Tolkien Studies Area
2021 PCA National Conference
Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel
110 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02116
June 2-5, 2021
The Tolkien Studies Area (TSA) welcomes proposals for individual papers or for complete paper sessions (with four proposals) or roundtables (with five-seven participants) in any area of Tolkien studies. All PCA sessions are scheduled in 1.5 hour slots. Individual presenters should plan for fifteen minutes to present, and roundtable participants should plan for 5-7 minutes each.
The TSA welcomes scholars in all period specializations, from any disciplinary perspective, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, and using any critical theory. Tolkien studies includes but is not limited to: the Legendarium, adaptations and transformative works, reader reception and fan studies, source studies, literary studies, cultural studies, tourism studies, medieval and medievalist studies, media and marketing, religious studies.
Individual or session proposals may be submitted between August 12 and November 16, 2020. In order to submit a proposal for the 2021 conference, you must:
- Create an account if you have not presented previously: https://pcaaca.org/user/register
- Pay your membership fee for the 2021 year*
- After your proposal is accepted, register for the conference.
*The requirement to become a member in order to submit a proposal is new this year. Membership fees are non-refundable.
Academics, independent scholars, and graduate students are invited to submit through the online submission page. For individual papers, please submit contact information (name, institutional affiliation if any, mail and e-mail addresses, and telephone number), a title and a 300 word proposal that includes information on the topic, theory or method, and relation to relevant scholarship.
For roundtables or paper session proposals, the organizer should submit:
- Session Title
- Organizer name and contact information (as listed above)
- Titles, abstracts, names and contact information for all participants
If you wish to organize a session, please contact robinareid@fastmail.com. Participants must have set up accounts and paid their membership to be added to paper session or roundtable proposals.
This year only: Proposals from 2020 may be re-submitted for the 2021 conference. There will be a link on the submission page which opens August 1. If you wish to resubmit your proposal, choose “yes,” and your previous submission to be retrieved for submission. Choose “no” to submit a different proposal.
Possible Topics
Adaptation Studies
Games, Films, Art, Amazon’s Tolkien
Cultural Studies/Reception Studies/Fan Studies
Race & Tolkien
Queer Tolkien
Gender & Tolkien
Intersectional Tolkien
Tolkien & Religion or Spirituality (Catholic, Buddhist, Neo-Paganism)
Tolkien & White Supremacy (then and now)
Tolkien’s Fandoms (fanfiction, fan art, fan vids, cosplay, collecting, tourism)
Tolkien Fanzines (Marquette or other archives)
Tolkien & Contemporary Fantasy (examples: N. K. Jemisin, G. R. R. Martin, Terry Pratchett)
Literary Studies
New Tolkien Publications
Tolkien & Genre
Tolkien & Romanticisms
Tolkien & Medievalisms
Tolkien & Modernisms
Tolkien & Postmodernisms
Tolkien & the Sciences
Roundtables (brainstormed at 2019 conference):
Tolkien Studies: New Disciplines, Methods, Pedagogies
Tolkien Studies: How and Where To Publish
Tolkien Studies: The Question of Tolkien and Theory
Research Ethics: Can independent scholars lacking institutional review boards do reception/fan studies?
Digital Tolkien: Digital Archives, Corpus Projects, Digital Mapping, Etc.
For more information on the Tolkien Studies area, please contact:
Robin Anne Reid
Independent Scholar
Tolkien Studies at Popular Culture Public Group
