Popular Culture Association

2025 National Conference

April 16-19, 2025

New Orleans, LA

Call for Papers: James Baldwin Review Panel/Roundtable

Baldwin Again and Again

Call for Papers -- Play in the Long Nineteenth Century

17th January 2025

University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

While the long nineteenth century is not immediately associated with playfulness, scholars recognise it as a period that revolutionised play, whether as an end (Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens 1944) or a reimaging (Matthew Kaiser, The World in Play, 2011). Games were ubiquitous throughout the period, hundreds of dedicated recreational spaces (museums, playgrounds, parks) were established, and a new cult of leisure took root that reshaped both public and private life.

The ongoing interdependence between the United Kingdom and the United States dates back further than the "Special Relationship" popularized by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1946. In the early decades of their independence, the United States maintained strong cultural ties with the United Kingdom (cf.

Concept Note

Conference Date: April 4-5, 2025

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AVXufNHQQFN00hrpVBOOsl2jMpv5-_ss/view

We warmly invite established and emerging scholars to participate in the Eaton Conference on Speculative Fiction, which will be held in-person at the University of California, Riverside from April 4-5, 2025. All scholars, especially graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to submit abstracts for a two-day conference on speculative fiction and the archive to share and engage in conversation about their work, foster community and collegiality, and gain conference experience. This event will be free and open to the public.

The Memory and Representation area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association invites submissions on any pertinent topic (see description below) for the 2025 National Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 16-19, 2025.

Memory and Representation: Area Description

“Auto—”

Duke University Department of English Graduate Conference

February 13 & 14, 2025

Keynote Speaker: Tyrone S. Palmer (Wesleyan University)

How does the novel give voice to art in other media? What does it take to render as text what has never existed textually? In this panel, we will be responding to this year’s SNS conference theme of “novel languages” by thinking through the ekphrastic act in its broadest sense, asking and answering questions about what it means to “translate” art or experience from one medium to another, what it might mean for representations of other media in the novel to constitute a language of its own.

“I agree with the leaves”: Diversifying  the Arboreal Humanities

The Department of Liberal Arts at IIT Bhilai is excited to announce the second Graduate Research Meet (GRM) on (Re)imagining ‘Progress’. Conventionally the idea of progress is understood as a linear trajectory towards improvement, scientific advancements, and socio-economic and technological developments. Progress, in contemporary times, can be seen as a holistic concept pertaining to not only societal but also individual betterment — more as a cultural, economic and psychological reality.

For a generation, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise was emblematic of heroism, fighting against adversity, and inclusion of outsiders. This is why Rowling’s arguable alignment of herself, in 2020 and since, with transphobic and trans-exclusionary rhetoric felt like such a betrayal to many of her readers, prompting a revaluation of her work and what it means to them now. With the co-edited collection Potions, Powers, and Prejudice: Reassessing Harry Potter, we intend for contributors to explore the matter of what we collectively do with Harry Potter in the wake of its creator’s very public turn. Some readers have favored a careful delineation between author and work; others have regretfully concluded that no such delineation is possible.

Call for Papers: Studies in Hogg and his World 

Call for Expressions of Interest.

In July of 2026 Punch magazine will be 185 years old!

The Punch’s Pocket Book Archive team are editing a special commemorative issue of Victorian Periodicals Review to celebrate Punch, both the magazine and the evolution of a clear brand identity that witnessed many imitations and adaptations across the world.

We would like to invite expressions of interest from scholars who are working on Punch, developing and enriching the field, to consider topics such as: global imitators of the magazine; the merchandise; the almanacks; the pocket-books; the reprinted bound volumes and thematic collections; the online digital resources and more.

Call for Papers

The 32nd Annual Midwest Conference on Literature, Language and Media (MCLLM)

April 5th & 6th 2025

Theme: “Trouble” - Confronting Bigotry in Higher Education and Academic Scholarship