ Bereavement
~ Murder and Assault
~ Domestic Violence
~ Child Abuse
~ Survivor guilt
~ Disability
~ Witnessing Trauma
3. Diagnosing and Treating Trauma
~ Psychotherapy, cognitive psychology and other psychological approaches to treating victims of trauma
~ Psychiatry
~ Other medical approaches
~ non-medical approaches, for example, narrative approaches, music, art
4. Theorising Trauma
~ Trauma and post colonialism
~ Memory and trauma
~ National identity and trauma
~ Trauma studies and psychoanalysis
~ Individual versus Collective trauma
~ Cultural trauma
~ Gender and trauma
~ The body and trauma
~ External and internal trauma
5. Representing Trauma
~ Affect, trauma and art
~ Dramatizing trauma on screen and on stage
~ Vision and Trauma
~ Media images: reality and fiction
~ literature and poetry
~ Eyewitness testimony
~ video games, violence and trauma
~ technology and trauma
~ reporting on trauma
~ the aesthetics and experience of trauma
~ fear, horror and trauma
~ Otherness and trauma
The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 1st October 2010. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Colette Balmain
Hub Leader (Horror), Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Independent Scholar
United Kingdom
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s) or for inclusion in the Perspectives on Evil journal (relaunching 2011).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine and explore issues surrounding individual and collective trauma, both in terms of practice, theory and lived reality. Trauma studies have emerged from its foundation in psychoanalysis to be a dominant methodology for understanding contemporary events and our reactions to them. Critics have argued that we live in a “culture of trauma”. Repeated images of suffering and death form our collective and/or cultural unconscious. The second global conference seeks papers on a variety of issues related to trauma including the function of memory and trauma, collective and cultural trauma, time and trauma, testimony and trauma, and strategies of dealing with/coming to terms with personal/political trauma.
In addition to academic analysis, we welcome the submission of case studies or other approaches from those involved with its practice, such as people in the medical profession and therapists, victims of events which have resulted in traumas on either an individual or mass scale, journalists or authors (including playwrights and poets) whose work deals with both fictional and factual trauma, and theatre professionals.
Papers, reports, work-in-progress, workshops and pre-formed panels are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:
1. Public and Political Trauma
~ War and trauma, both past and present
~ Public disasters and trauma including environmental catastrophes
~ Disease, public health and trauma
~ Political trauma, silencing dissent/voicing dissent
2. Personal and Individual Trauma
~ Bereavement
~ Murder and Assault
~ Domestic Violence
~ Child Abuse
~ Survivor guilt
~ Disability
~ Witnessing Trauma
3. Diagnosing and Treating Trauma
~ Psychotherapy, cognitive psychology and other psychological approaches to treating victims of trauma
~ Psychiatry
~ Other medical approaches
~ non-medical approaches, for example, narrative approaches, music, art
4. Theorising Trauma
~ Trauma and post colonialism
~ Memory and trauma
~ National identity and trauma
~ Trauma studies and psychoanalysis
~ Individual versus Collective trauma
~ Cultural trauma
~ Gender and trauma
~ The body and trauma
~ External and internal trauma
5. Representing Trauma
~ Affect, trauma and art
~ Dramatizing trauma on screen and on stage
~ Vision and Trauma
~ Media images: reality and fiction
~ literature and poetry
~ Eyewitness testimony
~ video games, violence and trauma
~ technology and trauma
~ reporting on trauma
~ the aesthetics and experience of trauma
~ fear, horror and trauma
~ Otherness and trauma
The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 1st October 2010. All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs
Colette Balmain
Hub Leader (Horror), Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Independent Scholar
United Kingdom
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s) or for inclusion in the Perspectives on Evil journal (relaunching 2011).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
CFP: 2nd Global Conference: Spirituality in the 21st Century: At the Interface of Theory, Praxis and Pedagogy
21st March - 24th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
The contemporary study of spirituality encompasses a wide range of interests. These have come not only from the more traditional areas of religious scholarship—theology, philosophy of religion, history of religion, comparative religion, mysticism—but also more recently from management, medicine, and many other fields.
This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine and explore issues surrounding spirituality in regard to theory, praxis and pedagogy. Our first Conference, held in March 2011, was highly successful, with more than 50 presenters from greater than 25 countries around the world participating.
We seek to expand the range of ideas, fields, and locales of Spiritual work for the 2nd Global Conference. Perspectives are sought from those engaged in the fields of Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation, Business, Counseling, Ecology, Education, Healing, History, Management, Mass/Organizational/Speech Communication, Medicine, Nursing, Performance Studies, Philosophy, Psychiatry, Psychology, Reconciliation/Refugee/Resettlement Projects, Social Work, and Theatre. These disciplines are indicative only, as papers are welcomed from any area, profession and/or vocation in which Spirituality plays a part.
