Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster Area
DEADLINE EXTENDED!
Call for Papers
Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster
Southwest Popular / American Culture Association (SWPACA)
47th Annual Conference, February 25-28, 2026
Marriott Albuquerque
Albuquerque, New Mexico
NEW submission deadline: November 14, 2025
Proposals for papers and panels are now being accepted for the 47th annual SWPACA conference. One of the nation’s largest interdisciplinary academic conferences, SWPACA offers nearly 70 subject areas, each typically featuring multiple panels. For a full list of subject areas, area descriptions, and Area Chairs, please visit https://swpaca.org/subject-areas/.
The Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster in Culture Area is calling for papers about anything apocalyptic, dystopian, or disaster related. This can be in movies, television, literature, graphic novels, or any other cultural examples of disaster, dystopia, or the end of the world.
This year did not disappoint in these topics, including The Last of Us, Silo, The Institute, 28 Years Later, The Long Walk, Mickey 17, Fallout and many, many more. This area is interested in all types of theories, both real world and fictional.
Ideas for topics on Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster (Not a Comprehensive List):
Film and TV: Knock at the Cabin, Last Train to New York, Silo, Sweet Tooth, See, Raised by Wolves, Good Omens, The Society, The Rim of the World, Mortal Engines, Westworld, The Expanse, The Handmaid’s Tale, I Think We’re Alone Now, Ready Player One, Stranger Things, A Quiet Place, Bird Box, Salvation, Star Trek Discovery, Into the Badlands, OA, The Man in the High Castle, Resident Evil, Ghostbusters, Twelve Monkeys, The Scorch Trials, Jurassic World, Mad Max, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Killjoys, Dark Matter, Between, Edge of Tomorrow, The Giver, Godzilla, The 100, Divergent, Sharknado, This is the End, After Earth, Adventure Time, Falling Skies, The Walking Dead, Resident Evil, Terminator, 2012, The Core, Daybreakers, Zombieland, Night of the Comet, The War of the Worlds, Last Night, The Road, Dark Angel, Jericho, Children of Men, The Matrix, Crimson Tide, Invasion, V, Contagion, Dante’s Peak, The Island, The Day the Earth Stood Still and many more.
Literature: Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger Games Prequel), A Fable for the End of the World, Circular Motion, Under the Eye of the Big Bird, Death of the Author, The Girl in Red, Life as We Knew It, When She Woke, Ready Player One, Find Me, The 5th Wave , Feed, Uglies, J,Station Eleven, Brave New World, The Bees, Rot and Ruin, Matched, Infinite Jest, Oryx and Crake, Breathe, World War Z, Pesthouse, The Road, Children of Men, Alas Babylon, The Stand and others.
Graphic Novels and video games: Stray, Fall Out, Half Life, Parasite, Horizon, Quarantine Zone, Seven Days to Die, The Last of Us, Bootstrap Island, Y: The Last Man, Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil, The Walking Dead
Real examples: “Prepper” communities and publications, political rhetoric, natural disasters, or atomic culture. Apocalyptic rhetoric in politics and other areas Or any other works/topics related to apocalypse, dystopia, or disaster!
All proposals must be submitted through the conference’s database at https://swpaca.org/app.
For details on using the submission database and on the application process in general (including submitting proposals for roundtables and preformed panels), please see the FAQS & Resources tab on https://swpaca.org/.
Individual proposals for 15-minute papers must include an abstract of approximately 200-500 words and a brief summary of 100 words or less.
For information on how to submit a proposal for a roundtable or a multi-paper panel, please view the above FAQs & Resources link.
The deadline for submissions is November 14, 2025.
SWPACA offers monetary awards for the best graduate student papers in a variety of categories. Submissions of accepted, full papers are due January 1, 2026. More details are here: https://swpaca.org/graduate-student-paper-awards/. SWPACA also offers travel fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as contingent faculty: https://swpaca.org/travel-awards-students-faculty/.
Registration and travel information for the conference is available at https://swpaca.org/albuquerque-conference/. For 2026, we will be returning to the Marriott Albuquerque (2101 Louisiana Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110), which boasts free parking and close proximity to shopping and dining.
In addition, please check out the organization’s peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy, at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dialogue/.
If you have any questions about the Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster area, please contact its Area Chair, Shane Trayers, Middle Georgia State University at Trayers.shane@gmail.com. If you have general questions about the conference, please contact us at support@swpaca.org, and a member of the team will get back to you.
This will be a fully in-person conference. If you’re looking for an online option to present your work, keep an eye out for details about the 2026 SWPACA Summer Salon, a completely virtual conference to take place in June 2026.
We look forward to receiving your submissions!