Circuitous Channels: The Communications Circuit at 40

Robert Darnton’s “communications circuit,” proposed in his field-defining 1982 essay “What Is the History of Books?”, has become one of book history’s foundational paradigms. Since 1982, the “communications circuit” has been endlessly reprinted, debated, revised, and amended; it has become a touchstone heuristic for more articles, books, and papers than it is possible to list.

This global collection of essays – emerging from a session presented at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Conference 2021 – raises important ethical and aesthetic questions regarding narratives of serial murder. How is the serial killer constructed in World Literature and Culture by invoking or debunking Western criminological theories and detective genres? Why does a ‘murderous sublime’ dominate mainstream cinema, Netflix shows, graphic novels, and podcasts? On what historical and cultural terms, do these graphic representations of violence vacillate between notions of ‘normality’ and ‘abnormality’ or ‘banality’ and ‘exceptionalism’?

We hereby invite proposals of original articles related to the general theme of Cultural Intertexts, an academic journal of Literature and Cultural Studies, ISSN 2393-0624, E-ISSN 2393-1078.

The editors will consider for publication papers which tackle strategies of representation and of (inter)textual construction emerging from the dialogic relation between:

-       literature and the historical and cultural context of text production;

-       distribution and consumption;

-       literature and other arts (music, film, visual arts, etc.) or sciences (linguistics, psycholinguistics, psychology, history, sociology and political sciences, internet and new technologies, etc.);

Emerging from oral literature, folk and fairy tales are embedded and entangled within the very confines of human consciousness and are continuously rewoven into the fabric of cultural memory. Often categorised as stories for children, these tales not only provide vital information into the psyche and disposition of the human mind, but also enable us to understand social and cultural interactions. The vast imagery, motifs, and archetypes these tales produce enable them to be constantly re-conceived, reinterpreted, and disseminated. Even though folk and fairy tales emerge from differing cultures with diverse traditions and customs, they seem to share similar formation mechanisms.

Important Dates
- Paper submission (abstract and full paper): April 30, 2021
- Notification of acceptance/rejection: May 31, 2021
- Camera-ready deadline and copyright forms: June 18, 2021
- Early Registration Deadline: June 30, 2021
- Conference: August 9-11, 2021

Aims and Scope

Pacific Ancient and Modern Langauage Association (PAMLA) 2021 CONFERENCE, LAS VEGAS/Online: Thursday 11th November - Sunday 14th November 14 2021

This is an online/virtual session.

What stories does a city tell us, and how do we pass them on? How can we use stories to interpret a world where time and the outside is obscured? Should we weave narratives of a capitalist utopia or a dystopian warning? This virtual (online) session invites submissions of original, unpublished short stories of 2,000 to 3,000 words, linked to the PAMLA 2021 theme. The writers will read their stories, followed by a question and answer session with the audience.

Online Conference

At the Dusk of Literature?––21st-century North American writing in extremis.

Department of North American Literature & Culture
University of Łódź, Poland

(June 25–26, 2021)

CALL FOR PAPERS

Cosmopolitan Aspirations in English-Speaking Cinema and Television

26th Annual SERCIA Conference

Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain

September 8-10, 2021

From Alice Walker’s womanism to bell hooks’ oppositional gaze, Black girls’ rebellion inspires concepts and theoretical approaches that aid in understanding the lives of girls and women.  These theorizations—and Black girls’ actions—counter dominant narratives and distortions of Black girlhood. Despite censoring, surveilling, and policing, Black girls find creative ways to assert and insert  themselves in spaces where their behavior may be considered “deviant,” “rebellious,” or “womanish. ”They often engage in what Aimee Meredith Cox calls shapeshifting to “ confront, challenge, invert, unsettle, and expose the material impact of systemic oppression”(7).

Addressing Precarity: Semiotics, Semiosis, and Semioethics

Semiotic Society of America

45th Annual Conference (Virtual)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, October 20-23, 2021

The theme for this year’s conference is Addressing Precarity: Semiotics, Semiosis, and Semioethics. The conference centers on considering precarity through the framework of semiotics. Presenters are encouraged to develop panels and submissions that consider semiosis, semioethics, and precarity. As always, we welcome abstracts on any subject with a connection to semiotics (both theoretical and applied), not solely those inspired by this year’s theme.

Issue Ten: Enchantment, Disenchantment, ReenchantmentRethinking practices of interconnection in a century of crisis

PAMLA 2021 LAS VEGAS: "CITY OF GOD, CITY OF DESTRUCTION" (Thursday, November 11 - Sunday, November 14, 2021 at Sahara Las Vegas Hotel, hosted by University of Nevada, Las Vegas)

Session: American Literature 1865 to 1945

Contacts: Mary Pace, California State University - Los Angeles (mpace@calstatela.edu)

PAMLA 2021 LAS VEGAS: "CITY OF GOD, CITY OF DESTRUCTION" (Thursday, November 11 - Sunday, November 14, 2021 at Sahara Las Vegas Hotel, hosted by University of Nevada, Las Vegas)

Session: Latinx Literature and Culture

Contacts: Lisette Lasater, Palomar College (lisette.lasater@gmail.com)

Turkish Review of Communication Studies (TURCOM) is a peer-reviewed and open-access journal that publishes articles, commentaries, and reviews in the fields of media, communication, and cultural studies. Based in Marmara University Faculty of Communication, Istanbul, the journal is published biannually in June and December and is currently indexed by Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), DOAJ, and EBSCOhost.