Theme: Is it a Wonderful Life?

Wonder (n.): a feeling of surprise or awe, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable

Wonder (v.): to feel some doubt or curiosity; to be desirous to know or learn.

Wondrous (adj.): marvelous; wonderful. 

In 2026, we live in a world that astonishes, unsettles, and challenges us: from large-scale technological breakthroughs, climate change, political upheaval, and international conflicts to everyday personal encounters. We experience wonder and find ourselves wondering. This conference explores wonder in its changing grammatical and affective forms, tracing the shift from awe to inquiry, and fascination to fixation.

As a noun, wonder evokes the sublime and the spectacular. As a verb, to wonder signifies curiosity and doubt, an impulse that drives philosophy, science, and narrative. However, curiosity can transform into obsession and paranoia; awe can become distraction and ideology. Although wonder might inspire new modes of thinking and action, it can likewise suspend thought and stall action.

This conference asks: why do we wonder, and what makes us wonder? Does wondering open or foreclose possibilities? These questions are aesthetic, emotional, political, and ethical. How do literature, art, film, and media cultivate or exhaust our capacity for wonder? 

We invite interdisciplinary submissions that explore wonder in literature, art, media, history, philosophy, science, and culture. 

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Reimagining wonder through canonical texts and their contemporary adaptations. 

• The spectacle of technology: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and virtual reality. 

• Wonder and crisis in the age of climate change.

• Franchise fatigue and the commodification of awe: superhero universes, reboots, and cinematic spectacle. 

• Philosophical bases of curiosity, skepticism, and the sublime.

• Wonder as an affect: the politics and ideology of awe.

• From fascination to fixation: obsession, paranoia, and the darker transformations of curiosity.

• Wonder as pedagogy.

• The ethics of wonder in an age of saturation, spectacle, and information excess. 

The thirteenth Tufts Graduate Humanities Conference will be held in person on October 16th, 2026. at Tufts University’s Medford Campus. Please send proposals to tuftsghc@gmail.com by May 31, 2026. In your proposal, include a title, brief abstract of no more than 300 words, and a short biography including your university and department affiliation. Please reach out to us on the same email if you have any questions.