Enduring Barbarism: Heroic Fantasy from the Bronze Age to the Internet

The inaugural popular culture conference will be held at the College of St. Joseph, located in Rutland, Vermont, April 13th-14th, 2012.

We are looking for a wide range of popular culture/ cultural studies papers, topics, and panels that explore the enduring figure of the barbarian in Western popular culture. Graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars are encouraged to submit ideas on heroic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, and other images of barbarians and barbarism.

Proposal deadline: Jan 25th, 2011

Possible paper topics:

The use and abuse of the barbarian in popular culture
Rise and fall of heroic fantasy in the 1970s
Comic book barbarism
Heroic fantasy as a heavy metal trope
The gendered barbarian
Explorations of lesser-known sword and sorcery texts
Italian sword and sandal movies
The barbarian's future

We are actively interested in innovative panel ideas as well.

Please send 250 word paper proposals, 400-500 word panel ideas, or general questions to Dr. Jonas Prida at jprida@csj.edu