CFP: Between the Living and the Dead: A Halloween Conference

Progressive Connexions, a UK-based nonprofit dedicated to networking among interdisciplinary researchers, is calling for submissions for its upcoming conference on October 30-31, 2021. 300-word proposals, presentations, abstracts and other forms of contribution and participation should be submitted by Monday, September 6, 2021.

The aim of the interdisciplinary conference and collaborative networking event is to bring people together and encourage creative conversations in the context of a variety of formats: papers, seminars, workshops, storytelling, performances, poster presentations, panels, Q&As and roundtables.

Key topics, themes and issues for discussion may include, but are not limited to:

• Psychological, physiological, anthropological and religious/spiritual perspectives on the human preoccupation with the dead
• Case studies of rituals, their evolution and their meaning
• Meanings/ideological implications of Halloween iconography and narratives (e.g. witches, demons, the Devil, possessions, etc.) in oral traditions, literature, drama, film, television, video, gaming, the arts
• Haunted spaces and places regarded as portals to another dimension
• Commodifying rituals and humanity’s obsession with the dead
• Impact of technology on the boundary between living and dead (e.g. bringing back the dead in the form of holograms, cloning, etc.)
• The future of rituals
• Music and the relationship between the living and the dead

All submissions will be double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Development Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed.

You will be notified of the panel’s decision by Friday, September 10, 2021.

If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Monday, October 18, 2021

Abstracts and proposals may be in Word, PDF, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s)

b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in the program

c) email address

d) title of proposal

e) body of proposal

f) up to 10 keywords.

E-mails should be entitled: Between the Living and the Dead Submission. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organizing Chair, Adriana Gordillo, and the Project Administrator.