Texas State: Of Gods and Monsters Conference

0 | February 4th, 2019 | Posted in conference, monsters, monstrous

Welcome to the page for Of Gods and Monsters, a conference happening at Texas State University April 4th -6th, 2019. We’re excited to welcome you to San Marcos, Texas, and talk about monsters! Judith Halberstam famously claimed that monsters are “meaning machines” that can be used to represent a variety of ideas, including morality, gender, race, and nationalism (to name only a few). Monsters are always part of the project of making sense of the world and our place in it. As a tool through which human beings create worlds in which to meaningfully dwell, monsters are tightly bound with many other systems of meaning-making like religion, culture, literature, and politics. Of Gods and Monsters will provide focused space to explore the definition of “monster,” the categorization of monsters as a basis of comparison across cultures, and the relationship of monsters to various systems of meaning-making with the goal of understanding how humans have used and continued to use these “meaning machines.”

Through this conference, we hope to explore the complex intersections of monsters and meaning-making from a variety of theoretical, academic, and intellectual angles. Because “monsters” are a category that appears across time and cultural milieus, this conference will foster conversations between scholars working in very different areas and is not limited in terms of cultural region, historical time, or religious tradition. As part of fostering this dialogue, Douglas E. Cowan will serve as this event’s keynote speaker, while archival researcher and cryptid expert Lyle Blackburn will offer a second plenary address. Both talks are open to the public, and please see the schedule page for further details.

If any questions should arise, please contact conference organizers, Natasha Mikles or Joseph Laycock.

Schedule
Preliminary schedule only—full conference schedule to be posted soon

All events are open to the public, though daily lunch and coffee breaks are limited to registered participants only.

Thursday, April 4
4:00 PM – 5:30 PM: Keynote, Doug Cowan, “America’s Dark Theologian”

5:30 – 6:30 PM: Reception

Participants are encouraged to organize dinner on their own, but Natasha and Joe will lead interested parties to local restaurants.

Friday, April 5
9:00 -10:30 AM: Panels

10:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Coffee/tea break

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM: Panels

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM: Lunch break (Lunch will be provided for registered conference participants and observers)

2:00 – 3:30 PM: Keynote, Lyle Blackburn, “Monsters of Texas: History, Legends, and Modern Sightings”

3:30 – 6:30 PM: Monster Movie with Blood over Texas

Saturday, April 6
9:00 – 10:30 PM: Panels

10:30 – 11:00 AM: Coffee / tea break

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM: Panels

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM: Lunch break (Lunch will be provided for registered conference participants and observers)

2:00 – 3:30 PM: Panels

3:30 – 5:00 PM: Free time for participants. Optional Glass-bottom boat tour at Aquarena Springs at 4 PM.

5:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Optional banquet at local restaurant. Banquet fee may be paid via online registration.

7:00 PM: Pub crawl to area breweries and bars.

Registration
Please find here our registration portal. The fee for participants will be $60, while student observers from Texas State University may pay a rate of $10 a day to register for lunch and a name badge.

Beyond the conference, we have organized two optional events that we hope everyone will attend!

On Saturday afternoon, we have organized a group excursion to a glass-bottom boat tour. The tour takes you to see the Aquarena Springs, once home to Ralph the Swimming Pig and the filming location for the horror movie Piranha and several movies in the Tarzan franchise. With crystal-clear, blue water that lets you see over 60 feet down, we will have the opportunity to observe the springs bubble up from the ground beneath our feet, as well as glide over innumerable flora and fauna.

Saturday evening will feature our conference banquet, where we will adjourn to local brewery and restaurant Root Cellar Café for food, companionship, and merriment. Appetizers, delicious meals, dessert, and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided in the banquet fee. After our banquet ends, Joe and Natasha will lead interested parties on a small pub crawl in San Marcos.

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AAR Meeting: New Directions in the Study of Religion, Monsters, and the Monstrous Seminar

0 | January 31st, 2019 | Posted in monsters, monstrous, religion

The Monsters and Religion group at the American Academy of Religion has announced an ambitious five year period of analysis and discussion that will begin with the meeting in November 2019. I really like the topic for year four, and am hoping someone presents on how we construe religious others as monsters as part of a process of dehumanization that then facilitates public rhetoric, limits on religious freedoms, and even violence. Here’s the announcement from the AAR website:

New Directions in the Study of Religion, Monsters, and the Monstrous Seminar

Statement of Purpose:

The Mission of the New Directions in the Study of Religion, Monsters, and the Monstrous Five-Year Seminar is to facilitate dialogue between different areas and methodologies within religious studies to arrive at a better theory of the intersection of religion, monsters, and the monstrous. Due to the diverse nature of our topic, we encourage proposals from any tradition or theoretical perspective. Each year of the seminar will focus on a different theoretical problem as follows:

Year One –– Taxonomy. The first task of the seminar will be to explore the taxonomy of “monsters” as a second-order category. What defines a “monster” and what are we talking about when we talk about monsters?

