Tolkien Studies Area Presentations
Popular Culture Association Conference, Chicago, IL, March 27-30, 2024
Below is the list of sessions in scheduled for the Chicago PCA conference for 2024!
The conference has returned to a f2f model although I will be working on a committee to explore a range of virtual options in the future.
TOLKIEN STUDIES I: Racism, Fascism, Religion & Atheism
Free Orcs and Black Fingon: Disrupting the Racial Hierarchy of Middle-earth Through Revisionary Works Bianca Beronio
‘Gandalf Lives!’: The Italian, Neo-fascist Campaign for Middle-earth Craig Franson
Secondary Believers, Secondary Worlds: A Tolkienian Theory of Fandom and Religion Tom Emanuel
‘Really I'm an atheist, but not the kind that yells at people’: Atheist Readers of J.R.R. Tolkien Robin Reid
TOLKIEN STUDIES II: “The Fall of Arthur,” the Mystery of Galadriel, and Two Anti-War Plays
'Mirkwood's Margin Under Mountain Shadows:' Tolkien's The Fall of Arthur and Arthurian Ecocriticism Amber Lehning
Galadriel: Lodestar of the Legendarium Constance Wagner and Laura Grabowski
’Giving Up Their Dead’: ‘The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son’ and A Sleep of Prisoners Janet Croft
TOLKIEN STUDIES III: Teaching Tolkien with Equity Workshop
Teaching Tolkien with Equity Bianca Beronio
TOLKIEN STUDIES V: Queer Theory, Disability Theory, and the Theory of “On Fairy-stories”
Bi Wife Energy: An Exploration of Faramir and Eowyn's Queercoded Relationship Alicia Fox-Lenz
Cripping Morgoth: Exploring the Possibilities of Disability in Tolkien's Arch-Villain Clare Moore
From Mind to Mind: the Graphical Evolution of Final Fantasy through Tolkien’s “On Fairy-stories” Cameron Bourquein
Recovery? Escape? Consolation? Tolkien in His Many Iterations as a Balm for Burnout Carol Bernard
TOLKIEN STUDIES VI: Con-Creation (Roundtable)
Cameron Bourquein proposes an approach to future Tolkien scholarship based on the theory that Legendarium can be read through the lens of “con-creation” (the total choice-making activity of all rational beings) both internally (as events in the Secondary World) and externally (as both a text and a pseudohistory in the Primary World). This approach levels the playing field between all actors in—and readers of—“The Drama”—and can be extended to adaptations and transformative works. Cameron and Robin will discuss their plans for a special journal issue on “Con-Creation Tolkien Studies” (the deadline will be sometime in 2025). Five-six additional participants will briefly discuss their approaches as examples of their choices in Tolkien studies, and the rest of the session will be focused on audience commentary and interaction.
There will also be a couple of ‘scheduled’ social hours to hang out together, plus the always popular (heh) Business Meeting where we plan the future of Tolkien Studies at PCA, and no doubt lots of what are often the most important conversations in between and around the scheduled sessions.
Thanks to the presenters for helping make the 2024 Tolkien Studies area so fantastic!