[Commlist] CFP - Star Wars 50 Years UK Conference

*/Star Wars/ 50 Years in the UK: Pasts, Presents, and Futures.*
*Conference Call for Papers*
The /Star Wars at 50/ /in the UK/ academic conference will be held by 
the University of Leicester and the Leverhulme Centre for Humanity and 
Space at The National Space Park (Leicester, UK) on 21-22 May 2027 in 
anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the original release of the film 
on 25 May 1977 in the U.S. We are now inviting proposals for conference 
presentations.
Conference Organisers:
Xiyuan (Samantha) Gao, PhD Candidate - Conference Director
Dr David Christopher - Conference Co-Director
Dr James Aitcheson - Leverhulme Centre Partner
Dr Tara Smith - Leverhulme Centre Partner
Helen Bruce, PhD Candidate - Director, Festival of Media Stories
Conference Website: 
*_https://le.ac.uk/media/research/star-wars-50-years_* 
<https://le.ac.uk/media/research/star-wars-50-years>
/Star Wars: A New Hope/ was first released in the United States on 25 
May 1977, inaugurating a screen franchise whose cultural, industrial, 
and imaginative afterlives now span half a century. The /Star Wars 50 
Years/ Conference will mark the anniversary by bringing together 
scholars, researchers, practitioners, archivists, and fans at the 
Leverhulme Centre for Humanity and Space in Leicester contiguous with 
The National Space Centre. The Centre hosts numerous /Star Wars/-themed 
public events throughout the year, and we will be excited to follow 
their developing programme with an eye to connecting their events and 
screenings to the conference.
Leicester and Leicestershire occupy a distinctive place in the history 
of /Star Wars/ in the UK. Leicestershire was home to Palitoy, the toy 
company that held the coveted manufacturing contract in the UK during 
the original trilogy era. Palitoy’s /Star Wars/ figures, vehicles, 
packaging, and playsets remain central to British collecting cultures 
and to the material memory of the franchise, linking Leicestershire to 
the commercial and affective history of /Star Wars/ childhoods, fandom, 
and merchandising. Indeed, Matt Holt’s upcoming documentary /In a 
Landfill Far, Far Away/ (Spoon Jar Films) seeks to discover the 
so-called ‘lost toys’ from the Palitoy factory putatively buried 
somewhere in Leicestershire which is sure to create a scholarly buzz: 
_https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3p07gjge2o_ 
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3p07gjge2o>.
Leicestershire’s connection to the franchise is also embodied in 
personnel history. The late Jeremy Bulloch, born in Market Harborough, 
was the first actor to perform Boba Fett in /The Empire Strikes 
Back/ and /Return of the Jedi/, helping to create one of the most 
enduring and enigmatic figures in /Star Wars/. His association with Boba 
Fett further situates Leicestershire within the lived and performed 
history of /Star Wars/, extending the county’s relevance beyond 
merchandising and into questions of screen performance, character 
embodiment, cult stardom, and fan memory. Gareth Edwards, director of 
/Rogue One/ also calls Nuneaton home. More broadly, the franchise has 
launched or fostered the careers of myriad British performers from Sir 
Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing though to John Boyega, Felicity Jones, 
and Daisy Ridley. And so much of Lucas’s production efforts were located 
at various studios and locations across the UK including locations in 
Leicestershire.
/Star Wars 50/ /Years/ invites contributors to reflect on the 
franchise’s pasts, presents, and futures, especially with regard to the 
participation of UK production inputs or international franchise 
phenomena, but not necessarily limited by this parameter as such. The 
conference welcomes papers on /Star Wars/ across film, television, 
animation, games, publishing, merchandising, fan communities, transmedia 
storytelling, race, gender, class, politics, technology, nostalgia, and 
global reception, etc. By gathering in Leicester, the conference asks 
not only what /Star Wars/ has meant over the past fifty years, but also 
how particular places, objects, performances, institutions, and 
communities have shaped the franchise’s meanings across the UK and beyond.
*Topics of Interest*
We welcome papers on, but not limited to, the following research topics:

