CFP From the European South, 19, Fall 2026

Special Issue: Dark Tourism in Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial Contexts: Topographies of Suffering, Narrative Constructions and the Consumption of Place(s) 

Guest Editors: Eleonora Federici (University of Ferrara) and Marilena Parlati (University of Padova)

In the fictional world of ‘Cvstodia’, a nameless ‘penitent’ traverses a world in which the ‘miracle’ - a divine entity - is worshipped through physical torment and suffering in a gloomy body horror style. In doing so, ‘Blasphemous’ transforms the established conventions of the ‘souls-like’ genre: the difficulty typical of the genre and the cyclical approach to failure are theologically charged. The progress made by defeating boss enemies is enhanced by sacred weapons and rituals, while the level design is recontextualised as a spiritual pilgrimage. These elements are embedded in an elaborate ecclesiastical infrastructure and open up multiple levels of analysis, e.g:

This call for papers seeks to explore the rich and complex intersection of philosophical inquiry and narrative accounts of trauma and exile. Moving beyond disciplinary boundaries, it aims to investigate how philosophical concepts – such as subjectivity, time, memory, ethics, and belonging – are challenged, reshaped, and illuminated through the lived experiences and narrative expressions of those who have endured trauma and/or forced displacement.

Edited Collection: Teaching Twenty First Century Literature

The 17th Annual Louisiana Studies Conference will be held September 13, 2025, at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The conference committee is now accepting presentation proposals for the upcoming conference. Presentation proposals on any aspect of the 2025 conference theme “Louisiana Dramas,” as well as creative texts by, about, and/or for Louisiana and Louisianans, are sought for this year’s conference.

Call for Papers

Trans Joy in Latin American Cinema

Joy is a fundamental element of human life, yet its depiction in media and academic discourse— especially in relation to marginalized communities—remains limited. Representations of the trans* community, in particular, often center narratives of exclusion, violence, and trauma. As Shuster and Westbrook (2022) note, this tendency reflects a broader “joy deficit” in the sociological study of marginalized people, overshadowing the transformative power of joy and solidarity.

The family is often conceived in terms of exclusivity, closeness and intimacy. The word ‘intimate’ – intimus, or ‘most interior’, in the Latin – suggests that this relationship touches our innermost part, that which is deepest and hidden from view. Familial ties are further corporealized in terms of blood, or the physical proximity of shared space, resources, and memories, and acts of care. Broader ethnic, linguistic, cultural and national communities may be framed as extensions of this familial ‘inner circle’, as the concept of the body politic suggests; the family, for Rousseau, is ‘the first model of political societies’ (The Social Contract).

We are pleased to announce below CFP:

Ekphrasis and the Music of Literature: Music, Literature, and the Visual Arts 

This roundtable invites proposals that explore the intersection of visual, aural, and verbal frontiers.  Although ekphrasis and musical form mirror words, they directly affect the emotions at a primordial level not available to verbal articulation. Ekphrasis translates words into visual images, whereas musical form translates them into sounds and rhythms. What are the differences between these modes of expression and how they affect their audiences? Papers that focus on the relationship of music to literature, the visual arts to literature, or on the interrelations of all three art forms are invited. 

Over the course of the 20th century and into the 21st, cinema, television, and related media have become increasingly central both to individual lives and to the lives of peoples, groups, and nations. Cinema has become a major form of cultural expression and films both reflect and influence the attitudes and behaviour of people, representing their tensions and anxieties, hopes and desires and incarnating social and cultural determinants of the era in which they were made. 

Decay and destruction have long been sources of fascination, inspiration and contemplation in artistic and cultural contexts. From the crumbling ruins of ancient civilizations to the ravages of time on natural landscapes, from the haunting beauty of abandoned spaces to the transformative power of decay in artistic expression, this conference aims to explore the creative potential of decay and destruction across diverse disciplines and perspectives.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

The conference seeks to explore the narratives of displacement and to demonstrate the validity of a cross-disciplinary approach which brings together the historical, cultural, social and literary expertise in the handling of text. The conference will particularly focus on time and space representations and on treatment of the theme of cultural ambivalence and identity conflict. The subject of displacement will be regarded as both a migration, voluntary or forced, and a sense of being socially or culturally “out of place”.

Papers are invited on topics related, but not limited, to:

Humankind has always sought to explain its origins and the mysteries of life to map personal and collective boundaries, and to secure its sense of identity through the power of everyday events and occurrences. Exemplary accounts of imaginary happenings and supernatural creatures from a time beyond history and memory explain the genesis of the universe, the making of a living thing, the formation of an attitude or the inception of an institution. The essence of these traditional narratives reflects a certain system of values and code of self-conduct of a group of individuals bound together by social and cultural ties, and the cardinal virtues and vices of human nature captured in a conventional configuration.

The conference invites academics, researchers and professionals to critically examine the evolving concept of gender in its many forms and contexts. The conference seeks to explore the past and present dimensions of gender identity across the globe, analyse how societal structures are shaped by and shape gender and consider the role of gender in the broad spectrum of human experience.The theme, Que(e)rying Gender, highlights the importance of questioning, expanding and disrupting conventional understandings of gender. It emphasises the intersections between gender, power, identity and culture, encouraging innovative approaches to understanding how gender influences lived experiences and societal norms.