CFP: Here Be Monsters

• 2022 Annual Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association

• Virtual Event to be held Thursday, 20 October, to Saturday, 22 October 2022

• Proposals are due 1 August 2022

We live in an age full of monsters. We make them, yet they escape our control and have profound impacts on us, often reshaping us in their images. Our beliefs, experiences, and politics contribute much to our ideas of monsters. Depending on one’s perspective, we can find them in our homes, in our families, in our schools, in our communities, in our governments, and in the world at large. Often they appear unexpectedly, but, at other times, the monsters act repeatedly against us and those we cherish. We also create and fear the monstrous in unknown spaces. The darkness of night, the depths of the oceans, other unexplored reaches of the planet, and the vastness of outer space are all common locations for monsters to well. Lastly, through media, both old and new, we encounter monsters in a multiplicity of cultural texts. Often we engage them in printed works, comics, fiction, and poetry, or through performances, in music or on stage, but, increasingly, we find the monster brought to life on the various screens we interact with each day: on computers, films, phones, tablets, and televisions. 

The Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (also known as NEPCA) invites proposals for 15-20-minute presentations that highlight our experiences with, reactions to, and/or reflections on the various monsters and monstrous entities (animal, human, hybrid, or preternatural) in popular culture. 

This year, we are especially interested in submissions on the following topics:

• Aliens and alien invasions in popular culture

• “From ‘Them’ to Now: Changing Metaphors of the Monstrous Insect” (organized by Eddie Guimont, Bristol Community College) (co-sponsored with Animals and Culture Special Topics)

• Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters: Afterlife

• H. G. Well’s War of the Worlds at 125 and its impact on popular culture

• H. P. Lovecraft and his legacy in popular culture

• Jack Kirby’s The Demon/Etrigan at 50

• Local lore of monsters and the monstrous in the Northeast

• Mars and Martians in popular culture

• Medieval Monsters: Past and Present 

• Monsters & the Monstrous as Infestation

• Monsters & the Monstrous as Invaders/Invasion

• Monsters on screen milestones (Haxan at 100; Freaks, Island of Lost Souls, The Mummy, Murders in the Rue Morgue, and White Zombie at 90; Cat People at 80; The Curse of Frankenstein, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, and The Incredible Shrinking Man at 65; Doctor Faustus at 55; Poltergeist and The Thing at 40; Hellraiser and The Monster Squad at 35; Candyman at 30; and The Devil’s Advocate at 25)

• New England Gothic tradition in popular culture

• New England vampire panic in popular culture

• New England witch trials in popular culture

• Stephen King and his family and their impact on horror in popular culture

• Vampire milestones (Le Fanu’s Carmilla at 150; Stoker’s Dracula at 125) and their impact on popular cultures

• Vampires on screen milestones (Nosferatu at 100, Vamprye at 90, Blacula at 50, The Lost Boys at 35, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Forever Knight at 30, Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show, Blood Ties and Moonlight at 15 )

• “The worst monsters are the ones we create”: Monstrosity in the Witcherverse (organized by Kris Larsen, Central Connecticut State University)

Send any questions on these or other topics to Michael A. Torregrossa, the Monsters & the Monstrous Area Chair, at Popular.Preternaturaliana@gmail.com. However, please submit your proposal directly into NEPCA’s conference system at https://bit.ly/CFPNEPCA22.

You will need to have prepared the following:

• Your Email

• The type of proposal (single paper or full panel)

• Your Name

• Your Proposed Subject Area (select “Monsters and the Monstrous” please)

• An Abstract (no more than 250 words)

• Academic Affiliation (if applicable)

• Scholarly Role

• Short Bio (up to 200 words)

• Timing preferences for the session

The system will send you a receipt of your submission and alert the area chair of its readiness for review. 

If accepted, presenters must join NEPCA for the year and pay the conference fee. This year the costs are $54.67 USD for Conference Registration & Membership Dues. Payment is expected in advance of 1 October 2022. Do connect with the area chair (at Popular.Preternaturaliana@gmail.com) or NEPCA directly via Lance Eaton, the Executive Secretary, (at northeastpopculture@gmail.com), if you are experiencing financial challenges that might impact your ability to present. 

NEPCA prides itself on holding conferences that emphasize sharing ideas in a non-competitive and supportive environment. NEPCA conferences offer intimate and nurturing sessions in which new ideas and works-in-progress can be aired, as well as completed projects.

We welcome proposals from scholars of all levels, including full-time faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, junior faculty, part-time faculty, and senior scholars. We are also open to undergraduate presentations, provided a faculty member is also included as a point of reference (please include the faculty member’s name, institution, and email in the bio section when submitting).

For further details on NEPCA, please visit its site at https://nepca.blog/. The dedicated page for the conference is https://nepca.blog/conference/.

The Monsters & the Monstrous Area maintains its own site for news and resources. Please check us out at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/.