Welcome to the Border Studies, Cultural Economy & Migration community! We’re so happy you’re here and we want you take full advantage of the opportunities our new platform provides. Please read over the code of conduct so we can continue to ensure a safe and supportive space for all. Thank you for your dedication to the Popular Culture Association!

Call For Papers

The Border Studies, Cultural Economy, and Migration area of the Popular Culture Association invites abstract submissions for the 2026 Conference, April 8-11 in Atlanta, Georgia. We seek papers that address migration and/or borders and borderlands with attention to cultural expression as inseparable from specific sociopolitical contexts and junctures. Thus, we prioritize submissions that show engagement with both the Humanities and the Social Sciences, through an understanding of the cultural (i.e. literary, visual, sonic, and material culture at large) as a window into historically specific human experiences.

We understand ‘borders’ as both ideological and material, and thus, we accept papers that address the cultural in tandem with:

1.    Specific lived experiences in areas transversed by national borders, and particularly, but not exclusively, the U.S./Mexico Borderlands.

2.    Processes of social inclusion, exclusion, and containment.

3.    Human mobility at large, and most specifically as inseparable from experiences of human displacement, including experiences of resettlement and/or the regulation of human movement.

4. Rising authoritarian regimes across the Americas, and the criminalization of migrants, as a 'category' traversed by social hierarchies of class, race, and gender/sexuality, among others.

Papers may be presented in English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish. Proposals for organized sessions are also welcome. Please submit an abstract of no more than 150 words through the PCA site.

For questions, please contact Araceli Masterson-Algar, Area Chair at: aracelimasterson@ku.edu.

Important Dates to Remember:

• Database opens for Submissions - Sept. 1, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Begins - Sept. 1, 2025
• Deadline for Paper Proposals - Nov. 30, 2025
• Travel Grant Applications Due - Dec. 15, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Ends for Presenters - Dec. 31, 2025
• Regular Registration Begins for Presenters - Jan. 1, 2026 
• Travel Grant Decisions / Notifications - Jan. 31, 2026
• Regular Registration Ends for Presenters - Jan. 31, 2026
• Late Registration Starts for Presenters - Feb. 1, 2026
• Preliminary Program draft available - Feb. 6, 2026

Those Presenters Not Registered by Feb. 15 Will be Dropped from the Program

CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA, GA - April 8-11, 2026