C'mon, you can do it

...all they can do is tell you 'no,' right? Getting published and speaking at conferences is good for you, give it a try. I've divided this list into Conference CFPs and Journal CFPs. If you would like to know more about calls for papers for both journals and conferences, ask Erin, Mark, or Richard about accessing PapersInvited -- the largest database of calls for papers on the planet -- while you're on campus. This is just a sampling!

Conference Calls for Papers

Mythology in Contemporary Culture. April 4-7, 2007 in Boston, MA.

Contact: anais.spitzer [at] gmail [dot] com

The “Mythology in Contemporary Culture” area is dedicated to exploring mythological figures and motifs (from all cultures and historical periods) in all areas of popular culture—from movies, video games and television to novels, politics and blogs—and the significance of these mythological figures and motifs in contemporary, postmodern culture.

Papers Invited On, but not limited to:
-Mythological monsters and the monstrous
-Mythologies of the great flood(s), etc., in relation to current debates on global warming
-Women heroines in mythology in relation to the current-day depiction of female athletes and women in sports

All abstracts pertaining to the general theme of mythology in contemporary culture are welcome.

Deadline for submissions: Nov. 1, 2006.

Nature and Human Nature: Changing Perspectives. March 16-18, 2007 in Santa Barbara, CA.

The Nature and Human Nature Conference will explore how the sciences and the humanities can work in tandem to achieve a shift in consciousness with respect to our current environmental ethos.

Proposal Categories:
Depth Psychology and Ecologya
Science, Ecology and Environmentalism
Ecofeminism
Mythological Perspectives on the Human Connection to the Natural World
Bringing Together Scientific and Imaginal Perspectives
Ethics and Ecology
The Soul of Place

Deadline for submissions: November 30, 2006.

115th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association (PDF). August 17-20, 2007 in San Francisco, CA.

See hotlink above for looooooong list of topics for submission.

Deadline for submissions: Dec. 1, 2006.

15th Annual Conference of the American Men's Studies Association (.doc format). March 30-April 1, 2007 in Kansas City, MO.

'Engaging Boys and Men: How Are We Doing?'
How are males engaged in society and in the world? How can academic scholarship, clinical practice and other professions help us gain an understanding of how males are doing and what males need- at every stage of life? What does our work tell us about ways males can become fully engaged in healthy ways and healthy relationships, and reduce the risk of problems faced by boys and men? Such problems include low reading rates of boys, high dropout rates in schools and colleges, high rates of men in prison, males experiencing depression and suicide, high rates of homophobia, and greater levels of violence perpetrated by males at every age. Is our educational system failing our boys? Is the media? The family? Are men's needs going unmet? What steps can be taken to create systems of support and interventions that address the problems in the lives of boys and men? By understanding that the problems facing boys and men are society's problems with a specific face, this conference provides opportunity for growing the discourse about the effects of gender on the lives of males.

Papers Invited On
Organizer invite papers that draw from academic, clinical, and related professional work, on a broad range of topics and disciplines related to men and masculinities, that contribute to developing a greater understanding of men's lives. Organizer encourage presentations from those working in such areas as literary and media analysis, historical, psychological, sociological, or anthropological theory and research, religious studies, philosophy and the arts. Papers are not limited to the conference theme, though proposals fitting the theme are encouraged.

Deadline for submissions: Dec. 1, 2006.

2007 Conference on Through a Glass Darkly: Suffering, the Sacred, and the Sublime. May 10-12, 2007 in British Columbia, Canada.

Papers are invited on any aspects of the topics of suffering, the sacred, and the sublime in literature from a Christian perspective. Interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approaches to these topics are encouraged.

The sacred spaces of suffering Mystical (un)knowing The literature of mourning Survivor testimonies Trauma and the sublime The feminine/masculine sublime The evolution of the sublime in literature Genre and the shape of suffering The unrepresentable voice of the victim The postmodern sublime

Deadline for submissions: Dec. 14, 2006.

1st Conference of the Thomas Hardy Association (Yale University). Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

See the hotlink above for topics of interest.

Deadline for submissions: Dec. 15, 2006.

Journal Calls for Papers

Australian Religion Studies Review: Special Issue on Exploring Religion and Popular Film

Scope In this second century of the age of Hollywood, popular films have evolved from toy to tool to become a universal form of entertainment and education. Although a primary vehicle for the interpretation and construction of religious meaning, and a fundamental part of the contemporary religious quest, movies are an often-overlooked pedagogic tool within secular, educational and ecclesiastical institutions. This special issue of the Australian Religion Studies Review (ARSR) seeks to explore some of the exciting possibilities inherent in the emerging field of religion-and-film (aka cinematic theology, celluloid religion, theo-film, film-faith dialogue).

