33rd Annual Conference of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association
Feb. 8-11, 2012
Hyatt Regency Hotel & Conference Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico

SW/TX PCA/ACA invites scholars to submit papers to the inaugural session of the Harry Potter Studies Area for the 2012 conference. The Harry Potter Studies Area is an interdisciplinary/cross-disciplinary field that focuses on both the novel and filmic versions of J.K. Rowling’s work.

Papers may address the work as a whole, specific characters, themes, relationships, social and/or cultural implications, individual texts within the series, etc.

Paper and/or panel proposals are welcomed. Any and all types of scholars, including independent scholars, graduate students, non-tenured, tenure-track, tenured and emeritus faculty are encouraged to submit. The Harry Potter Studies Area aims to emphasize a diversity of scholarship opportunities and is open to innovation in approach to research about the Potterverse. Networking among Potter scholars with an eye toward post-conference collaboration and publication is a key goal of the Harry Potter Studies Area.

For individual paper proposals, please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to the official SW/TX PCA/ACA database at http://conference2012.swtxpca.org. Please include full contact information (name, any institutional affiliation, snail mail and email addresses, and a phone number) for each author of the paper. Please also include a biographical note about each author in lieu of a full CV.

For panel proposals, please feel free to send an initial query email, or to propose the panel directly. Please include all of the information requested for an individual paper proposal for each member of the panel, as well as a working title for the panel and an additional description of no more than 300 words explaining the purpose/theme of the panel. Additionally, you will be required to submit all of the papers for the panel to the official database at http://conference2012.swtxpca.org.

Please submit all questions to Dr. Christopher Bell (cbell3@uccs.edu), chair of the Harry Potter Studies Area. All proposals must be submitted to the database by December 1, 2011. Proposals sent to the chair via email will be returned and you will be asked to submit via the database. Information on the SW/TX PCA/ACA and the conference can be accessed at http://swtxpca.org/index.html.

Feel free to distribute this call to any and all relevant parties and/or listservs.