Call for Papers, Abstracts, and Panel Proposals
RACE & ETHNICITY AREA
2018 Midwest Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference
Indianapolis, IN
(Extended) Proposal Submission Deadline: MAY 15, 2018

Main Conference: Thursday – Sunday, October 4-7, 2018
Hyatt Regency, 1 S Capitol Ave, Indianapolis IN 46204 Phone: (317) 632-1234

The Race & Ethnicity Area of the MPCA/MACA requests 175-250 word proposals for papers to be presented at the 2018 Midwest Popular Culture Association Annual Conference. Proposals for co-authored papers, complete panels (3-4 presenters), or nontraditional formats such as workshops, roundtables, open forums, and/or visual/artistic/creative approaches are also welcomed. Please upload proposals to the Race & Ethnicity area at http://submissions.mpcaaca.org/.

To create a broadly-ranging discussion of race and ethnicity in popular culture, we would like to bring into conversation with each other topics that have tended to be subsumed under other genres or categories (e.g., SF/F, Film, Pedagogy), as well as those that focus on more traditionally-studied aspects of race and ethnicity. Submissions from any/all disciplines are welcome.

Suggested topics and approaches include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Critical race theory, critical and/or comparative ethnic studies, and/or critical whiteness studies;
• Analyses that address intersectional/co-constructed/multidimensional identities;
• Constructions of race and racial/ethnic “performance” in popular culture, including film and television;
• Discussions about the intersections of race, ethnicity, popular culture, and academia, including pedagogy;
• Considerations of the meanings of race and ethnicity in a “postracial” culture;
• How race and ethnicity play into constructions of nation/nationalism in popular culture;
• Interactions between neoliberalism, globalization, capitalism, race, and ethnicity;
• Race/racialization/ethnicity portrayals, depictions, and appropriations in mass culture and/or social media (e.g., blackface, yellowface, “playing Indian,” spirit animals, sugar skulls, and Taco Tuesdays);
• “Whitewashing” and/or other approaches to racialization in book-to-screen adaptations; and/or
• Race and/or ethnicity in public discourse, particularly including Black Lives Matter, immigration, Islamophobia, Black Girl Magic, Chad/Basic Becky, and/or unapologetic blackness.

Individuals may submit only one paper to the conference; please do not submit the same paper to more than one area or multiple papers to any areas. Please include name, affiliation, and e-mail address of each author/participant with the abstract.

Please plan to attend the entire conference. Panels will run at the following approximate times: Thursday 9:00 am-6:00 pm, Friday 9:00 am-6:00 pm, Saturday 9:00 am -5:30 pm, and Sunday 9:00 am-2:00 pm. Special events will include game night on Thursday evening, featured speakers and awards ceremony on Friday evening, and a keynote speaker on Saturday evening. These events will be free for conference registrants. A preliminary version of the schedule will be posted on our website around August 2018.

More information about the conference can be found at http://mpcaaca.org/indy-2018/. Attendees are financially responsible for all costs related to their participation in the conference, e.g., transportation, lodging, meals, registration, membership, etc. Graduate students are invited to apply for competitively awarded travel grants from MPCA/MACA. Details are available at http://mpcaaca.org/conference/travel-grants/.

Special Notes Regarding Proposal Submissions: (1) AV equipment will be rented from the hotel by the Association. The Association does not provide laptops, cords, or speakers. (2) If necessary, indicate and submit potential scheduling conflicts along with your proposal. (3) If you wish your presentation to be listed as MACA (rather than MPCA), please include this request with your proposal.

Questions? Contact Jessica Birch at jessica.elizabeth.birch@gmail.com.