Saturday, December 24, 2011

Joy to the World: Popular Culture Associations Go Global


In the first issue of the Australasian Journal of Popular Culture Toni Johnson-Woods and Vicki Karaminas write that
Our interest in establishing a popular culture association and publishing an affiliated journal was generated by an encounter on a cool San Francisco day in Easter 2008. In a boardroom of the Marriott Hotel, a dozen people sat around an executive desk listening to John Bratzel, the Executive Director of the Popular/American Culture Associations (PCA/ACA). John talked about the PCA’s wish to spread the study and understanding of popular culture globally by setting up affiliated organizations around the world. He asked if we would like to start an Australasian popular culture association. His question was met with a flurry of enthusiasm, and we all agreed that a popular culture association is exactly what Australia and New Zealand needed. (3)
The Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (PopCAANZ) held its first conference in 2010.

Canadian scholars of popular culture have followed suit: the Popular Culture Association of Canada (PCAC or “canpop”) held its first conference in May 2011 and a Canadian Journal of Popular Culture will be forthcoming in 2012,
devoted to the scholarly understanding of popular culture in its broadest sense, encompassing non-mass-mediated as well as mass-mediated forms, texts and practices, both historical and contemporary. While encouraging submissions in all areas of popular culture, the journal will be particularly receptive to articles that focus on Canadian examples, or on broader comparative and theoretical questions viewed through a Canadian lens.
The "The East Asian Popular Culture Association (EAPCA), the newest branch of the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association (PCA / ACA)" held its first conference in September 2011.


European scholars of popular culture have decided that a popular culture association is exactly what Europe needs too, hence the following
CALL FOR PAPERS: EUPOP 2012

Inaugural Conference of the European Popular Culture Association
11-13 July 2012
London College of Fashion
University of the Arts
London

Individual paper and panel contributions are invited for the inaugural conference of the European Popular Culture Association (EPCA).
EUPOP 2012 will explore European popular culture in all its different forms This might include European Film (past and present), Television, Music, Celebrity, The Body, Fashion, New Media, Comics, Popular Literature, Sport, Heritage and Curation. And more - we’ll be guided by the submissions.
Closing Date for this call: 18th FEBRUARY 2012

This conference will launch the European Popular Culture Association. There will be opportunities for networking and for developing caucus groups within the EPCA. Presenters at EUPOP 2012 will be encouraged to develop their papers for publication in a number of Intellect journals, including the new Journal of European Popular Culture, the journal of the EPCA, other film journals including Film, Fashion and Consumption, and various music journals.

Papers and Complete Panels for all strands should be submitted to the email contact below. Paper/panel submissions will be as always subject to peer review:
Submit paper or panel proposals* to: europop@arts.ac.uk
• The same address should be used for general administrative queries

- The European Popular Culture Association –
The European Popular Culture Association (EPCA) promotes the study of popular culture from, in, and about Europe. Popular culture involves a wide range of activities, outcomes and audiences; EPCA aims to examine and discuss these different activities as they relate both to Europe, and to Europeans across the globe, whether contemporary or historical.

CLOSING DATE FOR THIS CALL: FEBRUARY 18th 2012

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  • Johnson-Woods, Toni and Vicki Karaminas, V. "Letter from the Editors." Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 1.1 (2012): 3–6.

2 comments:

  1. The Popular Culture Association of Canada holds its conference in Niagara Falls, and their CFP deadline is coming up soon. Might be of interest:

    2012 Call for Papers
    CFP: Popular Culture Association of Canada (PCAC)

    2nd Annual Conference, May 10th-12th, 2012

    The 2nd Annual Conference of the Popular Culture Association of Canada will be held at the Sheraton on the Falls Hotel, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

    We invite proposals for papers and/or panels on theories of popular culture, research methods in popular culture, the teaching of popular culture, and any epiphenomena of popular culture, past or present.

    Our broad definition of popular culture encompasses communicative texts, practices and experiences, mediated and unmediated, contemporary and historical, Canadian and non-Canadian (including the local and the global).

    We share an interdisciplinary vision of this Association. We are particularly interested in featuring papers from scholars and/or producers and practitioners of popular cultural phenomena from the humanities, the arts, and the sciences.

    To that end, we are interested in continuing to promote work in:

    Film & Television
    Cultural History
    Music
    Race, Gender, Class & Ability Studies
    Theatre
    Media
    Communication
    Queer Studies
    We also seek to broaden the scope of our conversations by encouraging and promoting panels that draw from fields frequently under-represented in Popular Culture Conferences such as (but certainly not limited to):

    Medieval & Early Modern Texts
    Popular Environmentalism(s)
    Science in/as Popular Culture
    Food and Beverage Cultures
    Non-mass Mediated Entertainment
    Sport & Game Studies
    Politics in/of Popular Culture
    Tourism Industries and Theory
    Single paper proposals should consist of a title, an abstract of no more than 200 words, and a list of keywords or key phrases (maximum 5), and should be accompanied by a brief biographical note of 100 words or less. Panel proposals should include all of the above information for each presenter, plus a proposed title for the panel and a brief rationale. For more information visit us at www.canpop.ca.

    The deadline for proposals is January 15, 2012. The conference organizers will endeavour to contact all potential participants by mid-February, 2012.

    Please send proposals (or any press/media inquiries) to the conference co-chairs: conference@canpop.ca

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