Papers, reports, works-in-progress and workshops are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:
* Conceptualizations of Spirituality
* Social and/or Cultural Aspects of Spirituality
* History(ies) of Spirituality
* Interpreting elements and examples of Spirituality
* The Liminal elements and facets of Spirituality
* Research and/or Pedagogical Approaches to Spiritual Work
* Social and cultural aspects of Spirituality
* Spirituality and Children
* Spirituality in Education, Curriculum Development and/or Pedagogy
* Spirituality Compassion and Reconciliation
* Spirituality and Cultural Identity
* Spirituality and Healing
* Spirituality and Addiction, Health Care, Medicine, and/or Nursing
* Spirituality in Counseling, Healing, Hospice Care, Psychology,
Psychiatry, Social Work, Therapy and/or Wellbeing
* Spiritual and Ecological Maintenance of Health and Life of Human
Beings
* Spirituality as Therapy
* Development of Personality as a Process of Spirit Creation
* Cultural Expressions of Spirituality via Art, Dance, Film, The
Internet, Literature, Music, Radio, Television and/or Theatre
* Spirituality and Communication
* Spirituality and the Environment
* Spirituality in Business and/or Management
* Spirituality and Gaia
* Teaching Spirituality
* Theology and Spirituality – use and/or abuse
* Teleology and Spirituality
* Comparisons and/or Contrasts between Spiritual Theory, Praxis and
Pedagogy
The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission of pre-formed
panel proposals. Papers will be considered on any related theme.
300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2010.
All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a 8-10 page full draft paper should be submitted to both Organising Chairs by Monday 27th January 2011.
Organising Chairs
John L. Hochheimer
College of Mass Communication and Media Arts
1100 Lincoln Drive, Mail Code 6609
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL. 62901 USA
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Leader,
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Freeland, Oxfordshire, OX29 8HR
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
Prague, Czech Republic
Call for Papers:
The contemporary study of spirituality encompasses a wide range of interests. These have come not only from the more traditional areas of religious scholarship—theology, philosophy of religion, history of religion, comparative religion, mysticism—but also more recently from management, medicine, and many other fields.
This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine and explore issues surrounding spirituality in regard to theory, praxis and pedagogy. Our first Conference, held in March 2011, was highly successful, with more than 50 presenters from greater than 25 countries around the world participating.
We seek to expand the range of ideas, fields, and locales of Spiritual work for the 2nd Global Conference. Perspectives are sought from those engaged in the fields of Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation, Business, Counseling, Ecology, Education, Healing, History, Management, Mass/Organizational/Speech Communication, Medicine, Nursing, Performance Studies, Philosophy, Psychiatry, Psychology, Reconciliation/Refugee/Resettlement Projects, Social Work, and Theatre. These disciplines are indicative only, as papers are welcomed from any area, profession and/or vocation in which Spirituality plays a part.
Papers, reports, works-in-progress and workshops are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:
* Conceptualizations of Spirituality
* Social and/or Cultural Aspects of Spirituality
* History(ies) of Spirituality
* Interpreting elements and examples of Spirituality
* The Liminal elements and facets of Spirituality
* Research and/or Pedagogical Approaches to Spiritual Work
* Social and cultural aspects of Spirituality
* Spirituality and Children
* Spirituality in Education, Curriculum Development and/or Pedagogy
* Spirituality Compassion and Reconciliation
* Spirituality and Cultural Identity
* Spirituality and Healing
* Spirituality and Addiction, Health Care, Medicine, and/or Nursing
* Spirituality in Counseling, Healing, Hospice Care, Psychology,
Psychiatry, Social Work, Therapy and/or Wellbeing
* Spiritual and Ecological Maintenance of Health and Life of Human
Beings
* Spirituality as Therapy
* Development of Personality as a Process of Spirit Creation
* Cultural Expressions of Spirituality via Art, Dance, Film, The
Internet, Literature, Music, Radio, Television and/or Theatre
* Spirituality and Communication
* Spirituality and the Environment
* Spirituality in Business and/or Management
* Spirituality and Gaia
* Teaching Spirituality
* Theology and Spirituality – use and/or abuse
* Teleology and Spirituality
* Comparisons and/or Contrasts between Spiritual Theory, Praxis and
Pedagogy
The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission of pre-formed
panel proposals. Papers will be considered on any related theme.
300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 30th September 2010.
All submissions are minimally double blind peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 27th January 2012. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract
Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a 8-10 page full draft paper should be submitted to both Organising Chairs by Monday 27th January 2011.
Organising Chairs
John L. Hochheimer
College of Mass Communication and Media Arts
1100 Lincoln Drive, Mail Code 6609
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL. 62901 USA
Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Leader,
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Freeland, Oxfordshire, OX29 8HR
The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’ programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting.
All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s).
For further details of the project, please click here.
For further details of the conference, please click here.
Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.
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