For this special issue on “Magic,” Theatre Journal invites submissions that consider magic as concept and practice, broadly construed, with a particular interest in how magic aligns with other terms like alchemy, transformation, trickery, prophecy, conjuring, and ceremony. Magical practices, phenomena, practitioners, and events are not often at the forefront of theatre, performance, and dance studies’ scholarship. Through categorization as, on the one hand, popular entertainment, and, on the other hand, a component of spiritual or ritual practice, magic has seemed beyond the scope of the concert and/or avant-garde traditions that have tended to dominate Eurocentric theatre history and theory.

Sensing Environmental Networks 

The primary aim of this edited volume is to explore the word ‘Literature’ in the age of AI. Etymologically, the Latin word litteratura is derived from littera (Latin) meaning the ‘smallest element of alphabetical writing’ (Klarer 1). The word ‘literature,’ then means, any writing e.g., a medical prescription, usage instruction written on the bottle of shampoo or maybe a cautionary warning on the packet of cigarettes. To specify the particular type of literature we use the term ‘Creative Literature’ (called the Literature of Power by Rees).

Call for Papers for Panel at Society of Renaissance 11th Biennial Conference

Bristol, July 2, 2025 - July 5, 2025

Rethinking ‘self’ and ‘community’: Early Modern Identities in Times of Changes

Inclusive Stories, Writing for Change

“We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” – Toni Morrison

The English Association of Pennsylvania State Universities (EAPSU) invites proposals from the fields of literature, writing studies/rhetoric, linguistics, English education, film studies, cultural studies, creative writing, and digital humanities.  Undergraduate students, graduate students, and higher education faculty may share analytical or creative projects that explore themes of writing, social justice, narratives, voices, inclusion, and diversity. 

EAPSU invites proposals for:

• Panel proposals of 3-4 presenters

• Individual papers

• Posters

Please find below the abstract for a RMMRA-sponsored panel at RSA 2025 (March 20-22)

2025 International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 8 - 10, 2025)

More than 25 years ago, Robert LA Clark and Claire Sponsler argued in "Queer Play: the Cultural Work of Crossdressing in Medieval Drama" that "transgender and transstatus representations cannot be reduced to one simple meaning but rather perform a variety of...cultural work." We seek contributions to explore, expand and complicate the idea of transgender identities, trans bodies, transgressive practices, or other kinds of transformations or translations in medieval drama and performance. In 2025, how do we understand the shapeshifting nature of "trans"? What are the emerging questions and where do they lead us?

H(a)unted

October 25, 2024 

________________________________________________________________________ 

“O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted.”

-         William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“If he looked into her face, he would see those haunted, loving eyes.”

-         Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

“A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of communism.”

-         Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto

Call For Papers for Special Issue of Early Popular Visual Culture

Cosmoramas and Other Peep Practices 1800-1880

Before virtual reality, peeping has long been a widespread media practice. Since the 18th century, the world has been presented in lensed and boxed apparatuses that aroused wonder and seduced audiences. Our contemporary culture of immersion was initially launched by peepshows and cosmoramas: one of the earliest media systems in Europe that produced and distributed views.

56th NeMLA Annual Convention, March 6-9, 2025 in Philadelphia, PA

Where does sensing occur: within the sensory organ, the perceived object, or somewhere in between? This panel draws on insights from environmental media to explore the history of sensations. We examine how the environment not only shapes our sensory reality but has also been used historically to define, measure, and standardize the senses.

The Seen and Unseen in Supernatural Literary Contexts of the Long-Nineteenth Century
South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) Conference
15-17 November 2024
Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Calling all graduate students working in Horror Studies! This year, the SCMS Horror SIG will be convening a graduate student symposium, and we invite proposals from graduate students outlining their primary research topic.

The Social Impact of Climate Fiction. A Cross-Disciplinary Conference

26-27 May 2025

University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Odense, Denmark

Abstract deadline: 1 November 2024

Overview: This conference seeks to consolidate emergent scholarship and artworks that explore the power of narrative to motivate climate-conscious action. The emphasis in this conference is on climate narratives in practice; in other words, it is concerned with works that apply these narratives in various public-facing contexts.