“The worst monsters are the ones we create”: Monstrosity in the Witcherverse (8/15/2022; NEPCA online conference 10/20-22/2022)

deadline for submissions: 
August 15, 2022
full name / name of organization: 
Michael A Torregrossa / Monsters & the Monstrous Area of Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association

“The worst monsters are the ones we create”: Monstrosity in the Witcherverse

Session Organized by Kris Larsen, Central Connecticut State University

Sponsored by the Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association

2022 Annual Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association

Virtual Event to be held Thursday, 20 October, to Saturday, 22 October 2022

Proposals are due 15 August 2022

 

Andrzej Sapkowski’s internationally popular Witcher series of novels and short stories uses a medievalist setting to highlight the multiple monstrosities of modern life, including violence against the environment, racism and genocide, and abuses of technology. As the tagline of the hit Netflix spinoff warns, “The worst monsters are the ones we create.” We seek papers that investigate the creative twists on the definitions of monster and monstrous in any aspects of the Witcherverse, including the source material, Netflix adaptations (both live-action and animated), Polish live-action adaptation, and computer games, as well as ‘monstrous fan’ behavior (including race-centric attacks on the Netflix showrunner for casting choices). Papers that are solely focused on the Witcherverse as well as those that analyze Sapkowski’s sub-creation in comparison to other Secondary Worlds are welcomed.

Address inquires on this call to Kris Larsen (larsen@ccsu.edu) with the subject line NEPCA Witcher. However, please submit your proposal directly into NEPCA’s conference system at https://bit.ly/CFPNEPCA22. You will need to have prepared the following: Yout Email, The type of proposal (single paper or full panel), Your Name, Your Proposed Subject Area (select “Monsters and the Monstrous” please), An Abstract (no more than 250 words), Academic Affiliation (if applicable), Scholarly Role, and Short Bio (up to 200 words), and Timing preferences for the session. The system will send you a receipt of your submission and alert the area chair of its readiness for review. 

If accepted, presenters must join NEPCA for the year and pay the conference fee. This year the costs are $54.67 USD for Conference Registration & Membership Dues. Payment is expected in advance of 1 October 2022. Do connect with the area chair (at Popular.Preternaturaliana@gmail.com) or NEPCA directly via Lance Eaton, the Executive Secretary, (at northeastpopculture@gmail.com), if you are experiencing financial challenges that might impact your ability to present. 

 

NEPCA prides itself on holding conferences that emphasize sharing ideas in a non-competitive and supportive environment. NEPCA conferences offer intimate and nurturing sessions in which new ideas and works-in-progress can be aired, as well as completed projects.

We welcome proposals from scholars of all levels, including full-time faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, junior faculty, part-time faculty, and senior scholars. We are also open to undergraduate presentations, provided a faculty member is also included as a point of reference (please include the faculty member’s name, institution, and email in the bio section when submitting).

 

For further details on NEPCA, please visit its site at https://nepca.blog/. The dedicated page for the conference is https://nepca.blog/conference/.

The Monsters & the Monstrous Area maintains its own site for news and resources. Please check us out at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/.  

 

This call for papers can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/MonstrosityinWitcherverse