popular culture

Collective Memory in Contemporary Fiction Films

updated: 
Thursday, December 18, 2025 - 11:01pm
Karine Bertrand, Queen's University; Florian Grandena, University of Ottawa; Claire Gray, Dalhousie University
deadline for submissions: 
Monday, January 12, 2026

Conference: Collective Memory in Contemporary Fiction Films

 

University of Ottawa, June 11-12, 2026  

 

Abstract: Collective memory and remembrance occupy an important place in film: whether through various themes that explore individual and national histories of; through the act of spectating (the act of watching a film), where the audience contributes their interpretation of the film; or where the audience uses their own memories to make sense of the narrative.

GIFCon 2026 - The Technologies of the Fantastic

updated: 
Thursday, December 18, 2025 - 10:56pm
Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, University of Glasgow
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, January 18, 2026

The Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic is excited to announce the call for papers for Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations (GIFCon) 2026, to be held online on 13-15 May, with the theme of ‘The Technologies of the Fantastic’.

2026 War and Media Studies Graduate Student Writing Award

updated: 
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 12:33pm
Society of Cinema and Media Studies War SIG
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, January 16, 2026

2026 WAR AND MEDIA STUDIES GRADUATE STUDENT WRITING AWARD 

The War and Media Studies SIG is holding its annual graduate student writing award competition to showcase innovative work in the field by our graduate student members. We will again be partnering with the Sage journal Media, War & Conflictand the winning author will have the opportunity to be published in the journal.  

Value(s) in Practice: Impact and Sustainability in XR

updated: 
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 12:33pm
Immersive Impact Review
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, February 1, 2026

The Immersive Experience Alliance (IXA), in partnership with Agog, is proud to announce the launch of the Immersive Impact Review, a new open-access publication dedicated to advancing knowledge at the intersection of immersive technologies and social good. We invite submissions for our inaugural issue exploring the theme of “Value(s) in Practice.”

Digital Subjectivities - Extended deadline!

updated: 
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 5:50am
Freie Universität Berlin
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, January 18, 2026

Digital Subjectivities

Digital technologies have become integral to our everyday lives – from work, play, and relationships to political engagement and scholarship – shaping our subjective experiences and the ways we relate to others and ourselves. Their proliferation not only offers new tools for communication and knowledge production but also fundamentally reconfigures how the self is conceptualised and lived. This conference will explore the impact of digital technologies on subjective experience, knowledge production within and beyond academia, culture and politics, and questions of individual and collective agency.

Association of Adaptation Studies Annual Conference 2026 - “Adaptation and Aurality”

updated: 
Tuesday, December 16, 2025 - 2:18pm
Association of Adaptation Studies Annual Conference 2026
deadline for submissions: 
Thursday, January 15, 2026

**Extended Deadline!**

We welcome proposals that investigate aurality across media and genres, including literature, film, television, radio, theatre, podcasting, music, video games, and performance. Paper proposals might consider how adaptation translates, transforms, or reimagines texts as auditory experiences.

Sessions will be held on the Burman University campus, but we will also offer “Early Bird” and “Night Owl” online sessions for scholars facing travel difficulties at the moment. Please select “Online” on the proposal form if you are interested in this option.

Last Chance: It’s in their Blood: Television Series and the Representation of Violence in the 21st Century

updated: 
Tuesday, December 16, 2025 - 11:09am
Metropolitan University Prague & ULICES – School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon
deadline for submissions: 
Wednesday, December 31, 2025

It’s in their Blood:

Television Series and the Representation of Violence in the 21st Century

 

International conference hosted by

Metropolitan University Prague and

ULICES – University of Lisbon Center for English Studies,

School of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon.

 

6-7 March, 2026

Online

 

Mysteries and Mayhem

updated: 
Saturday, December 13, 2025 - 2:51pm
Young Scholars Literary Symposium
deadline for submissions: 
Thursday, January 22, 2026

Mysteries and Mayhem is our fourth conference theme. Why do we continue to crave mystery stories?  What do they tell us about our need for suspense and our desire to solve riddles,  including the most famous of all:Whodunnit?  What do these stories of murder and mayhem teach us about the nature of evil, ideas of sin, and the essence of a villain? What do we hope to see in the survivors of these threats?  –And what do we expect from the detectives and heroes who reveal the truth in these stories? We seek papers and creative projects that explore these and related questions. 

YSLS (Young Scholars Literary Sympsium) welcomes your undergraduate,  graduate,  educator,  and independent scholar proposals! 