Year Two –– Theodicy: What role do monsters serve in explaining misfortune? Are monsters a source of injustice or do they create justice as agents of punishment?

Year Three –– Cosmology: How do monsters function to map out reality, including time and space?

Year Four –– Monstrification and humanization: When, how, and why are other people and their gods “monstrified?” How does racism intersect with the discourse of the monstrous? Conversely, when, how, and why are monsters humanized?

Year Five –– Phenomenology: How should we interpret narratives of encounters with fantastic beings? To what extent are reductionist readings of these narratives appropriate and helpful? Are there viable approaches beyond reductionism?

At the conclusion of the seminar, our findings will be published as an edited volume or otherwise disseminated to the scholarly community

Call for Papers:

New Directions in the Study of Religion, Monsters, and the Monstrous is a new five-year seminar dedicated to developing a better theoretical foundation for the study of monsters and the monstrous in the field of religious studies. The first year of our seminar will consider the problem of taxonomy: What is a monster, and what do we gain by categorizing an entity as such? We invite papers from any discipline or subfield that either take on this question directly or else consider an illuminating case study. On what grounds should a particular creature, character, or god be classified as a “monster?” What is revealed when these entities are compared across cultures? Where do the limits of this category lie and what is revealed by pushing them? What are the benefits and pitfalls of applying the category of “monster” to contexts beyond Western culture?

Method:

PAPERS

Process:

Proposals are anonymous to chairs and steering committee members until after final acceptance/rejection

Leadership:
ChairJoseph Laycock, joe.laycock@gmail.com
Kelly Murphy, kelly.murphy@cmich.edu
Steering CommitteeEric D. Mortensen, ericdmort@yahoo.com
Michael Heyes, heyes@usf.edu
Natasha Mikles, n.mikles@txstate.edu

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Monsters: An Inclusive Interdisciplinary Project

0 | January 22nd, 2019 | Posted in call for papers, conference, monsters

Monsters
An Inclusive Interdisciplinary Conference

Saturday 31st August 2019 – Sunday 1st September 2019
Lisbon, Portugal

This inclusive interdisciplinary conference 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 with a view to forming a selective publication to engender further collaboration and discussion.

Consistent with its inter-disciplinary ethos, the event proposes to step outside the traditional conference setting and offer opportunities for artists, photographers, practitioners, theorists, independent scholars, academics, performers, writers, and others to intermingle, providing platforms for interdisciplinary interactions that are fruitful and conducive to broadening horizons and sparking future projects, collaborations, and connections.

The organisers welcome proposals for presentations, displays, exhibits, round tables, panels, interactive workshops and other activities to stimulate engagement and discussion on any aspect of the interplay between monsters, monstrosities, and the monstrous, particularly in relation to any of the following themes:

* The “monster” through history
* Civilization, monsters and the monstrous
* Children, childhood, stories and monsters; monsters and parents
* Comedy: funny monsters and/or making fun of monsters (e.g. Monsters Inc, the Addams Family)
* Making monsters; monstrous births
* Mutants and mutations
* 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
* the monstrous and gender
* Revolution and monsters; the monstrous and politics; enemies (political/social/military) and monsters
* Iconography of the monstrous
* The popularity of the modern monsters; the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, Vampires, Hannibal
* The monster in literature
* the monstrous in popular culture: film, television, theatre, radio, print, internet
*The monstrous and journalism
* Religious depictions of the monstrous; the monstrous and the supernatural
* Metaphors and the monstrous
* the monstrous and war, war reportage / propaganda

Papers will also be accepted which deal solely with specific monsters.

What to Send
The aim of this 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&a’s, round-tables etc.

300 word proposals, presentations, abstracts and other forms of contribution and participation should be submitted by Friday 8th March 2019. Other forms of participation should be discussed in advance with the Organising Chair.

All submissions will be minimally 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 22nd March 2019.

If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 12th July 2019.

