The covid-19 pandemic not only sparked conversations on the gendered division of household chores and care but also brought to light the paradox of the “essential-worker.” Despite being deemed “essential” to society, these workers-often women, immigrants, and people of color were paid low wages and treated as expendable. However, amidst these challenges, the pandemic also catalyzed the expansion of alternative labor forms and care networks, beyond capitalist economies and social relations.

Academia on Screen: The World of Higher Education in Film and TV Series Across Cultures (March 20 & 21, 2025)

This conference aims to explore the multifaceted portrayals of academia and academics in films and TV series, in both fictional and documentary modes, across diverse cultural contexts. These multimodal media not only capture societal perspectives and moods but also play a pivotal role in shaping public perceptions. They can serve as catalysts for reflection on academic practice and societal discourse, fostering a deeper understanding of cultural imprints and trends, highlighting differences and similarities across cultures, raising critical awareness, challenging stereotypes, and promoting inclusivity.

It has been two years since AI was introduced into daily life, and it has been applied in academia, pedagogy, classrooms, and beyond. As we discover both the potential benefits and harms of AI, we are also recovering from the initial panic, uncertainty, or excitement. We are beginning to recognize that it will lead to an "inevitable" integrated fusion of human and machine intelligence (Kurzweil), and we are entering a phase of adaptation. We have seen a range of AI use guides, policies, and reflections. However, compared to the initial reaction, we cannot ignore where we will or want to go with AI in the composition classroom. As AI continues to evolve, how do we recreate our classrooms in light of this new technology?

Special Issue: Bio-adaptations (Adaptation, Oxford University Press)

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Detective Fiction

In her 2020 article entitled “Communities of care,” Talia Schaffer reminds readers that even when participants “did not share a geographic space,” the communities of those “virtual groups…cobbled together in coronavirus time” were, to all of us, of invaluable importance and “realness,” nevertheless. Thus, this roundtable hopes to promote conversation(s) that showcase and contemplate ways of enduringly enriching both virtual and in-person academic communities, especially amongst graduate students; to continually encourage communications and collaborations between students with related research interests within the same, as well as different, institutional settings.

Possible topics for discussion might be related to:

"Generations and Generational Time in the United States During the Long Nineteenth Century"

Lille University, June 12-13, 2025

Old age and aging are biological as well as sociocultural constructs and processes; they cannot be completely separated, but rather they influence each other and get interrelated with the passing of time. As sociocultural constructs, old age, aging and their definition are not immovable concepts and, in fact, vary depending on the different historical, social and cultural contexts.   Likewise, the definition and organization of each of the population groups by age are not fixed. For example, for decades, 65+ has been agreed upon by the UN and the WHO, among others, as the beginning of old age; however, market studies propose 50+ and establish two groups: 50+ seniors and 75+ seniors.

Body Augmentation: Possibilities of Identities and Technology in/of Video Games

A MultiPlay Network Conference, October 28th, 2024

Abstracts due: 30 August 2024

As is tradition for MultiPlay, we have a special horror related conference for the end of October. This time we are focusing on the monstrous (and liberational!) possibilities of body augmentation through video games. We welcome abstracts from utopian and dystopian perspectives, on the real life hardware capabilities or upon representations of augmentation within games.

This roundtable session will discuss mindfulness practices that instructors of writing and literature can incorporate into classrooms, and it will focus especially on the implications of mindfulness for the humanities and for its/their roles in education and society in honoring human, cultural, and global diversity in all its dimensions, enacting equity and inclusivity, and affecting change.

Anticipated Publication: Volume 5, November 2025

Guest Editors: CarrieLynn D. Reinhard, Christopher J. Olson, and Hannah Steele

Purpose: Articles that explore the intersection of queer studies and professional wrestling studies to address a scholarship gap on the application of queer theory to explore professional wrestling individuals, texts, practices, and fandoms.

Submissions: Seeking empirical articles aligned with the special issue’s purpose that may include, but is not limited to, the following topics:

Call for Essays

Studies in Memory of Donald C. Baker (1928-2019)

Call for essays for a book on the late medievalist Donald C. Baker who left us in 2019.

Donald C. Baker taught English Literature at the University of Colorado, Boulder, for twenty years then pursued teaching opportunities in Finland, England, Tunisia, Jordan, and Macau. 

Donald C. Baker published or co-published a variety of books and articles (in PMLA, Studia Neophilologica, Speculum, Studies in Philology, Philological Quarterly, The Literary)  on Geoffrey Chaucer and Beowulf in particular.

All forms of liteary studies (around 6,000 words using APA style) are welcome.

“Austin Clarke, Black Studies and Black Diasporic Memory”

Conference Dates: September 26 - 27, 2024,

Deadline for abstracts: July 31, 2024

Notification of decisions by: August 15, 2024

Co-organizers: Ronald Cummings (McMaster University), Darcy Ballantyne (Toronto Metropolitan University), 

Keynote Speaker: Rinaldo Walcott, 

Professor and Chair in Africana and American Studies, University at Buffalo

Call for Book Chapters: Class Conflict in 21st Century Science Fiction Film

CFP CLOSED! - THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST!

Under Strong Interest by McFarland’s Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy series

Editors’ Introduction