CFP: Tolkien Studies Area (TSA), PCA Conference, 4-16-19 2025, New Orleans Marriott
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedRobin Anne Reid (robinareid@fastmail)
Incoming Co-Chairs (2025)
Janet Brennan Croft (janet.croft@uni.edu) &
Bianca Beronio (bianca.beronio@gmail.com)
Updated October 27, 2024: A friend and I are working on developing a co-sponsored session, or sessions, on Neuridivergent Studies of Tolkien (his work, the adaptations, the fandom, etc.). If you’re interested in learning more about it, you can read the stack I just posted today: CFP Neurodivergent Studies
The Tolkien Studies Area (TSA) welcomes proposals in any area of Tolkien studies including, but not limited to, the topics listed below. 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; disability studies; fan and reception studies; feminist, gender, and queer studies; literary studies; medieval and medievalist studies; media and marketing; religious studies; source studies; tourism studies; and translation studies.
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 presenters must join the Popular Culture Association as members as well as pay a registration fee to attend the conference. These are separate fees that have been restructured to a tiered system taking into account that PCA members range from undergraduates to retirees, with salaries ranging from part-time, minimum wage to retiree pensions and social security.
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 is 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 and/or roundtable on the topic!
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 organize 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!
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedAdaptation & Translation Studies
Games (board, video, or online)
Any of the films
Amazon’s Rings of Power
Translations of Tolkien's Legendarium
Cultural Studies
Production & Reception
Academic Tolkien
Archives & Tolkien
Class & Tolkien
Disabilities & Tolkien
Economics & Tolkien
Feminisms & Tolkien
Genders & Tolkien
Intersectional Tolkien
Mythologies & Tolkien
Queer Tolkien
Race, Racisms and Tolkien
Religions & Tolkien
Sciences & Tolkien
Spiritualities & Tolkien
Digital Humanities
Tolkien Corpora
Digitizing Tolkien
Fan Studies
Fan Archives
Fan Art
Fan Collectors
Fan Cosplay
Fanfiction (online or pre-internet)
Fan Podcasts
Fan Tourism
Fan Vidding
Literary Studies
Tolkien & Genre
Tolkien's Medievalisms
Tolkien & Modernisms
Tolkien & Postmodernisms
Tolkien & Romanticisms
Tolkien & the Victorians
Tolkien & War
Posthumous Publications
Analyzing Tolkien scholarship
(by period, theme, or topic)
Tolkien & Contemporary Fantasy
(Ex. Jemisin, Martin, Pratchett)
Pedagogical
Tolkien in the Classroom
Teaching Tolkien
