The Societas Ovidiana is soliciting abstracts for 15-20 minute papers to be presented at the 50th International Congress for Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI from May 14-17, 2015. This year we are sponsoring two sessions on the single theme "Visualizing Ovid in the Middle Ages."

"Laughter in the Digital Age"
Special Issue of Comedy Studies
Guest Editor: Peter C. Kunze, University of Texas at Austin

Websites, social media platforms, and YouTube and other video-sharing services make the dissemination of comedy easier than ever, yet studies of the implications of new media on comedy and humor is only beginning. This issue examines how the Internet as well as new technologies radically change how humor and comedy are produced, distributed, exhibited, and consumed in the digital age. I invite papers, broadly conceived, that consider these issues through either theoretical discussions or case studies of specific artists, texts, platforms, or sub-genres. Potential articles may cover:

Please Share Widely

The Black Queer Sexuality Studies Collective Presents

Legacies of Black Feminisms: A Black Queer Sexuality Studies Graduate Student Conference

Location: Princeton University

Date: October 11, 2014

Call for Proposals: Saints, Sinners, and Seekers: A Collection of Essays on Rock and Religion

EXTENDED PROPOSAL DEADLINE: October 31, 2014

The fit body is thus the conspicuous product of the late-capitalist work ethic. It is the body as the focal point of an industry of self-care, a book of personal narrative upon which is inscribed the extent to which you have won at the game of contemporary life. Each hard-fought-for, shiny ripple of muscle is forever bound up in two economies—one of production, and one of desire. (Alang, 'Must Fit Bodies Be the Product of Hard Work?')

Call for Papers: Film Theory and Aesthetics
2015 Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (36th Annual)
Many Faces, Many Voices: Intersecting Borders in Popular and American Culture
February 11-14, 2015 Hyatt Regency Downtown/ Albuquerque, NM, USA

The Uses of Magic in Middle English Literature
50th International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University
May 14-17, 2015

This session provides a forum for new work being done on representations of magic in the various genres of Middle English literature. Literary texts depict magic and its uses in a variety of ways, opening up new possibilities for categorizing magic (beyond the classic natural/demonic model) and understanding its effects (both within and outside of texts).