[Commlist] CFP: Outlander Conference Glasgow 2023

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

**

*/Outlander /**Conference Glasgow 2023*

**

*University of Glasgow, 18-22 July 2023*

Plenary speakers:

Professor Murray Pittock, Bradley Professor and Pro Vice-Principal, 
University of Glasgow, ‘History and Memory at Culloden’

/Additional Speakers TBC/

/Outlander/(Starz, 2014-) is a major US television series based on the 
historical fantasy novels of Diana Gabaldon, combining time travel with 
18th-century Scottish politics and post-war British and American 
culture. The globally successful series has triggered more interest in 
Scotland and its history than any other cultural artefact in recent 
years. Interest continues to grow as /Outlander/ moves into its seventh 
season, alongside the announcement of the prequel /Outlander: Blood of 
My Blood/, which is currently in development.

While hundreds of fan-based gatherings and interest groups around the 
world promote and encourage /Outlander/ fandom, and thousands of media 
articles ponder its reach and appeal, there has not yet been an event 
which takes an academic approach to the series and brings together the 
multiple areas of expertise involved in its creation. The University of 
Glasgow plans to do just this: it will host a major international 
/Outlander /conference in July 2023 which will offer the chance to 
discuss the elements that make up this remarkable phenomenon.

Scotland is the main focus of the series, and not just the rural 
Scotland of tourist brochures with castles, islands, lochs and 
mountains, but towns and cities also play a part, and none more notably 
than Glasgow. The /Outlander/ Conference Glasgow 2023 will take place in 
Scotland’s biggest city that has become a focal point for /Outlander/ 
and the themes it develops: Glasgow Cathedral, St Andrews in the Square 
and George Square have all been used as locations for key scenes, while 
West End streets and Kelvingrove Park stand in for Boston.

The University of Glasgow also has a unique place in /Outlander/: it 
doubles as Harvard in the series, and several academics from a range of 
disciplines have been directly involved in the production as 
researchers, advisors and even cast members. There is a vast range of 
research and consultation involved in the making of the series, and an 
equally diverse array of potential areas for future exploration as we 
seek to build /Outlander/ Studies as an interdisciplinary field.

/Outlander/establishes new perspectives on a wide range of topics. As 
yet, scholarship has focused on literary and screen tourism (Clarke 
2015, Herrero-Bas 2018, Cateridge 2018, Potočnik Topler and Špenko 2019, 
Garrison and Wallace 2021); race, disability, gender, sexuality and 
sexual violence (Frankel 2016, Donelan 2018, Lagerwey 2018, Nagouse 
2019, Byrne and Taddeo 2019, 2022); media distribution, transnationalism 
and the Scottish diaspora (Shacklock 2016, Noorda 2018); temporality, 
liminality, medicine and witchcraft (Pagnoni Berns and Acosta Lando 
2016, Potter 2019, Greenberg and Fraser 2020, Fogel and Serenity 2022); 
Culloden, Wounded Knee and colonial-era artefacts (Solis 2016, Rivers 
Cofield and Schaffer 2019); and fans and fandom (Frankel 2016, Garrison 
2020).

The /Outlander/ Conference Glasgow 2023 intends to build on this and be 
an inclusive showcase of exciting research and diverse contributions 
from all academic disciplines. We are seeking submissions on all themes 
relating to /Outlander/, including the topics presented below:

  * Scotland and the world
  * Scottish culture, music, clans
  * Celtic and Gaelic Studies
  * Politics, nationalism, independence
  * Jacobitism, unionism and the monarchy
  * Empire, colonialism and slavery
  * Migration and diaspora
  * Franco-Scottish relations
  * Native American / First Nation Studies
  * Cultural impact and legacy of the series
  * Texts, theory and production
  * Genre, historical fiction, fantasy, romance and melodrama
  * Adaptation, narrative and authorship
  * Screen and literary tourism
  * Space and time, representations of place, temporalities
  * Feminism and women’s studies
  * Race, sexuality and disability
  * Transnational media flow, production, distribution, creative labour
  * Audiences, fandom, convergence culture, readership, fan fiction
  * Folklore, storytelling, song, poetry
  * Material culture
  * Textiles, costumes, fashion
  * Investigations into the past
  * Archaeology
  * Ancestry and genealogy
  * Memory studies
  * 18th-century culture and everyday life
  * Medicine, herbalism, nursing, surgery
  * Warfare, military history, weaponry, battlefield archaeology, Culloden
  * Travel, shipboard narratives, voyages

All sessions will be *1 hour duration* and we invite proposals for 
individual papers, pre-constituted panels and roundtables, alongside 
more creative approaches that address the themes listed above.

*Submission Guidelines: *

Please send proposals to (outlanderconference /at/ glasgow.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(outlanderconference /at/ glasgow.ac.uk)>by *15 December 2022*.

*Individual papers:*Please send an abstract (200 words max), short bio 
and contact information. Co-authored papers are welcome and papers 
should be 10-12 mins max to allow time for Q&A.

*Panels:*Panel coordinators should provide a 100 word rationale for the 
pre-constituted panel along with 200 word abstracts, short bios and 
contact information for each panel participant (3-4 papers max). We 
encourage panels that include a diversity of experience levels and 
affiliations.

*Roundtables:*Convenors should propose a question (50 words) and solicit 
brief responses (100 words max) from 5-7 respondents. Please include 
short bios and contact information for the convenor and each participant.

We cordially invite you to participate in the /Outlander /Conference 
Glasgow 2023, which will generate vibrant interdisciplinary discussions 
around this influential TV production and promises to be a highly 
popular event.

Professor Willy Maley (English Literature) and Dr Lisa Kelly (Film and 
TV Studies) on behalf of the /Outlander /Conference Committee


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