CFP: Tolkien Studies Area (TSA)

Popular Culture Association (PCA) Annual Conference

Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile

March 27-30, 202

Deadline for Paper Proposals Nov. 30, 2023 

Travel Grant Applications Due Dec. 15, 2023

NEW PCA WEBSITE

Robin Anne Reid

Tolkien Studies at Popular Culture Public Facebook Group

The Tolkien Studies Area (TSA) welcomes proposals in any area of Tolkien studies including, but not limited to, the topics listed below. Academics, independent scholars, graduate students, and undergraduate students are invited to submit individual paper proposals, paper session proposals, and/or roundtable proposals. Presenters may present one paper and participate in one roundtable session.

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. If you have an idea for a special topic for an academic journal issue or for an anthology, email Robin to find out how to organize a paper session or roundtable on the topic!

Please read the submission information and guidelines .

For individual paper proposals, please submit contact information (name, institutional affiliation [or "independent scholar"], e-mail address, and telephone number), your presentation's title, and a 500-word proposal describing your topic, chosen theory, methodology, 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 participate in a roundtable, please contact me directly at robinareid@fastmail.com. 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. The TSA defines "Tolkien studies" as including, but not limited to, Tolkien's Legendarium; adaptations, transformative works, and translations; cultural studies; critical race studies; digital and new media studies; fan and reception studies; feminist, gender, and queer studies; literary studies; medieval and medievalist studies; media and marketing; pedagogical scholarship; religious studies; source studies; tourism studies; and translation studies.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Adaptation & Translation Studies

• Games, Films, or Amazon's The Rings of Power

• Translations of Tolkien's legendarium

Cultural Studies

• Academic Tolkien                     

• Class & Tolkien              

• Gender & Tolkien

• Intersectional Tolkien               

• Queer Tolkiens     

• Race, Racisms, and Tolkien

• Religion & Tolkien           

• Spirituality & Tolkien                

Digital Literary & Humanities Studies

• Tolkien corpora                       

• Digitizing Tolkien

Fan and Reception Studies

• Fan Archives                           

• Fan Art/Artists               

• Fans Collecting

• Fan Cosplay                            

• Fanfiction                      

• Fan Podcasts

• Fan Tourism                            

• Fan Vidding

• Pre-Internet Tolkien Fanzines

• Tolkien & White Supremacy (then and now)

Literary Studies

• Analyzing Tolkien scholarship (by period, theme, or topic)

• New Tolkien Publications

• Tolkien & Contemporary Fantasy (Ex. N.K. Jemisin, G.R.R. Martin, Terry Pratchett)

• Tolkien & Genre                       

• Tolkien's Medievalisms             

• Tolkien & Modernisms              

• Tolkien & Postmodernisms       

• Tolkien & Romanticisms           

• Tolkien & the Sciences

• Tolkien & the Victorians

Email robinareid AT fastmail.com if you have any questions!