CFP - Pippi to Ripley 4: Sex and Gender in Children’s Literature, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Comics

Pippi to Ripley 4: Sex and Gender in Children’s Literature, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Comics
Ithaca College, April 21-22, 2017
Keynote: SAMMUS performs her acclaimed nerdcore hip-hop and talks about race, geekdom, and feminism
Special guest: Breakout YA author LJ Alonge, author of The Blacktop series of YA novels

Pippi to Ripley 4 is an interdisciplinary conference with a focus on women and gender in imaginative fiction. We invite papers devoted to fictional characters in all media, including: comics, films, television, and video games as well as in folklore, mythology, and children's and young adult literature. This year’s conference includes a special focus on Fan Intersectionality: Race, Gender and Sexuality in Fan Communities.

But we also welcome paper proposals on all aspects of female/gender queer representation within an imaginative context, including but not limited to:

• Young female and queer characters, especially in media for young adults and children (The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Song of the Lioness, His Dark Materials, The Runaways, Power Pack)
• Women and their place in futuristic or other worlds (Dystopic Fiction, Classic Science Fiction, Fantasy Worlds, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Babylon 5, Firefly)
• Female and queer protagonists in urban fantasy and paranormal romance (Buffy, Anita Blake, Sookie Stackhouse, Clary Fray)
• Gender politics after the apocalypse (Revolution, Falling Skies, Oryx and Crake, Y: The Last Man)
• Teaching imaginative fictive/offering imaginative fiction-based programming at all levels (Buffy-based courses; graphic novel units, YA dystopias, children's fantasy)
• Female and queer characters in updated/adapted fairy tales (Once Upon a Time, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Snow White and the Huntsman, Grimm)
• The women of superhero films/television with a special focus on differently abled and gender non-conforming characters (Jessica Jones, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agents of SHIELD)
• Female-focused comic book series (Ms. Marvel, Wonder Woman, Pretty Deadly, Rocket Girl)
• Horrific women and women in horror (American Horror Story, Lamia, Carrie, Mama)
• Science fiction and reproductive body horror (Alien franchise, Twilight, Bloodchild)
• Cyberpunk and the redefinition of gender (William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Charles Stross)

Please send a 300-500 word abstract by February 15, 2017, to Katharine Kittredge, Ithaca College, Department of English, kkittredge@ithaca.edu.