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Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

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Early June Newsletter: Our CFP, a Statement from our new Acting President, Area-specific Calls, and More!

This is the early June MAPACA Newsletter. The next conference is November 7-9, 2019 (Pittsburgh, PA).

In this newsletter, we have

  • The CFP for #mapaca19

  • Information about #mapaca19

  • A message from Acting President Dr. Matthew Hill

  • A call from Response

  • Area-specific calls for papers

2019 Call for Papers

Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) 2019 Annual Conference November 7-9, 2019 Pittsburgh, PA — Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel

Call for papers:

Proposals are welcome on all aspects of popular and American culture for inclusion in the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Single papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative formats are welcome.

Proposals should take the form of 300-word abstracts, and may only be submitted to one appropriate area. For a list of areas and area chair contact information, visit mapaca.net/areas. General questions can be directed to mapaca@mapaca.net. The deadline for submission is Sunday, June 30, 2019.

MAPACA’s membership is comprised of college and university faculty, independent scholars and artists, and graduate and undergraduate students. MAPACA is an inclusive professional organization dedicated to the study of popular and American culture in all their multi-disciplinary manifestations. It is a regional division of the Popular Culture and American Culture Association, which, in the words of Popular Culture Association founder Ray Browne, is a “multi-disciplinary association interested in new approaches to the expressions, mass media and all other phenomena of everyday life.”

For more info, visit mapaca.net.

Information about #mapaca19

This year, our conference will be in Pittsburgh, PA on November 7-9 at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel . Book your room with our special conference rate here.

Pittsburgh Information

For information about events and food in Pittsburgh, please see Visit Pittsburgh’s website. Pittsburgh has a lot of great museums and restaurants, offers inexpensive public transport options throughout the region, and is also serviced by Lyft and Uber.

Pittsburgh: Zombie Capital of the World

Since George Romero released Night of the Living Dead in 1968, Pittsburgh has been associated with zombies and zombie fandom. From 1985’s Day of the Dead (shot near Pittsburgh) to 2004’s Shaun of the Dead (shot in the UK) to 2019’s Kingdom (shot in S. Korea), zombies have become a worldwide popular culture phenomenon, but Pittsburghers still claim ownership over the shambling undead. This year, we want you to propose papers and panels with a zombie theme!

If zombies aren’t your favorite, we still want you to bring us your non-zombie themed papers as well! *We will never restrict our conference to just one theme. * A Message from Acting President Dr. Matthew Hill

After over a year of exemplary service as MAPACA President, Dr. Mary Davy Behrman (Kennesaw State University) has stepped down due to a family emergency. The MAPACA Executive Board extends a heartfelt thanks to Dr. Behrman for her time in the President’s chair and hopes to have her back and active in MAPACA soon. For the remainder of 2019, Dr. Matthew Hill (Coppin State University) will serve the organization as Acting President. Dr. Hill has been active in MAPACA since 2006, serving as War Studies Area Chair (2009-present), and MAPACA Executive Secretary (2015-present).

A new MAPACA president will be selected for a full two-year term in November 2019.

Statement from Dr. Hill:

I thank the Executive Board for this opportunity to serve MAPACA, an organization that has been a big part of my academic life over the last 13 years. I hope as Acting President to continue the tradition of excellence and inclusivity that MAPACA represents, and to make our 2019 Conference in Pittsburgh one of our best ever.

Response Call for Submissions

Response is seeking article and feature submissions for the Fall 2019 issue. For consideration, full drafts should be emailed to publications@mapaca.net by June 10th. For more information, check out our full CFP on the Response website here: https://responsejournal.net/cfp.

Area-specific Calls for Papers

In our late April newsletter, we listed calls for the following areas:

  • a joint panel from Music, Native American Studies, Latino/a Studies, and Performance Studies

  • Death in American Culture

  • Novels Then and Now

For more information about these calls, please see https://mapaca.net/newsletter/general/201904251141

In our early May newsletter, we listed calls for the following areas:

  • Medieval Studies

  • Play Studies

For more information about these calls, please see: https://mapaca.net/newsletter/general/201905171418

In our late May newsletter, we listed calls for the following areas:

  • American Studies

For more information about this call, please see https://mapaca.net/newsletter/general/201905312012

Film Studies

This year, because of the unofficial conference theme of “Pittsburgh: Zombie Capital of the World,” we especially welcome proposals about zombie films and Romero’s work, but we are also interested in papers about films that are set in Pittsburgh and/or were shot in Pittsburgh, including such films as: Flashdance, Concussion, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Batman: the Dark Knight Rises; adaptations of Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson (Fences, The Piano Lesson) and of Pittsburgh-based novelist Michael Chabon (The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Wonder Boys); documentaries about Pittsburgh sports legends such as Robert Clemente and Dock Ellis. We would also welcome papers concerning Won’t You Be My Neighbor, the documentary about Pittsburgh icon Fred Rogers. Papers about the films of Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol are also encouraged. Although we are interested in papers in these topics, we welcome papers in all areas of film studies.

If you have any questions about the Film Studies area, you may e-mail co-chairs Jennifer Gagliardi (jgagliardi@sjcny.edu) and Thomas Grochowski (tgrochowski@sjcny.edu).

Food and Beverage

What we choose to eat, when we eat it, with whom we eat it, and how we eat it is influenced by technology, economics, politics, fashion, tradition, religion, and other aspects of culture. Food not only answers our most basic physical needs, but also is central to social ritual and the construction of culture, playing a vital symbolic role in forming societies. And of course, what is food without drink? This area also discusses beverage culture, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. What we eat and how we prepare our meals and beverages helps define our culture as much as it is inspires the culture we share.

For #mapaca19, we are accepting the following types of submissions:

  • Individual papers (15 minutes each as part of a 90 minute panel). Abstracts may be no longer than 300 words. One individual paper submission is permitted.

  • Complete panels (90 minutes, which can include three to four individual papers) should be submitted as individual papers by the presenters. If interested in creating a panel, please submit the following information: the panel title, all presenters in the panel, and the session chair.

  • Ideas for Roundtables on Food & Beverage themes

  • We are also looking for beer enthusiasts to join a Beer Culture panel.

If you have any questions please contact: Meghann Ryan, mryan@email.fielding.edu Robby Roberson, rroberson@ccga.edu

Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA)

P.O. Box 25033 Philadelphia, PA 19147-0033

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