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 programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.

E-mails should be entitled: Monsters Submission.

Early Bird Submission and Discount
Submissions received on or before Friday 8th February 2019 will be eligible for a 10% registration fee discount.

Where to Send
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chair and the Project Administrator:

Dr Cristina Santos: csantos@brocku.ca<mailto:csantos@brocku.ca>
Project Administrator: lisbonmonsters@progressiveconnexions.net<mailto:lisbonmonsters@progressiveconnexions.net>

What’s so Special About Progressive Connexions Events?
A fresh, friendly, dynamic format – at Progressive Connexions we are dedicated to breaking away from the stuffy, old-fashion conference formats, where endless presentations are read aloud off PowerPoints. We work to bring you an interactive format, where exchange of experience and information is alternated with captivating workshops, engaging debates and round tables, time set aside for getting to know each other and for discussing common future projects and initiatives, all in a warm, relaxed, egalitarian atmosphere.

A chance to network with international professionals – the beauty of our interdisciplinary events is that they bring together professionals from all over the world and from various fields of activity, all joined together by a shared passion. Not only will the exchange of experience, knowledge and stories be extremely valuable in itself, but we seek to create lasting, ever-growing communities around our projects, which will become a valuable resource for those belonging to them.

A chance to be part of constructing change – There is only one thing we love as much as promoting knowledge: promoting real, lasting social change by encouraging our participants to take collective action, under whichever form is most suited to their needs and expertise (policy proposals, measuring instruments, research projects, educational materials, etc.) We will support all such actions in the aftermath of the event as well, providing a platform for further discussions, advice from the experts on our Project Advisory Team and various other tools and intellectual resources, as needed.

An opportunity to discuss things that matter to you – Our events are not only about discussing how things work in the respective field, but also about how people work in that field – what are the struggles, problems and solutions professionals have found in their line of work, what are the areas where better communication among specialists is needed and how the interdisciplinary approach can help bridge those gaps and help provide answers to questions from specific areas of activity.

An unforgettable experience – When participating in a Progressive Connexions event, there is a good chance you will make some long-time friends. Our group sizes are intimate, our venues are comfortable and relaxing and our event locations are suited to the history and culture of the event.

Ethos
Progressive Connexions believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract or proposal for presentation.

Please note: Progressive Connexions is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence, nor can we offer discounts off published rates and fees.

Enquiries: lisbonmonsters@progressiveconnexions.net<mailto:lisbonmonsters@progressiveconnexions.net>

Web address: ttp://www.progressiveconnexions.net/interdisciplinary-projects/evil/monsters/conferences/

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Titles of Interest – Gods of Thrones: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Religions of Ice and Fire

0 | January 18th, 2019 | Posted in fantasy, Game of Thrones, religion

Gods of Thrones: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Religions of Ice and Fire
A. Ron Hubbard and Anthony Le Donne
Bald Move Books, 2018

Why is Tyrion hated by the gods? Does Dany have a messiah complex? Can Bran manipulate timelines? What would Nietzsche think about Jaime’s morality? These are just a few of the questions answered in Gods of Thrones. Applying the study of religion, sociology, and history, this book offers a fresh take on the religious landscape of Ice and Fire.

The final season of Game of Thrones begins in April. In preparation you can not only binge watch on HBO, but also do some reading to dive deeper into the fantasy world of George R.R. Martin through this book. Listen to a podcast discussion with the authors to learn more.

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Shudder documentary “Horror Noire”

0 | January 7th, 2019 | Posted in horror, horror noire, race

From Entertainment Weekly:

Get Out writer-director Jordan Peele and Candyman star Tony Todd are two of the movie notables interviewed in a new documentary called Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, EW can exclusively reveal. Horror Noire is based on the book of the same name by Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman and takes a critical look at a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, sidelined, and embraced both black filmmakers and black audiences. Horror Noire is the first original feature documentary from Shudder and will premiere exclusively on the horror- and thriller-streaming service Feb. 7 after special screening events in New York and Los Angeles earlier in the month.

See my previous interview with Dr. Means Coleman on this subject here.

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Forthcoming book in 2019: The Paranormal and Popular Culture

0 | December 19th, 2018 | Posted in paranormal, pop culture

I am pleased to announce a February 2019 release date for one of my book projects in the coming year. It was a pleasure to co-edit with Darryl Caterine, and the wonderful contributors to this volume. I hope it makes a significant contribution to paranormal and pop culture studies.

