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Classical Representations in Popular Culture

Southwest Popular / American Culture Association (SWPACA)

Area Chair: Benjamin S. Haller (bhaller@vwu.edu)

41st Annual Conference, February 19-22, 2020
Hyatt Regency Hotel & Conference Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico

http://www.southwestpca.org

Proposal submission deadline: October 31, 2019

Proposals for papers and panels are now being accepted for the 41st annual SWPACA conference. One of the nation’s largest interdisciplinary academic conferences, SWPACA offers nearly 70 subject areas, each typically featuring multiple panels. For a full list of subject areas, area descriptions, and Area Chairs, please visit http://southwestpca.org/conference/call-for-papers/

Classical Representations in Popular Culture

Papers on any aspect of Greek, Roman, or Mediterranean antiquity in contemporary or popular culture are eligible for consideration.

Classical Representations welcomes submissions on a broader range of topics including:

Cinema directly or indirectly reflecting aspects of the ancient world in cinema: recent films involving Classical themes which you might consider include Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, The Legend of Hercules, Pompeii, Inside Llewyn Davis, the new Ben Hur, as well as television series which engage with classical themes like Doctor Who, Spartacus, Battlestar Galactica.

  • Classical Motifs/Allusions/Parallels in Popular Music
  • Dance, Ballet, Theater, the Visual Arts
  • Children’s Literature
  • Graphic Novels and Cartoons
  • Literary Theory/Postcolonial Theory/Reception Studies:
    • Literary or theoretical analysis of literature employing classical references or motifs, like Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red, or Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad.
  • Science Fiction/Fantasy: Analysis of representations of classical history, literature, or philosophy in science fiction movies or books, as Edward Gibbons to Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy or the impact of Thucydides in Cold War cinema. Or, conversely, the influence of Science Fiction on representations of the ancient world in later cinema (e.g., how did George Lucas’ empire of the Star Wars franchise influence later representations of the Roman Empire?)
  • Pedagogy: applications of classics in popular culture: how can we use contemporary films or literature in the classroom?

This year, one panel of Classical Representations will be co-hosted by AIMS (Antiquity in Media Studies, “a new organization dedicated to promoting and supporting scholarship on the ancient world in modern media.”) To submit to this panel, please type “Submission to AIMS Panel” at the top of your abstract. If not included in the AIMS panel, your paper will still be considered for inclusion in the regular panels.

All proposals must be submitted through the conference’s database at http://register.southwestpca.org/southwestpca

For details on using the submission database and on the application process in general, please see the Proposal Submission FAQs and Tips page at http://southwestpca.org/conference/faqs-and-tips/

Individual proposals for 15-minute papers must include an abstract of approximately 200-500 words. Including a brief bio in the body of the proposal form is encouraged, but not required.

For information on how to submit a proposal for a roundtable or a multi-paper panel, please view the above FAQs and Tips page.

The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2019. As in past years, this may be extended at a later date.

SWPACA offers monetary awards for the best graduate student papers in a variety of categories. Submissions of accepted, full papers are due January 1, 2020. For more information, visit http://southwestpca.org/conference/graduate-student-awards/

Registration and travel information for the conference is available at http://southwestpca.org/conference/conference-registration-information/

In addition, please check out the organization’s peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy, at http://journaldialogue.org/

If you have any questions about the Classical Representations in Popular Culture area, please contact its Area Chair, Benjamin S. Haller, Virginia Wesleyan University, bhaller@vwu.edu. Presenters from past years, please note that Virginia Wesleyan has recently changed from a College to our University: Ben Haller’s Virginia Wesleyan old email posted on past CFPs will no longer work.

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(Photo: "Handwritten" by A. Birkan, licensed under CC BY 2.0)