CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS ON GEEK CULTURE

The second annual Geek/Art CONfluence, a one-day online comic con taking place through the School of Art at Syracuse University, is accepting proposals from both FACULTY/PROFESSIONALS and STUDENTS (grad and undergrad) on GEEK CULTURE-RELATED topics.

GEEK CULTURE includes comics/manga; sci-fi and fantasy books, magazines, and movies; cartoons and animation; gaming; fan culture such as cosplay and zines; and related topics.

In addition to the general geek culture call, we are also specifically creating a track for DISABILITY-RELATED GEEK CULTURE. Presentations and activities on this topic will be grouped together in clusters throughout the day. This track is connected explicitly with “Cripping” the Comic Con (aka “CripCon”), which began at Syracuse University in 2013. Questions about “CripCon” can be directed to cripcon@gmail.com.

Geek/Art CONfluence will take place over the course of a day on March 20, 2021.

There will be multiple Zoom meetings going on simultaneously–some for academic-style presentations, such as we are asking for here, and others during which people give cosplay or drawing demos, play games, have open chat rooms about comics, have a cosplay contest, etc. These Zoom sessions will be open to anyone, for free. People can pop in and out of them, as they wish.

We hope to have multiple hour-long time slots connected to academic presentations, some being faculty and professional presentations and some being student presentations. Presentations should be 15 minutes or less.

If you would like to submit a presentation proposal, please email Associate Professor Chris Wildrick at cwildric@syr.edu. Your submission should be 300 words or less and should summarize your intended topic. Please feel free to include links to provide contextual information. Please also provide a brief bio with your submission.

If you are interested in participating by doing something other than a presentation, such as a demo or activity, you can also send in a proposal for that. In addition to the Zoom sessions, we also have a standard website with the capacity to host images, text, and video. If you want to make something for people to look at or download on their own time, that is also an option. Please provide brief textual descriptions to accompany any visual content shared, and please caption any videos. If you need assistance, please indicate this request in your submission.

We will start reviewing proposals by February 1. Proposals will still be accepted after that point, but the available slots may be filled.

Please feel free to share this Call for Submissions with colleagues and students. We are happy to review submissions from people both in and out of academia.

Questions in general? Email Chris Wildrick at cwildric@syr.edu.

Questions about the Disabilities track? Email Diane Wiener at dwiener@law.syr.edu or Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri at razubal@law.syr.edu.