Papers Invited On:
Manuscripts dealing with (but not limited to) any of the following topics are invited from religion, film, communication and cultural studies scholars and postgraduates from around the world:
-Jesus films (e.g., The Passion of the Christ, The King of Kings, The Greatest Story Ever Told)
-Classic religious movies (e.g., The Ten Commandments, Monty Python's -Life of Brian, The Passion of Joan of Arc)
-Classics in the making (e.g., the Harry Potter series, the Lord of the -Rings trilogy, the Chronicles of Narnia franchise)
-Christ-figures (e.g., Neo in The Matrix, Clark Kent in Superman
-Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still)
-Other sacred subtexts (e.g., Moses-figures, Judas-figures, John the -Baptist-figures, Mary Magdalene-figures)
-The occult/supernatural/paganism (e.g., psychics, fortune-telling, the afterlife, vampires, zombies, mummies, witchcraft, Ancient Egyptian religion)
-Cinematic representations of God, angels, Satan/the Devil, demons, ghosts etc. (e.g., Oh God!, Wings of Desire, The Devil's Advocate, Ghost)
-Saints, mystics & martyrs (e.g., Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, Vincent, Therese)
-Religion in specific movie genres (e.g., SF/fantasy, horror, comedy)
-Religion in Australian films (e.g., The Devil's Playground)
-Sacred servants (e.g., prophets, priests, nuns, ministers, rabbis, fake priests, SF or future world priests)
Sacred spaces and props (e.g., churches, Bibles, crosses, rosaries, holy water)
-Sacred images (e.g., crucifixion poses, pieta stances, halos)
-Religious themes in secular films (e.g., suffering, sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness, the second coming)
-Biblical epics (e.g., OT, NT, Roman/Christian, Gnostic)
-Biblical character studies (e.g., Moses, Samson, Delilah, Judas, Mary Magdalene)
-Bible quoting (e.g., "Let there be Light") and holy verse battles (e.g., Sr. Helen Prejean vs. the prison guard in Dead Man Walking)
-The differences between "biblical," "religious" and "spiritual" films -The on-screen attempts to explain religious concepts (e.g., God, trinity, death)
-Western representations of non-Christian religions (e.g., Buddhism, -Hinduism, Islam)
-Images of religion and terrorism, cults and cultish behaviour
-The parameters of religion as a unique and distinctive film genre
-Educational approaches or methodologies for teaching religion-and-film
-Film as an aid to spirituality growth or as a source of cinematic epiphanies
-Film as sacred storytelling or a locus theologicus for religious education

Deadline for submissions: Nov. 1, 2006.

Australian Religion Studies Review: Special Issue on New Religious Movements in East Asia.

Papers are sought for a long-overdue examination of new religious developments in East Asia (i.e. the Confucian Sphere of Influence). The interrelationship of modernising trends (communism, colonialism,globalization and so on...) and tradition will be of central importance to the volume, however, other aspects of recent religious developments will also be considered.

Deadline for submissions: Feb. 1, 2007.

Signs: Special Issue on Gender and Spirituality.

Although historical and comparative perspectives on women and gender provide a rich and complex vision of spirituality, contemporary feminism often rests on exclusively secular conceptions of justice, equality, and transformation. In this special issue, Publishers are seeking essays that rethink contemporary feminist theory and practice through analysis of various representations and formations of spirituality. Publishers are particularly interested in essays that engage comparative, interdisciplinary, and international perspectives to focus on spirituality and movements for social justice, feminist critical revisions of religion, alternative responses to religious nationalism and fundamentalism, social and cultural linkages of gender and spirituality in various modes of representation, and intersections of feminist modes of spirituality with Enlightenment rationality, scientific thought, and post-Enlightenment thought, inquiry, and knowledge.

Papers Invited On:
Publishers are interested in essays that move beyond conventional binary oppositions between the sacred and the secular (which is often itself structured as a religion) by considering the ways in which women’s lives, identities, thought, cultural and intellectual practices, activism, and social movements have rested on complex understandings of the relationships among the spiritual, the material, the rational, the scientific, and the secular.

Deadline for submissions: June 1, 2007.