Call for Papers
The PCA will be meeting in San Antonio, April 2023, and the TSA will be celebrating our tenth anniversary! To see an overview of the papers and events scheduled since we first came together in 2014, during the last decade, check out our Tenth Anniversary Post .
Academics, independent scholars, graduate students, and undergraduate students who would like to join the throng are invited to submit proposals to the TSA for individual papers, paper sessions, or roundtables.
We welcome proposals in any area of Tolkien studies including, but not limited to, the topics listed below. All PCA sessions are scheduled in 1.5-hour slots. Paper sessions consist of four presenters, each speaking for fifteen minutes, followed by a group Q&A.
Roundtables are informal interactive discussions between five to seven participants and the audience. A roundtable focuses on a timely topic and are designed to raise questions and brainstorm for future scholarship. For the 2023 conference, the most timely topic is the Amazon Rings of Power adaptation and its reception. If you are interested in participating in a roundtable on the series in 2023, please email [email protected].
For individual paper proposals, please submit contact information (name, institutional affiliation if any, e-mail address, and telephone number), your presentation’s title, and a 300-word proposal describing your topic, chosen theory and method, and proposed argument and its relevance to current scholarship.
For a paper session proposal, please submit your contact information, all the presenters’ contact information, and a 100-300 word proposal for the session. All participants for your proposed paper session or roundtable must register for the conference and submit their individual proposals through the PCA database so they can be added to the paper session.
If you wish to organize a roundtable, please contact me directly at [email protected]. Only Area Chairs or PCA Admins can enter roundtables into the PCA database. Please note that the TSA can schedule only two roundtables; however, there are no limits on the number of paper sessions we can present!
We welcome scholars in all period specializations, from all disciplines, using any critical theory. We encourage interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary as well as collaborative work. Tolkien studies includes, but is not limited to, the Legendarium; all adaptations and transformative works; reader reception and fan studies; source studies; literary studies; cultural studies; critical race studies; feminist, gender and queer studies; medieval and medievalist studies, media and marketing, religious studies, and tourism studies.
Possible Topics
Adaptation Studies
Games, Films, or Amazon’s The Rings of Power
Cultural Studies/Reception Studies/Fan Studies
Race & Tolkiens Intersectional Tolkiens
Queer Tolkiens Gender & Tolkiens
Class & Tolkiens Academic Tolkiens
Tolkien & Religion or Spirituality (Catholic, Buddhist, Neo-Paganism)
Tolkien & White Supremacy (then and now)
Fandoms (fanfiction, fan art, fan vids, cosplay, collecting, tourism)
Pre-Internet Tolkien Fanzines (Marquette or other archives)
Literary Studies
Tolkien & Contemporary Fantasy (examples: N. K. Jemisin, G. R. R. Martin, Terry Pratchett)
New Tolkien Publications Tolkien & Genre
Tolkien & Romanticisms Tolkien & the Medieval
Tolkien & Modernisms Tolkien’s Medievalisms
Tolkien & Postmodernisms Tolkien & the Sciences
Robin Anne Reid
