MONSTERS & THE MONSTROUS: myths & metaphors of enduring evil

7th Global Conference
Monsters and the Monstrous: Myths and Metaphors of
Enduring Evil

Monday 14th September 2009 – Thursday 17th
September 2009
Mansfield College, Oxford

Call for Papers
This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary
project 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.

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
* Comedy: funny monsters and/or making fun of
monsters (e.g. Monsters Inc, the Addams Family)
* Making monsters; monstrous births, childhood
* Mutants and mutations and freaks
* 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
* Revolution and monsters
* Enemies (political/social/military) and
monsters
* Iconography of the monstrous
* The popularity of the modern monsters; the
Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, Vampires, Cannibals
* The monster in literature
* The monster in media (television, cinema,
radio, internet)
* Religious depictions of the monstrous
* Metaphors and the monstrous
* The problematic attraction and admiration
of monsters
* Gothic Monsters

Papers will be accepted which deal solely with
specific monsters. Pre-formed panel proposals are
also encouraged.

The 2009 meeting of Monsters will run alongside
our project on ‘Madness – Probing the Boundaries’
and we anticipate holding sessions in common
between the two projects. We welcome any papers
considering the problems or addressing issues of
Monsters and Madness for joint project
sessions.

Papers will be considered on any related theme.
300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday
17th April 2009. If an abstract is accepted for
the conference, a full draft paper should be
submitted by Friday 7th August 2009.

300 word abstracts should be submitted to the
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.

Organising Chairs

Sorcha Ni Fhlainn
Hub Leader
School of English, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
E-mail: snf@inter-disciplinary.net

Rob Fisher
Network Founder & Leader, Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Freeland, Oxfordshire
United Kingdom
E-mail: m7@inter-disciplinary.net

Stephen Morris
Hub Leader
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
USA
E-mail: smmorris58@yahoo.com

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 may be invited to go forward for
development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.
Some papers may also be invited for inclusion in
the Journal of Monsters and the Monstrous.

Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a
not-for-profit network and we are not in a
position at this present time to be able to assist
with conference travel or subsistence.

For further details about the project please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/evil/monsters-and-the-monstrous/

For further details about the conference please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/evil/monsters-and-the-monstrous/call-for-papers/
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The CAMBRIDGE CENTRE for the study of WESTERN ESOTERICISM is independent of any academic or esoteric communities, the directors share an interest in the need for a wider dialogue between scholars and practitioners in the field of Western Esotericism and in the establishment of a secular space in which an interdisciplinary network can thrive.. From 2009 CCWE has operated within Lighthouse editions Limited, a small publishing company Directors: Dr Sophia Wellbeloved, Jeremy Cranswick – see http://gurdjieffbooks.wordpress.com

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