Monsters and Monstrous Conference

6th Global Conference

Monsters and the Monstrous:
Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil

Monday 22nd September - Thursday 25th September 2008
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/ati/Monsters/M6/cfp.html


This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary
conference seeks to investigate and explore the
enduring influence and imagery of monsters and the
monstrous on human culture throughout history. In
particular, the project will have a dual focus with
the intention of examining specific 'monsters' as well
as assessing the role, function and consequences of
persons, actions or events identified as 'monstrous'.
The history and contemporary cultural influences of
monsters and monstrous metaphors will also be
examined.

Perspectives are sought from those engaged in the
fields of literature, media studies, cultural studies,
history, anthropology, philosophy, psychology,
sociology, health and theology. Ideas are welcomed
from those involved in academic study, fictional
explorations, and applied areas (e.g. youth work,
criminology and medicine).

Papers, reports, work-in-progress and workshops are
invited on issues related to any of the following
themes:

The "monster" through history
Civilization, monsters and the monstrous
Children, childhood, stories and monsters; monsters
and parents
Comedy: funny monsters and/or making fun of monsters
(e.g. Monsters Inc, the Addams Family)
Making monsters; monstrous births
Mutants and mutations
Technologies of the monstrous
Horror, fear and scare
Do monsters kill because they are monstrous or are
they monstrous because they kill?
How critical to the definition of "monster" is death
or the threat of death?
human 'monsters' and 'monstrous' acts? e.g, perverts,
paedophiles and serial killers
the monstrous and gender
Revolution and monsters; the monstrous and politics;
enemies (political/social/military) and monsters
Iconography of the monstrous
The popularity of the modern monsters; the Mummy,
Dracula, Frankenstein, Vampires
The monster in literature
the monstrous in popular culture: film, television,
theatre, radio, print, internet. The monstrous and
journalism
Religious depictions of the monstrous; the monstrous
and the supernatural
Metaphors and the monstrous
the monstrous and war, war reportage/propaganda
monsters, the monstrous and the internet; monstrous
virtualities
monsters, gaming and on-line communities
Papers will also be accepted which deal solely with
specific monsters. We also welcome proposals for
pre-formed panels which specifically explore the
themes of hybridity or themes of monstrous parents and
families. Papers which examine the theme of hope (for
joint sessions with the Hope project running at the
same time) are also wlecome.

Papers will be considered on any related theme. 300
word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 9th May
2008. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a
full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 8th
August 2008.

300 word abstracts should be submitted to both
Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word,
WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order:
author(s), affiliation, email address, title of
abstract, body of abstract.

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain
from using any special formatting, characters or
emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We
acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals
submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a
week you should assume we did not receive your
proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest,
then, to look for an alternative electronic route or
resend.

Stephen Morris
smmorris58@yahoo.com

Project Co-Leader
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
USA

The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’
series of programmes organised by ID.Net. The aim of
the conference is to bring together people from
different areas and interests to share ideas and
explore various discussions which are innovative and
exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at
this conference are eligible for publication in an
ISBN eBook. Selected papers will be developed for
publication in a themed hard copy volume.