Haunting Revisions: The Female Gothic Across Time and Media

updated: 
Friday, December 12, 2025 - 12:38pm
Special Issue of Women's Studies on the Female Gothic
deadline for submissions: 
Saturday, March 1, 2025

Call for Publications

Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal (Taylor & Francis)

**Special Issue on

Haunting Revisions: The Female Gothic Across Time and Media**

Guest Editors:
Dr. Cindy Murillo, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Dr. Jennifer Nader, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Overview

Maternal Rhetorics: Deconstructing Expectations of Mother/Woman/Parenthood

updated: 
Friday, December 12, 2025 - 12:32pm
Special Issue Proposal for Rhetoric Society Quarterly
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, January 9, 2026

Call for Abstracts for Special Issue of Rhetoric Society Quarterly Maternal Rhetorics: Deconstructing Expectations of Mother/Woman/ParenthoodCo-editors: Anna D'Orazio (University of Cincinnati), Wendy Sharer (East Carolina University), and Jurrita Williams (University of Alabama) In a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson, then-Senate candidate and now-Vice President JD Vance criticized the Democratic Party “for becoming anti-family and anti-child.” He stated, “It's just a basic fact—you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]—the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children….How does it make sense that we’ve

Fragility and Fluidity of Identity: The Social Construction of Self and Racial Bigotry in Mohsin Hamid’s “The Last White Man” (2022)

updated: 
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 1:09pm
Zainab Sajjad
deadline for submissions: 
Monday, December 8, 2025

Generally, the notion of identity is misinterpreted to be something concrete or even an inherited attribute and hence resistant to changes. However, as we delve deeper into the idea of self and the factors that constitute it, a fact becomes evident: that an individual’s identity is in fact not very rigid but rather fluid and dynamic in nature. A number of societal factors influence the construction of the character that an individual identifies themselves with. Through a close textual analysis of The Last White Man (2022) by Mohsin Hamid, this paper aims to explore the concept of identity in contrast to its conventional definition of something unalterable, and rather look at it as an idea that is constantly in motion.

Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2026 - 16th Annual Conference

updated: 
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 1:07pm
Current Research in Speculative Fiction (CRSF)
deadline for submissions: 
Monday, March 23, 2026

Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2026

16th Annual Conference

 

Systems and Entanglement

 

July 16th-17th 2026

University of Liverpool and Online

 

Nobody lives everywhere; everybody lives somewhere. Nothing is connected to everything; everything is connected to something.

(Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene)

Otherness: Essays and Studies - Spring 2026

updated: 
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 1:07pm
Centre for Studies in Otherness
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, February 15, 2026

The peer-reviewed e-journal Otherness: Essays and Studies is now accepting submissions for its 2026 general issue.

Otherness: Essays and Studies publishes research articles from and across different scholarly disciplines that examine, in as many ways as possible, the concepts of otherness and alterity.  We particularly appreciate dynamic cross-disciplinary study.

The Digital Sphere: Identity, Bodies, and Critical Perspectives in Social Media

updated: 
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 1:00pm
Jamia Millia Islamia
deadline for submissions: 
Thursday, January 15, 2026

Communication in the age of digital spaces has transformed rapidly. The advent of social media platforms has led to a transition in the manner and extent of information circulation online, making communication a more collaborative and democratised form of participation. Participatory culture, as defined by Henry Jenkins, is a space that enables the audience to become active participants rather than passive consumers of the texts. The meaning of participation especially evolves with the exposure to social media platforms that allow individual members to find a space for their expression.

Contemporary Horizons in English Studies (CHES)

updated: 
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 12:50pm
Department of English Studies, University of Zadar
deadline for submissions: 
Wednesday, April 15, 2026

We are happy to announce that the Department of English Studies at the University of Zadar is organizing an international scientific conference titled Contemporary Horizons in English Studies (CHES). The conference theme, Contemporary Horizons in English Studies, casts a wide net, encompassing diverse areas and perspectives within the field. As we reflect on decades of growth in English studies and the 70-year history of our department, we also look toward the new horizons that continue to expand the boundaries of our discipline. Inspired by our department’s interdisciplinary spirit, the theme highlights a variety of research, teaching, and creative work taking place across English studies.

Game Studies Area - Popular Culture Association National Conference 2026 – Deadline Extended

updated: 
Monday, December 8, 2025 - 11:29am
Steffi Shook, Manhattanville University
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, December 5, 2025

Game Studies - PCA/ACA National Conference

 

Call For Papers

 

The Game Studies area of the National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference invites proposals for papers and panels on games and game studies for the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference to be held on April 8-11, 2026 in Atlanta, GA. The deadline for proposals is November 30th.

