We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the international conference organised by the Impresso project (impresso-project.ch) and the History Department of the University of Lausanne (unil.ch/hist), to be held on 27 and 28 January 2025, on the theme ‘Transmedia History: Circulations, Reconfigurations and New Methodologies‘ (deadline for submission: July 15, 2024).

For more information, visit the conference website: https://impresso.github.io/transmedia/  

For the Organising Committee :

Raphaëlle Ruppen Coutaz, History Department, University of Lausanne

François Vallotton, History Department, University of Lausanne

Marten Düring, C²DH, University of Luxembourg

Martin Grandjean, History Department, University of Lausanne

Arthur Michelet, History Department, University of Lausanne

Extended deadline for abstracts: April 14, 2024.

The Local and Community Media Network of MeCCSA is calling for contributions to a one-day symposium looking at the future of local and community media archives. The event will be held at Coventry University, United Kingdom on Friday, June 7, 2024.

While digitisation might be perceived to be making some aspects of local media more readily available, the consolidation of outlets has led to the disposal and destruction of many of the records relating to the outputs, production and significance of local media – including, for instance in the case of newspapers, physical publications and additionally photographs, business records and other associated documentation. This process is amplified by the comparative lack of attention given to local media. 

In some places, alternative organisations are stepping in to preserve collections; this includes community groups who seek to salvage what they consider to be the collective memory of a place. All collectors find themselves faced with the myriad challenges which are associated with preservation.

This symposium seeks to bring together academics, publishers, archival practitioners and community representatives to explore the issues and possible solutions in relation to preserving local media archives across the range of formats, including newspapers, radio, local television and film archives, and alternative publications. 

Themes for exploration might include:

• Locating local media archives
• The physicality of archives – including preservation and accessibility
• The good and the bad of digitisation
• The place of local media archives in the memory of localities
• Community usage and involvement with local media archives  
• Archives and well-being
• Oral history and local archives 
• Practical approaches to dealing with local media archive
• Creative responses to local media archives

The event will be held at the university library (Frederick Lanchester building). It will include the chance to visit the Lanchester Innovation Archive based in the library which documents the life and work of legendary motor designer and inventor Frederick Lanchester.

The symposium organisers welcome submissions for academic papers, panels, workshops and posters.  Abstracts outlining your proposed contribution should be limited to 350 words and should be sent to r.matthews@coventry.ac.uk by Monday, March 11. Please include a brief biography. Outcomes will be communicated in early April. It is also expected that a publication will result from the event.

A fee of £40 will be charged to cover conference costs. A limited number of bursaries will be available to help support attendance by post-graduate students. Please indicate if you would like to be considered for an award.  

Researchers working in the broad field of “Horror Studies” are invited to submit abstracts about their research for an in-person conference, hosted by the Horror Studies Research Group at Northumbria University (UK), on 30-31 May 2024. The event will be free to attend.

Speakers will each deliver a 15-minute talk about their research, followed by extended discussion and questions from the conference delegation. We invite submissions from scholars at any career stage, but we particularly welcome abstracts from early career researchers and new voices in the field. The event is intended to provide a supportive space in which to develop new ideas, network, and forge new collaborations with fellow Horror Studies researchers.

The event seeks to explore ideas and approaches that have not yet been adequately accounted for or represented in the field, encompassing (but not limited to):
– The diversity of perspectives, identities, and voices that comprise Horror Studies and horror production
– Independent horror production, alternative histories, and horror originating from outside of Europe and North America – The field’s methodological richness, including archival research, audience research, practice-based research, and new theoretical approaches
– The breadth of cultural perspectives that inform Horror Studies and horror media
– Horror in all its media forms including games, film, comics, music, social media, television, literature, art, and so forth

We seek to foreground scholarly excellence within the field by embracing a wide range of approaches, confronting representational biases within the canon, highlighting strategies to counter these biases, and contributing to a more diverse and inclusive academic landscape. We encourage and welcome expressions of interest from members of the global majority and people from underrepresented or marginalised groups.
Other events across the two days will include:
– Keynote lectures by Professor Alison Peirse (University of Leeds; editor of 2020’s award-winning anthology, Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre, and the 2024 special issue of MAI, “Doing Women’s Global Horror Film History”) and Dr Kartik Nair (Temple University, Philadelphia; author of 2024’s Seeing Things: Spectral Materialities of Bombay Horror)
– A masterclass about “hidden horror histories”, with Adam Hussam Murray (founder of Bristol Black Horror Club) and Dr Laura Mee (University of Hertfordshire; co-editor of Liverpool University Press’s Hidden Horror Histories book series and author of 2023’s Reanimated: The Contemporary American Horror Remake)
– A publishing workshop with Dr Erin Weigand (interim commissioning editor for Film and Television Studies at Palgrave Macmillan, and recent alum of Northumbria’s Horror Studies Research Group)

To improve access to the event, a small number of travel bursaries (of £150 each) will be available to PhD researchers, independent researchers, and scholars who do not have institutional funding for travel.

The deadline for abstracts (250 words) is 23:59 (GMT) Friday 31 March 2024. Abstracts should be accompanied by a biographical statement (50-100 words). To submit an abstract, please complete the form at the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/cziKBQfJbv
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their proposal within 7 days of the deadline.

Any questions should be directed to horrorstudies@northumbria.ac.uk