See and Be Seen: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Storytelling and Identity in Popular Culture

Call for Papers 

 

See and Be Seen: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Storytelling and Identity in Popular Culture 

 

Popular Culture Research Centre, 

Auckland University of Technology 

13-14 September 2022 

 

Keynote Speakers 

Professor Katie Ellis (Curtin University) 

Professor Lorna Piatti-Farnell (Auckland University of Technology) 

The Popular Culture Research Centre (Auckland University of Technology) welcomes papers for its upcoming interdisciplinary conference on the theme of ‘storytelling and identity’ in popular culture. The conference will be a hybrid event (allowing for both in-person and online presentations), and will be held in Auckland, New Zealand.  

 

Practices of storytelling are at the centre of the ways in which popular culture disseminates information. In our Twenty-first century context, we tell stories through the foods we eat, the images we share, the people we follow on social media, the shows we watch, and the music we listen to. From film to television, from Twitter accounts to the latest fandom trend, popular culture provides us with channels through which our narratives of the everyday can transform from immaterial notions to very material and tangible objects of consumption. At the centre of our ways of storytelling lies the formation of our identities. Popular culture is privileged in its ability to both reflect and influence the way we live, how we see ourselves, and how we want to be seen by others. As an event, ‘See and Be Seen’ responds to the important and multifaceted part played by storytelling in popular culture.   

 

The conference invites abstracts for presentations related to the general theme of ‘storytelling and identity’ in popular culture. Topics can include, but are not limited to: 

  • Fictional narratives (from film to literature, television, comics, and beyond) 
  • Popular genres and media 
  • Social and online media 
  • Sharing cultures and cult followings 
  • Fandom and celebrity 
  • Popular icons (from superheroes to Taylor Swift, and beyond)
  • Trends and fads 
  • Depicting ‘reality’ in popular media and culture 
  • Biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs 
  • Practices of remaking and re-adaptation 
  • Fashion, design, and culture 
  • Aesthetics and desire 
  • Food cultures, histories, and representations 
  • All matters of taste 
  • Cuisine and identity 
  • Gender identities and politics 
  • Sex and sexualities 
  • Family matters (including functions and disjunctions) 
  • Spirituality and religion 
  • Matters of life and death 
  • Gothic and horror (in all their guises, as related to storytelling and identity) 
  • Memory, remembering, and mis/remembering 
  • Popular performances 
  • Environmental matters 
  • Stories of love and romance  
  • Popular culture and the news 
  • Authenticity and accuracy 
  • Consumerism and (im)materiality 
  • Race, ethnicity, and Indigenous discourses 
  • Heritage and historiography 
  • National politics and identities  
  • Global vs local narratives and identities 

 

Abstracts (of around 250 words) should include your name, affiliation, e-mail address, the title of your proposed paper, and a short bio (100 words max). Please email abstracts to the attention of the conference organisers at: pop.centre@aut.ac.nz 

The deadline for submissions is 1 June 2022.