 

 

I. Topics of Interest

Salem Meets the Noir 2026:First Conference on Hispanic Noir Literature, TV and Film

updated: 
Sunday, December 7, 2025 - 9:25pm
Salem State University
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, February 8, 2026

 

This interdisciplinary conference aims to bring together scholars, writers, filmmakers, and students to share the interest and passion for the fictional criminal genre through their participation in panels, roundtables, workshops, film screenings, and curated cultural events in historic Salem.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

PCA/ACA 2026 Joint Panel - Neurodivergence and Fandom FINAL DEADLINE

updated: 
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:41pm
Popular Culture Association
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, December 5, 2025

Neurodivergence and Fandom

The Neurodivergent Studies area and the Fandom Studies area are excited to announce a joint panel on Neurodivergence in Fandom! Neurodivergence can have a big impact on the ways that people interact with popular culture, and this can be seen in the ways that neurodivergent folks approach fandom. This panel seeks to understand different approaches or experiences when it comes to neurodivergence in/and fandom!

Some possible topics include:

From Alienation to Affinities

updated: 
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 8:18am
Klara Tolic, Isabel Osuna, University of Tuebingen
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, December 14, 2025

Workshop: “From Alienation to Affinities”

Organizers: Isabel Osuna Montilla and Klara Tolic, University of Tübingen, Germany

Call for Papers

True Crime CFP - PCA Annual Conference 2026

updated: 
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 8:15pm
Popular Culture Association (PCA)
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, December 12, 2025

PCA True Crime CFP 2026

UPDATED: Abstract Submission Deadline: Officially Friday, December 5th, 2026 with an additional week for late submissions at the discretion of the Area Chairs by Friday, December 12th, 2026. Please note if you have trouble submitting after December 5th, you should contact Samantha or Lauren directly.

PCA/ACA will be held from April 8-11th, 2026 in Atlanta, GA

Call for Papers: Tolkien Studies at PCA 2026! Remote options!

updated: 
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 8:13pm
Tolkien Studies at the Popular Culture Association
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, December 5, 2025

Greetings, fellow scholars of Middle-earth!

 

Gentle reminder to all that we are still taking abstracts for our Call for Papers for the 2026 Popular Culture Association National Conference in Atlanta! Let's make this the best year ever for exploring the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and his ongoing legacy.

 

We recognize growing concerns surrounding travel and the challenges it presents. To ensure everyone can participate, we will happily accept remote papers! These can be submitted as either pre-recorded video presentations or delivered live via Zoom. 

The Medieval Comic

updated: 
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 6:28pm
Indiana University Medieval Studies Graduate Student Advisory Committee
deadline for submissions: 
Monday, December 15, 2025

CFP: The Medieval Comic

MEST Symposium, Indiana University Bloomington

March 6-8

 

Keynote from Dr. Albrecht Classen: "Laughter on the Stage, Laughter at Court, and Laughter in Public Spaces During the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time."

 

The Comic is a multivalent concept, which can pull or push scholarship in many directions. It  has been at times described as a social balm, binding agent, and lubricant. This call for papers asks for submissions considering the various ways in which the Comic manifests in the medieval and medievalism, its implications, and importance.

 

Potential panels might consider:

65th Annual Congress - Anglophone Studies and Cinema

updated: 
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 1:50pm
SAES/SERCIA
deadline for submissions: 
Monday, December 1, 2025

This workshop of the annual conference of the French Society of Anglophone Studies aims to tackle the topic of emancipation in audiovisual productions of the English-speaking world. Emancipation, as a film subject, refers to narratives of liberation or liberating struggles against forms of oppression, beginning with historical films that depict the liberation of a people or identity group(s). In the U.S.

Give and Take: Transactional Experiences in Gaming

updated: 
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 1:48pm
UNCG Game Studies Conference
deadline for submissions: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2026

CFP: Second Annual UNCG Game Studies Conference
Give and Take: Transactional Experiences in Gaming

Friday and Saturday, March 20-21, 2026

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Space, Place and Performer Training

updated: 
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 1:45pm
Ranjana Dave
deadline for submissions: 
Friday, January 30, 2026

 

After supportive discussions with Routledge, we are pleased to share the call for contributions to a proposed new edited collection. Planned for publication by Routledge in 2027, this new book is intended as a companion volume to Time and Performer Training (published by Routledge in 2019). 

The book will be co-edited by Mark Evans, Libby Worth and Ranjana Dave.

Post-Fossil Fuel Futures in Popular Culture

updated: 
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 1:22pm
Jeffrey Barber / Popular Culture Association
deadline for submissions: 
Sunday, November 30, 2025

Post-Fossil Fuel Futures
in Popular Culture
 

Ecology & Culture Area
Popular Culture Association 56th National Conference
Atlanta on April 8-11, 2026 

Submissions open until November 30

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