The Area of Education, Teaching, History and Popular Culture is now accepting submissions for the 2025 Popular Culture Association National Conference to be held April 8-11, 2026 in Atlanta, GA.

Educators, librarians, archivists, scholars, independent researchers and graduate students are encouraged to apply.  Undergraduates are reminded that there is an entire area devoted to undergraduate presentations in which they should submit.  Undergraduates who wish to present a paper, panel or round table must do so under the supervision of a faculty sponsor, who must be included in the proposal submission.

SCOPE OF TOPICS ACCEPTED UNDER THIS AREA

Submissions that explore, connect, contrast, or otherwise address area themes of schooling and education on all levels (PreK-12, community college/technical college, or university), teaching throughout history (including preparing teachers/preservice teacher education), history, archival studies and/or their linkages to popular culture from all periods are desired.  Sample topics for papers include, but are not limited to:

• Successful use(s) of popular culture, technology and/or sport(s) in teaching at all levels in all contents;
• The use of popular culture as an educational tool in addressing systemic discriminations or improving teaching for social justice;
• Successful use of popular culture and/or technologies when working with students with special needs;
• How schooling/education has impacted/has been impacted by popular culture;
• Representation(s) of teaching and/or schooling in popular culture;
• Examining popular culture/popular perception of schooling and/or teaching through international/multinational/cross-border lenses;
• The intersection of schooling, politics, and the media;
• The role of history/importance of historical foundations in education, teaching, or preservice teacher education;
• Linkages between archival research and education, schooling, and/or popular culture;
• How LGBTQ+ studies has impacted/been impacted by schooling/education, particularly problematizing “Don’t Say Gay” education laws;
• The role of education in opposing tyranny;
• Queering classrooms/queering education;
• Using technology in the classroom, particularly AI/ChatGPT and the recent spate of cell phone bans in public schools;
• Problematizing technology in education by way of surveillance capitalism, digital colonialism, etc.; and/or
• Explorations in the impact of social media/corporate America on children.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2025.  To be considered, interested individuals should please prepare an abstract of between 100-250 words. Individuals must submit electronically by visiting the Submission Guidelines page and following the directions therein.  Please be sure to complete/ensure the accuracy of all presenter information. 

People submitting full panels are encouraged.  Please have a minimum of four presenters in your panel.  Each presenter should submit the abstract of their paper individually.  It is recommended that presenters use a common identifier followed by their paper/presentation title in their submission title to alert the area chair of the panel and/or email the area chair of panel submission.

Decisions will be communicated within approximately two weeks of this deadline.  All presenters must be members of the Popular Culture Association and fully registered for the conference. 

Graduate students are STRONGLY encouraged to submit their completed papers for consideration for conference award on the PCA Awards site.

Any further inquiries can be directed to:

Dr. Edward Janak, University of Toledo

Email: Edward.janak@utoledo.edu  

Phone: (419) 530-4114