CFP: Asexuality and Aromanticism in Tolkien’s Legendarium

Proposal Deadline: Midnight, Eastern Time, August 31, 2024

Photo by Raphael Renter | @raphi_rawr on Unsplash

CALL FOR PAPERS: Asexuality and Aromanticism in Tolkien’s Legendarium

Editors: Clare Moore and Rory Queripel

Queer scholarship in Tolkien studies has made great strides in recent years, from David Craig’s “‘Queer Lodgings’: Gender and Sexuality in ‘The Lord of the Rings’” (2001) to Jane Chance’s Tolkien, Self and Other (2016) and Christopher Vaccaro and Yvette Kisor’s Tolkien and Alterity (2017). At a critical juncture of growth, this sub-field is poised to evaluate and address any gaps that exist as the field moves forward. One such gap, in both Tolkien studies and queer studies, is asexuality and aromanticism, which, while part of the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, are significantly underrepresented in scholarship and interpretation.

Asexuality, defined broadly as not experiencing sexual attraction to other people, and aromanticism, not experiencing romantic attraction to other people, convey a spectrum of individual experiences (ace-spectrum, or aspec). Aspec perspectives not only represent these individual identities and experiences but also illuminate and refresh understandings of love, desire, relationships, communities, and culture. Implemented within literary interpretation, an aspec lens offers insights into characters, plots, themes, narrative structures, and much more.

In order to address a gap in queer scholarship in Tolkien studies and to solicit new perspectives that can deepen understandings of Tolkien’s work, we invite submissions for a proposed special issue in Journal of Tolkien Research that focuses on asexuality and aromanticism in Tolkien’s work.

Topics can include but are not limited to:

• Aspec readings of individual characters

• Interpretations of love/relationships beyond (but not necessarily excluding) romantic, sexual, and/or platonic love

• Intersections between aspec theory and gender, disability, race, or other critical theory

• Comparative readings between Tolkien’s work and other fiction

• Amatonormativity or aspec aspects in Tolkien’s work, life, and historical context

• Reception of Tolkien’s work by aspec readers

• Aspec interpretations within adaptations of Tolkien’s work

• Interpretations focused on specific identities within the ace-spectrum, including demi-sexual/romantic, grey-sexual/romantic, etc.

Proposals/abstracts of a maximum of 300 words, along with a short bio and working bibliography (not included in word count), should be sent via email to aspectolkien@gmail.com no later than midnight Eastern Time on August 31, 2024.