Theme: The Other Side of the Looking Glass 

This year’s conference invites scholars to consider what lies on the other side of perception, certainty, and what we call rationality. We live in a time where reality itself feels increasingly contested. Facts are reframed as opinions, lived experiences are dismissed as delusions, and rationality is unevenly distributed across lines of identity, power, and history. In this climate, the question is no longer simply what is real?, but who is authorized to say so? To look through the looking glass, then, is not only an escape from reality but a confrontation with its instability. The Other Side of the Looking Glass gestures towards moments when reality fractures, doubles, or distorts. When what we see, remember, or are told to believe becomes unstable. 

Much like Alice when she is stepping through the mirror, we find that specific encounters warp our realities into worlds that render the familiar strange: our reflection is no longer our own, memories feel borrowed, and reality demands reinterpretation. Through literature and theory, how do we come to conceptualize reality? Who decides what is “real,” “logical,” or “sane”? And how do individuals and communities cope, resist, or reimagine meaning within distorted or fractured worlds? We invite you to join us: to question, to reflect, and to imagine otherwise. 

What do you think is on the other side of the looking glass?

Possible proposal topics include, but are not limited to: 

• Madness and mad studies 
• Mental illness and trauma 
• Perception, distortion, and altered realities 
• Archival studies 
• Ecostudies and climate 
• Sociopolitics 
• Memories and testimonies
• Mirrors, doubling, and the self 
• Psychoanalysis and consciousness 
• Absurdism and narrative instability 
• Concepts of time and space
• Mythology/ folklore 
• Stories passed down 
• Community and cultures 
• Inspiration
• Depictions of love and hope

Please submit proposals (150-250 words) to springgradconf2026@gmail.com by Friday, April 10, 2026. We welcome both critical and creative presentations. Possibilities include the reading of an academic paper, a scholarly reflection, a poetry reading, a soundscape, a panel discussion, and more. Submissions may be co-authored. All graduate students are welcome to submit, including those pursuing their MA, MFA, and PhD. CUNY affiliation is not required.  

CFP LINK: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UNEi-csUYhJAd8AP5vkhIXGnx59W7JeN8xiX...