cfp.english.upenn.edu

Hailed as the best new comedy of the year by critics nationwide, Community, on the NBC network, emerged as a new favorite among television/internet viewers in Fall 2010. Very recently, according to Hulu, “With the help of its Twitter-happy cast and a tireless fanbase, Community took down AMC's force of a zombie show, The Walking Dead, by more than 11,000 votes to win Hulu's 2012 Best in Show competition.”

Abounding with pop-culture pastiche and delighting viewers with its hilarity, brilliance, and complexity, Community inspires the writer in all of us, especially since each episode is entitled as a course we all wish we could take. The show centers on the shenanigans of a non-traditional study group who begin by taking Spanish together—the rest is, as we say, “history.”

This CFP requests papers applying theoretical concepts to different issues that have risen in the show:

-the absurd, the imagination, alternative realities
-bullying, intimidation, and torture
-civic discourse: Britta and Annie’s proclivity for protesting, students standing up to administration
-characterization, personality, and psychology
-community/college culture: Dean Pelton’s many campus events
-discourse and language
-education: teaching and learning
-gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, political correctness-Human Being as mascot
-humor and pranks
-popular culture: Abed’s fascination with TV/movies, thematic episodes, music
-religion and spirituality
-rhetoric and persuasion
-roles and relationships: Jeff as the leader, Pierce as the outsider, the group’s exclusivity
-And many more

These abstracts will be compiled into a book proposal to a popular culture publisher. I anticipate sending the book proposal sometime this summer.

Please send abstracts of 250-500 words to Dr. Ann-Gee Lee, English Department, University of Fort Smith, Arkansas

E-mail: Ann-Gee.Lee@uafs.edu

Deadline: June 3, 2012