What role does the figure of the misfit (and related concepts of grotesquerie, gothic, the Other, and the abject) play in global and local cultural studies and theory? Does the role of the misfit arise from new theories, cultural shifts, evolving technologies, and/or recent discoveries? How do recent re-thinkings of the misfit change how we think of culture and theory? Do past mis-fits help us think through the future regarding these issues?

We invite papers and/or presentations that investigate these notions from a variety of perspectives, including American and British literature and culture, Film and Media studies, History, Romance Languages, German and Slavic Languages, Anthropology, Sociology, Fine Arts, Architecture, Music, and Political Science. Abstracts connecting the theme of last year's conference topic, "Souths: Global and Local," with "Theorizing the Misfit" are also welcome (to read last year's cfp, go to the 2001 conference website).

See our call for papers

All events are free and open to the public