[Commlist] Popular Culture Association (PCA): Health, Humanities, and Popular Culture 2027 Conference

Popular Culture Association (PCA): Health, Humanities, and Popular 
Culture 2027 Conference, Boston, USA, March 24-27 2027 CFP
DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS 31ST OCTOBER 2026

Travel Grant Applications due 15th November

The mission of the Popular Culture Association is to promote the 
appreciation and study of popular culture, as well as to advance 
rigorous, interdisciplinary research that illuminates the complexity, 
significance, and impact of popular culture across time and around the 
globe. We welcome and amplify voices from diverse backgrounds, 
disciplines, and perspectives by creating spaces—both physical and 
virtual—for scholars, educators, creators, and enthusiasts to connect, 
share ideas, and engage in meaningful dialogue about popular culture.

The Health, Humanities, and Popular Culture Area is excited to receive 
proposals for the 2027 Popular Culture and American Culture Association 
Conference in Boston, USA, March 24-27 2027. Proposal topics should fall 
within the realm of how health is represented in popular culture through 
the humanities lens (art, books, comics, journalism and news, cinema, 
music, theatre, television, etc…). We are interested in receiving papers 
linked to various related Health issues: drugs or narcotics and popular 
fiction; vaccinations and popular culture; mental health care and the 
humanities; and clinical care and the arts.
For the 2027 conference we are particularly interested again in 
examining relationships between health and 
sustainability/biodiversity/climate change in media and popular culture. 
The WHO (2023) argued that:

•	“Research shows that 3.6 billion people already live in areas highly 
susceptible to climate change. Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is 
expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from 
undernutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone.
•	The direct damage costs to health (excluding costs in 
health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation) 
is estimated to be between US$ 2–4 billion per year by 2030.
•	Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries 
– will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.
•	Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food 
and energy use choices can result in very large gains for health, 
particularly through reduced air pollution”. (WHO, 2023: 
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health)

We therefore invite papers that discuss the key role of communications 
and media in representing the sustainability/biodiversity/climate change 
threat demonstrating ways in which its significance are presented or, 
alternatively, ways in which denial are discussed in popular cultural 
forms. What are the likely ways in which communications can shape our 
understanding of this important economic, political and social issue?

Proposals should be 250-300 words and exhibit a clear connection between 
health and popular culture. Submission from current paid members will be 
accepted through the PCA website. Deadline is 31st October 2026.
https://sites.google.com/view/2026pcaconference/call-for-papers
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