  * /Star Wars/ histories, legacies, and cultural memory.
  * Directors, writers, producers, showrunners, designers, performers,
    and other creative workers across the franchise.
  * /Star Wars/ and transmedia storytelling across film, television,
    animation, novels, comics, games, audio, toys, and digital platforms.
  * Expanded universes, canon, continuity, retconning, and the
    relationship between Legends and Disney-era canon.
  * /Star Wars/ television and Disney+ distribution.
  * /Star Wars/ animation (/The Clone Wars/, /Rebels/, and more recent
    animated projects).
  * /Star Wars/ games, interactive storytelling, virtual worlds, and
    player agency.
  * Ethnicity, class, disability, age, and embodiment in /Star Wars/.
  * Feminism, female characters, creators, audiences, and female-led fan
    practices.
  * Masculinity, fatherhood, family, lineage, inheritance, and dynastic
    storytelling.
  * Queer readings, slash fandom, transformative works, and alternative
    affective attachments.
  * Stardom, performance, voice acting, physical performance, puppetry,
    motion capture, and creature performance.
  * Practical effects, digital effects, CGI, sound design, editing, and
    the aesthetics of technological change.
  * John Williams, musical themes, soundscapes, voice, and sonic memory.
  * Merchandising, toys, collecting, licensing, branding, and commercial
    culture.
  * Museums, exhibitions, archives, private collections, fan
    collections, and the preservation of /Star Wars/ objects.
  * Global /Star Wars/: international reception, translation, dubbing,
    subtitling, censorship, distribution, and localisation.
  * Fandom, fanfiction, fan art, cosplay, fan films, podcasts,
    conventions, online communities, and platform cultures.
  * Fan controversy, anti-fandom, canon disputes, toxicity, moderation,
    inclusion, and community governance.
  * Nostalgia, childhood, memory, intergenerational spectatorship,
    collecting, and affect.
  * Science, space travel, astronomy, robotics, artificial intelligence,
    and the relationship between /Star Wars/ and public science 
imagination.
  * Theme parks, immersive experiences, live events, exhibitions,
    tourism, and commercialised fan participation.
  * Archives, lost materials, production histories, oral histories,
    memory work, and fan-led preservation.
  * The future of /Star Wars/: franchise fatigue, renewal, legacy, and
    new audiences.

The conference is scheduled to be on-site and in-person. The submission 
of remote presentation proposals will be considered only under specific 
mitigating circumstances.

*Submission Details*
*Individual Papers*
The individual proposal shall include the following information, all in 
the same document:

  * A title.
  * An abstract (maximum 300 words) for a 15-20-minute presentation.
  * Speaker’s short biography (maximum 150 words), including affiliation.
  * Speaker’s email address.

*Pre-constituted Panels*
The panel proposal shall include the following information, all in the 
same document:

  * A panel title.
  * All individual abstracts (maximum 300 words each).
  * All speakers’ short biographies (maximum 150 words each), including
    their affiliation and email address.
  * If you wish to designate a panel chair, please indicate this in the
    panel proposal.  Otherwise, the committee will assign one for you.

To submit, please email your proposal as an attachment (Word file 
preferred) to *(_sw-conf-50 /at/ leicester.ac).uk_* 
<mailto:(sw-conf-50 /at/ leicester.ac.uk)> by 1-November-2026. Please clearly 
state in the email subject either “Star Wars at 50 individual proposal” 
or “Star Wars at 50 panel proposal”.
Notification of accepted papers and panel proposals will be returned on 
or before 31-January-2027.
*Conference Address*
Space Park Leicester, SPACE CITY, UK
92 Corporation Rd., Leicester, LE4 5NS
*Contact*
If you have any queries regarding the conference, please email contact 
conference director Xiyuan Gao ((_xg92 /at/ leicester.ac).uk_ 
<mailto:(xg92 /at/ leicester.ac.uk)>) or co-director Dr David Christopher 
((_dc435 /at/ leicester.ac).uk_ <mailto:(dc435 /at/ leicester.ac.uk)>).
General enquires: *(_sw-conf-50 /at/ leicester.ac).uk_* 
<mailto:(sw-conf-50 /at/ leicester.ac.uk)>

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