The Paranormal and Popular Culture
A Postmodern Religious Landscape, 1st Edition
Edited by Darryl Caterine, John Morehead
Routledge
330 pages

Description
Interest in preternatural and supernatural themes has revitalized the Gothic tale, renewed explorations of psychic powers and given rise to a host of social and religious movements based upon claims of the fantastical. And yet, in spite of this widespread enthusiasm, the academic world has been slow to study this development. This volume rectifies this gap in current scholarship by serving as an interdisciplinary overview of the relationship of the paranormal to the artefacts of mass media (e.g. novels, comic books, and films) as well as the cultural practices they inspire.

After an introduction analyzing the paranormal’s relationship to religion and entertainment, the book presents essays exploring its spiritual significance in a postmodern society; its (post)modern representation in literature and film; and its embodiment in a number of contemporary cultural practices. Contributors from a number of discplines and cultural contexts address issues such as the shamanistic aspects of Batman and lesbianism in vampire mythology.

Covering many aspects of the paranormal and its effect on popular culture, this book is an important statement in the field. As such, it will be of utmost interest to scholars of religious studies as well as media, communication, and cultural studies.

Reviews
‘Few who have studied popular culture would question that it is haunted by a fascination with the paranormal. Furthermore, that this haunting has an impact on the everyday lives of many of our contemporaries is beyond question. This is why this book matters. Understanding the occultural context in which we live our lives is enormously important for those seeking an accurate grasp of late-modernity. The thoughtful and engaging studies in this timely volume, not only make it difficult to put down, but also increase our knowledge of the nature of occulture and open up new areas of inquiry. It deserves to be widely read.’ – Christopher Partridge, Lancaster University, UK

‘I am often asked by people, usually those with slightly raised eyebrows, why I am so interested in things paranormal. I answer: “Why, of course, because these things mess every other thing up.” I am hardly just joking. This collection of essays on the postmodern paranormal demonstrates in playful detail, historical nuance, and just plain weirdness how these things do this messing up and why it is so historically important, so spiritually contemporary, and so intellectually liberating. For some, at least. For others, it is all a closed book, or a non-existent book. That uncertainty, that freeing nonsense, that hesitation, it turns out, is at the very heart of the postmodern paranormal and this book, which really does exist.’ – Jeffrey J. Kripal, Rice University, TX, USA

‘In our postmodern age, traditional religions appear to be losing status globally, while its ideals and beliefs are increasingly appropriated by occulture, the folk and popular culture devoted to the paranormal. Caterine and Morehead have enlisted a team of both skeptics and sympathetic observers to explore the complexity of this modern scene. It takes readers on fascinating journey through the wide realm of high weirdness, ranging from Brazilian UFO lore to the quests of amateur ghost hunters, discussing supernatural tales by classic authors and by the directors of exploitation films, finding deep religious meaning in the lore of zombies and of Bigfoot. This volume is an alluring incentive to further study of this rich and constantly growing phenomenon.’ – Bill Ellis, Professor Emeritus, Penn State University, USA

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Appreciating Rankin/Bass at the Holiday Season

0 | December 1st, 2018 | Posted in animation, Rankin/Bass, stop-motion animation


I picked up a copy of the Deluxe Edition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer today to introduce to my youngest granddaughter, and was was surprisingly pleased to find several “Enchanting Bonus Features,” include a short on Restoring the Puppets of Rudolph, and a longer documentary titled The Animagic World of Rankin/Bass, a new documentary film. Those who grew up in the 60s and 70s will appreciate the look back at this animated holiday classic, but also the extended discussion of the groundbreaking work of Rankin/Bass and their continuing legacy. In the estimation of several in the documentary, Rankin/Bass should be acknowledged for their great contribution to animation, right alongside Disney, Hanna-Barbera, and Looney Tunes. This Deluxe Edition of the classic is worth picking up for the new material for fans of the film that virtually created animated holiday television specials, fans of Rankin/Bass, as well as animation and stop-motion animation fans.

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Volume for review – “Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques: Monstrosity and Religion in Europe and the United States”

0 | November 30th, 2018 | Posted in Books, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, monstrous, religion, Titles of Interest

I just received this volume for review in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.

Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques: Monstrosity and Religion in Europe and the United States, Edited by Michael E. Heyes Lexington Books, 2018

Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques examines the intersection of religion and monstrosity in a variety of different time periods in the hopes of addressing two gaps in scholarship within the field of monster studies. The first part of the volume—running from the medieval to the Early Modern period—focuses upon the view of the monster through non-majority voices and accounts from those who were themselves branded as monsters. Overlapping partially with the Early Modern and proceeding to the present day, the contributions of the second part of the volume attempt to problematize the dichotomy of secular/religious through a close look at the monsters this period has wrought.

Introduction: Ecce Monstra Michael E. Heyes
Part I: Inside the Monster, Looking Out
1. The Woman’s Body, In-Between: The Holy and Monstrous Womb in Medieval Medicine and Religion Minji Lee
2. Miracles and Monsters: Gog and Magog, Alexander the Great, and Antichrist in the Apocalypse of the Catalan Atlas (1375) Thomas S. Franke
3. Dressing Monstrous Men: Landsknechte Clothing in Some Early Modern Danish Church Wall Paintings John Block Friedman
4. Twelfth Night’s “poor monster:” Viola/Cesario as Holy Grotesque Cathleen McKague 5. Grotesques in Sacred Spaces: The Cappella dei Priori and the Cappella del Quartiere di Leone X in the Palazzo Vecchio Susanne Margarit McColeman

Part II: Monstrous Modernity
6. Monstrous Sovereignty and the Corrupt Body Politic in Richard III and The Duchess of Malfi John W. Ellis-Etchison
7. Reform and Romance: Catholic Monstrosity in Antebellum U.S. Fiction AnaMaria Seglie
8. Lovecraft’s Things: Sinister Souvenirs from Other Worlds Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock
9. The Big Bad and the Big “Aha!”: Metamodern Monsters as Transformational Figures of Instability Linda C. Ceriello
10. From Revelation to Revolution: Explaining the Strange Success of Fox’s Sleepy Hollow Michael E. Heyes

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Podcast Interview with Doug Cowan on “America’s Dark Theologian”

0 | November 15th, 2018 | Posted in Douglas Cowan, horror, podcast, religion, Stephen King, theology

Doug Cowan has been a frequent guest here at TheoFantastique discussing his books on science fiction, horror and religion. We are pleased to have him back in a podcast where he discusses his new book America’s Dark Theologian: The Religious Imagination of Stephen King (New York University Press, 2018). Sit back and enjoy our conversation below, and if you’d like to explore other facets of Doug’s work click the links underneath the podcast for our past conversations.

Who are we? Why are we here? Where do we go when we die? For answers to these questions, people often look to religion. But religion is not the only place seekers turn. Myths, legends, and other stories have given us alternative ways to address the fundamental quandaries of existence. Horror stories, in particular, with their focus on questions of violence and mortality, speak urgently to the primal fears embedded in such existential mysteries. With more than fifty novels to his name, and hundreds of millions of copies sold, few writers have spent more time contemplating those fears than Stephen King. Yet despite being one of the most widely read authors of all time, King is woefully understudied. America’s Dark Theologian is the first in-depth investigation into how King treats religion in his horror fiction.

Considering works such as Carrie, The Dead Zone, Misery, The Shining, and many more, Douglas Cowan explores the religious imagery, themes, characters, and, most importantly, questions that haunt Stephen King’s horror stories. Religion and its trappings are found throughout King’s fiction, but what Cowan reveals is a writer skeptical of the certainty of religious belief. Describing himself as a “fallen away” Methodist, King is less concerned with providing answers to our questions, than constantly challenging both those who claim to have answers and the answers they proclaim. Whether he is pondering the existence of other worlds, exploring the origins of religious belief and how it is passed on, probing the nature of the religious experience, or contemplating the existence of God, King invites us to question everything we think we know.

Related posts:

TheoFantastique Podcast 2.1 on The Rite

Douglas Cowan Interview Part 1: Forthcoming Book “Sacred Space”

Douglas Cowan Interview Part 2: Sci-Fi, Transcendence and “Sacred Space”

Douglas Cowan and Sacred Terror: Part 1

Douglas Cowan and Sacred Terror: Part 2

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Book Cover for my forthcoming volume “The Sacred in Fantastic Fandom”

1 | November 8th, 2018 | Posted in fan cultures, fandom, fantasy, religion, sacred, science fiction

The cover design for one of the book projects I’ve been working on for a while. My thanks to the best book cover designers UK has, and my co-editors who came on board when the needs of the book and my life circumstances at the time meant I needed a lot of help to get this volume over the finish line. Coming through McFarland.

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