'Animals & Culture' area of Northeast Popular Culture Association
Animals and Culture (Northeast Popular Culture Association - NEPCA)
Current Chair: Kimberly Poppiti, St. Joseph’s University, kpoppiti@sjny.edu
This area of the Northeast Popular Culture Association explores the complex and multifaceted intersections between animals, animal representations, society and popular culture. Animal symbolism has appeared in human culture since the earliest cave paintings, and features significantly throughout popular culture. In many cases, humans are more likely to interact with visual and material animals than actual animals their living counterparts. These mediated representations have been found to influence, not always positively, how living animals are perceived and treated. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged, and possible topics could include (but are not limited to):
- Animals as companions to humans
- Therapy animals
- Animals in literature, art and other media
- Wildlife genre and documentary
- Symbols and caricatures
- Celebrity animals and animal performers, including presentation on Facebook pages and YouTube channels
- Commodification of animals
- Animals in advertising, branding, and commercial franchises
- News coverage of animals and animal issues
- Animal photography
- Animal memorialization
The Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA) will host its annual conference this fall as a hybrid conference from Thursday, October 3 – Saturday, October 5. Virtual sessions will take place on Thursday evening and Friday morning via Zoom, and in-person sessions will take place on Friday evening and Saturday morning at Nichols College, Dudley, Massachusetts.
NEPCA prides itself on holding conferences that emphasize sharing ideas in a non-competitive and supportive environment. We welcome proposals from graduate students, independent scholars, disciplinary professionals, junior faculty, and senior scholars. NEPCA conferences offer intimate and nurturing sessions in which new ideas and works-in-progress can be aired, as well as completed projects.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE APPROACHING! Submissions accepted through end of day on June 15, 2024.
For more info or with questions, contact kpoppiti@sjny.edu