The College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (Lincoln University, Pennsylvania) is requesting proposals/abstracts for its fourth international conference, to be held on Saturday, April 2, 2016. The conference theme is "Panopticon: Surveillance, Suspicion, Fear."

Abstract deadline: December 1, 2015.

With the advent of WikiLeaks and its disturbing revelations about the systematic and global surveillance conducted by the United States, Surveillance, Suspicion and Fear have permeated the public sphere in an unpreceded manner, spread to everyday life, and affected popular culture, fiction, society, communities, and politics. This interdisciplinary conference will examine the reality and representations of Fear, Suspicion and Surveillance in the social and natural sciences, mass media, pedagogy, visual arts, literature and popular culture.

All academic disciplines in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences are welcome. Topics include but are not limited to:

Discipline, crime and punishment,
Spy fiction, drama, mystery, detective & crime fiction
Representations of fear in cinema, television, theater, the news media and the creative arts
Trust, mistrust, privacy, voyeurism
Fear, insecurity
Truth, deception, and (ab)use of power
Panopticism, surveillance and social control
Phobias, suspicion and paranoia
Technology of surveillance (cameras, cyber surveillance, facial recognition systems, etc.)
Closed Circuit Television and Social Control
Whistle blowers; undercover operations
Marketing fear and surveillance
Politics of fear, anniversaries, memorials, political discourse, media, films
The bad guy, the villain, Big Brother
Foucault and panopticism
Experience of fear, surveillance and terror
Case studies in anthropology, criminal justice, history, sociology, philosophy, psychology, gender studies, postcolonial studies, psychiatry, etc.

Proposals/abstracts should be no more than 200 words. Please include with your abstract a short biographical note (name, work affiliation, publications, etc.), the title of the proposal, and your full contact information (e-mail, address, and phone number). Submission deadline: December 1, 2015. Please send your proposal to Abbes Maazaoui, at maazaoui@lincoln.edu.

A selection of papers (subject to the normal reviewing process and standards) may be published in the Lincoln Humanities Journal. See http://www.lincoln.edu/humanitiesconference/