CFP: Sea changes: The fairytale Gothic of mermaids, selkies, and enchanted hybrids of ocean and river
You are invited to submit proposals for papers for the next fabulous Open Graves, Open Minds Project conference:
Venue: The British Library, London, UK (and online) Date: 5–6 September 2025
Mermaids, selkies, and other such hybrid aquatic creatures, especially their global equivalents, facilitate the interaction between humanity and nature (both inner and outer). In their Gothic aspect and engagement with darkness, they may adumbrate a re-enchantment of the disenchanted world (following Weber and Adorno); reconciliation with Otherness; and new relationships with the natural world. We are looking for presentations that look at narratives of merfolk and their kin in the light of their Gothic aspects and that highlight their connection with folklore, dwelling on the enchantment of their strange fluidity. We invite contributors to create a dialogue amidst these sea changes into something rich and strange.
Please see our main page for a more comprehensive declaration.
Topics may include but are not restricted to
Aquatic beings and dis/re-enchantment
Liquid bodies and fluid sexuality
Scottish folklore and its aquatic inhabitants
Tragedy, comedy, and RomCom
The natural world and environmental issues
Global and postcolonial merfolk
Questions of ethics
Musicality and the Siren’s song
Film, TV, and new media
Adaptation of folklore and fiction
YA and children’s literature
Paranormal Romance
The Gothic and the monstrous in the depths
Hybrid bodies and genres
Kelpies and water-bulls, merrows and other less-known creatures of the depths
Relationships with the Other
Borders and shorelines
Animality/culture
The merfolk of medieval Romance
Retellings of ‘The Little Mermaid’
Disneyfication of ‘The Little Mermaid’ and its controversies
Retellings of selkie stories
Blue Humanities and aquatic bodies
Destiny, agency, and biological determinism
Eastern European folklore, fiction, and film
Mami Wata and her kin
Aquatic dissolving of the self
Merfolk and selkie ballads
The mermaid in Victorian poetry and painting
Fake mermaids/sacred objects from the sea
Submission
Abstracts (200–300 words) for twenty-minute papers or proposals for panels, together with a short biography (150 words), should be submitted by 7 February 2025 as an email attachment in MS Word document format to ogomproject@gmail.com
Please prefix the document title with your surname. The abstract should be in the following format: (1) Title (2) Presenter(s) (3) Institutional affiliation (4) Email (5) 5–10 keywords (6) Abstract.
Panel proposals should include (1) Title of the panel (2) Name and contact information of the chair (3) Abstracts of the presenters.
Please state whether you would prefer to present online or in person. Presenters will be notified of acceptance after the deadline has passed in 2025.
There will be an opportunity to submit your paper for our OGOM publications.
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