PopMeC is a recently founded academic collective interested in investigating the articulation of

the numerous and heterogeneous representations which have been constructing images of the

US. Our research delves into how the US—their history, society, and diverse cultures—have been

represented in popular media and cultural creations. Thanks to the pervasiveness of popular

culture in everyday life, its products embody a fundamental driving force in forging the collective

imaginary of both national and foreign publics. The timely construction, consolidation, and

intrinsic political potential of popular representations—myths, symbols, images, and signs—has

undeniably facilitated the shaping of identities, discourses, and communities. The diversity and

peculiarities of the American society can therefore be traced through the analysis of popular

culture and multimodal cultural expressions, conveyed by means such as film, comics and

graphic novels, TV and web series, videogames, books, and whatnot.

Our chosen channel to directly share research is the academic blog popmec.hypotheses.org, part

of our PopMeC research project based @ Instituto Franklin–UAH (Alcalá de Henares), the leading

Spanish institution in North American Studies.

PopMeC aims at providing a collaborative, engaging, and fair environment for any interested

scholar, promoting the sharing of knowledge, experience, and ideas across disciplines and

thematic fields. We’re also working to foster a stimulating space for early career researchers and

postgraduate students in North American studies, thus we’ll warmly welcome their proposals.

The conference will approach popular media and culture products—as well as their publics and

reception—from an intersectional, multidisciplinary standpoint and a diverse range of perspectives.

We’re looking for engaging, fresh, interesting papers acknowledging and exploring a variety

of images and narratives, their configurations and aims, as well as examining the intersectional

connections between identities, politics, and history, traceable in and across cultural products.

We welcome proposals for 20 min individual papers or panels constituted of three papers, on

topics including (but not limited to):

> the representation of specific ethnic / religious / gender / etc. groups in the US popular

media and culture (including mainstream, alternative, and self-representations)

> the articulation of American national ethos, myths, symbols and heroes

> public history and the representation of US history for the non-specialized public

> the reception of popular culture products and their publics

> comparative studies of contrasting / similar representations

> the US society as represented through humor, caricature, and satire

> deconstruction of national storytelling and stereotyped narratives

Please, send your proposal by April 5, 2020 to popmec.call@gmail.com attaching your abstract

(200-250 words), inclusive of a short bio (100-120 words), name, affiliation, and email contact in a

single file. All proposals (unless differently specified by the author) will be considered for both

presentation in the conference and publication on the academic blog. Feel free to check our

author guidelines page and to contact us for further information.

The languages of the conference will be English and Spanish. Nonetheless, we strongly recommend

limiting the use of Spanish coherently with your chosen topic.

Registration fee:

> Full 45€ for waged scholars

> Reduced 15€ for unwaged scholars (e.g. postgraduate students, independent researchers)

[Coffee breaks and light lunch will be provided]

Key dates:

> April 5 deadline for proposals

> April 14 notification of acceptation and opening of registration

[We plan on doing a first round of evaluations by March 8 so that if your proposal needs a little

retouching, we let you know and you can still resubmit it!]

Further details on keynote speakers, venue and registration will be provided shortly.

Organizing committee @ Instituto Franklin–UAH:

> Daniel Bustillo

> Carlos Herrero

> Anna Marta Marini

> Joaquín Saravia