“Children of the Moon: Werewolves and Shape Shifters in Lore and Literature”

University of Texas Permian Basin’s Fifth-Annual Halloween Conference

The University of Texas Permian Basin (with campuses in both Odessa and Midland), will conduct its Fifth Annual Halloween Conference 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. The event, to be broadcast live from the main Odessa campus, will also be available virtually to encourage global presentations and viewer participation. This year’s theme is broad. It embraces everything from comics and graphic novels to global folklore tales of either benevolent or evil representations of those figures known as villains or victims (due to having been cursed into their lot).

Some suggested topics follow. Nonetheless, all intriguing papers will be considered.

• The evolution in film from “The Wolf Man,” Lon Chaney (1941), to an “American Werewolf in London” (1981) and more current films.
• The attraction of the muscular, bearlike werewolf in the “Twilight” Series, or the significance of shape shifters in the series “True Blood." 
• Shapeshifters in popular culture: videogames, television series, comics, graphic novels, and various written, verbal, and textual literature.
• Shapeshifters from any culture and their social significance. International submissions encouraged.
• Lunar cycles, madness and full moons exacting transformations.
• The vying of werewolves and vampires for top berth in sexual attractiveness in popular culture.
• How a monster is sexually desirable on the psyche.
• The significance of shape shifting and gender identity. 

Abstracts up to 500-words will be accepted by midnight, Sept. 28, 2022. Visual elements such as videos, animation, PowerPoints encouraged for the presentations. Certificates of presentation will be provided. This is a global call for papers. Please include a brief academic biography with your submission.

Presenters will be announced October 1 or earlier, 2022. Presenter turnaround announcements will be quick. There are no conference fees. 

Send abstracts to Myra Tatum Salcedo, salcedo_m@utpb.edu.   

In addition, include a brief biography. 

Senior Lecturer, University of Texas of the Permian Basin, 4901 University Blvd. Odessa, Texas, 79762. Electronic documents preferred.