The Horror Area co‐chairs of the Popular Culture Association invite interested scholars to submit proposals for papers or complete panels on any aspect of horror in fiction, cinema, television, gaming, theory, interactive events, and culture.
Topics for consideration may include, but are not limited to: adaptations; analysis of a horror creator (e.g., writer, illustrator, director); audience reception; body horror; classic horror cinema; cryptozoology; cultural representation; digital horror; disability studies approaches to horror; ecohorror; ethnicity representation; film studies approaches to horror; folk horror; horror gaming (e.g., board games, role-playing games, video games); gender, sex, and sexuality representations; historicized approaches to horror; international horror; literary horror; monsters and the monstrous; paranormal and supernatural narratives; horror in the performing arts; philosophy and horror; psychology and horror; race and horror; religion and horror; slasher storytelling; sound and horror (e.g., audio stories/podcasts, scores, sound effects, soundtracks); teaching horror in learning environments; theory (e.g., abjection, the uncanny); transmedia horror; visual design in horror (e.g., costuming, special effects); visual horror media (e.g., comics, graphic novels, webtoons).
Submission Requirements: Proposals for single papers and panels should be 100 to 250 words and must include the following:
1) a title reflecting your argument (or framing concept in case of a panel or roundtable)
2) a clear statement of your argument/thesis and/or key research questions
3) an identification of the corpus that will be the focus of your study
All paper proposals should be submitted directly through the PCA website. If you are organizing a panel of 3-4 speakers, or a roundtable discussion panel of 4-6 participants, please have your panelists submit proposals directly to the PCA website and contact the Horror Area co-chairs with a panel proposal identifying your presenters. Otherwise, proposals will be arranged into panel sessions based on critical, disciplinary, or thematic connectivity.
We welcome undergraduate presenters. For those interested, please contact the area co-chairs (see below) for more information about PCA’s process and to receive a form you must complete designating a sponsor for your paper.
Contact: Please send all queries to Jim Iaccino (jiaccino@thechicagoschool.edu) and Tiffany Bryant (tiffanyashleybryant@gmail.com). Visit the Horror Area Facebook page for continuous updates and for information on special panels, roundtables, and other information: https://www.facebook.com/Horror-Area- PCAACA-135221416580042/.
Submitting the same or various proposals to different subject areas of the PCA is not allowed. Presenters are, however, permitted to submit proposals for both a roundtable discussion and a panel presentation. Acceptance of your paper obligates you to present the paper at the conference. You must also be present at the conference to present your own work—no “readings by proxy” are allowed.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Horror Area Co-Chairs: James Iaccino, Associate Professor in Online Forensic Psychology Program, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Chicago, IL; Tiffany Bryant, Education Division of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
