Revered as “givers of life,” bio-genealogical mothers occupy an important role in our world, often seen as the key to ensuring the ongoing survival of the human race. Though the bond between mother and child is commonly celebrated as sacred, cultural attitudes towards non-bio-genealogical parenting and child-rearing are often seen as inferior to the biological, nuclear family. At its worst, non-bio-genealogical and/or traditional families are condemned as threatening “traditional” family values, labelled as dangerous or “bad” for the children, “having an agenda,” or marked as deviant, perverse, or evil.

Queer theorists have criticized the ways heteronormativity, the nuclear family, and cultural pressures for citizens to reproduce, re-enforce oppressive systems including patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism, heteronormativity and white supremacy. Therefore, our second annual conference on Bad Mothers aims to transcend beyond traditional and oversimplified understandings of motherhood, mothering, and child-rearing as purely bio-genealogical and hetero- and cis-normative. In doing so, we invite discussions on all forms of non-traditional parenting that may be constituted as “bad” or threatening to society to examine how queerness, fostering, adoption, surrogacy, and all forms of non-nuclear family child-rearing are pathologized as threatening and “bad.”

The purpose of Bad Mothers is not, in essence, to criticize or condemn certain types of motherhood, biological or not. Rather, we wish to look beyond the oversimplified cultural attitudes and expectations of motherhood to examine, question, and analyse the pathologizing and demonization of queer, non-heteronormative, and/or non-bio-genealogical family and parenting. In doing so we wish to examine alternative forms of mothering and parenting that imagine queer futures of family, parenting, and community building.

In recognition on of the fundamentally interdisciplinary nature of motherhood, parenting, and the family, the Bad Mothers event seeks to provide a platform for participants to explore this multi-faceted topic with a view to forming a range of innovative interdisciplinary outputs, publications, courses and other materials and activities to engender further research and collaboration.

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Few things capture the human imagination as much as evil, a notoriously slippery concept that enjoys universal recognition yet defies easy definition. As a term which is frequently used in relation to people who commit appalling crimes, it provides a useful means of describing unimaginable wickedness and is bandied about in popular culture – particularly by the tabloid press – as a way of explaining behaviours which defy belief. Evil is something ‘more than’ doing something morally wrong, ‘more than’ simply committing a crime, ‘more than’ an act of senseless slaughter. Defining that ‘more than’ is difficult: it is precisely this elusive quality which seems to make an act, or a person, evil.

In many cultures, women have been long suspected as the source of sundry human miseries, however basic to society they may be. While ideals of purity and dedication to family have been exalted and feminine beauty lauded, women have been viewed as embodying sinister forces of evil. Mistrusted as seductive and beguiling, women are often thought of as vengeful, manipulative and even malevolent. In grappling with our understanding of what it is to be ‘evil’, the project aims to shine a spotlight on this dark area of the human condition and explore the possible sources of the fear and resentment of women. Women are not expected to behave in aberrant or illegal ways, and we will consider the structural and systemic reasons for the heightened interest, repulsion, condemnation – and even hatred – that feminine transgression generates. Women are condemned not only for what they do but also for what they fail to do; those who harbour, lie for and couple with nefarious men are seen to have failed in their duty as gatekeepers of male morality. Where women themselves are accused of evil they are often judged more harshly than their male counterparts, as evil acts committed by women are seen to transgress not just legal and moral boundaries but also those imposed by gender.

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Horror pervades our lives. The emotional experiences based on fear and dread it provides affect us both individually and collectively, and the fascination it exerts is undeniable and ancient, as evidenced by its lurking recurrence in mythologies, folklore, literature, cinema, historical narratives, and virtually every other field of human knowledge and realm of storytelling. The paradox of horror lies precisely in the fact we deem it simultaneously appealing and repulsive. We are taught to avoid that which is horrifying, but the appeal of horror, whether in the form of fiction or sensational news, is irresistible. Indeed, we simultaneously narrate, describe, imagine, consume, dread and crave horror in all of its dimensions, and with the most varied goals.

Horror taps into primal emotions of fear and disgust that are universal to the human condition, and finds expression across cultures and historical periods. Yet the texts that shape the ways in which horror is broadly understood historically reflect predominantly Anglo-European and American cultural, social, historical and geographical contexts.

Growing awareness and appreciation of the rich horror traditions of other countries around the world, including Japan, Korea, India, Brazil, Sudan, and Thailand, has highlighted the importance of considering horror in a global context. Accordingly, the Global Horror: Local Perspectives Project provides a platform for exploring the ways in which horror motifs and themes are expressed through the ‘local perspectives’ that inform the creative practices and daily life of particular nations and cultures.

It is not the intent of the Project to exclude Anglo-European and American perspectives from the conversation of global horror, but rather to focus on other horror traditions which have frequently been de-centred or completely overlooked in the past. The scope of the Project therefore includes work that explores marginalised local perspectives within Anglo-European and American horror, and work that examines Anglo-European and American horror from a global perspective with a view to forming an innovative interdisciplinary publication to engender further research and collaboration.

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“I’m hated, execrated, those I meet are repelled by me. They want me crucified, and maybe their feelings are all too justified,” sang the American band The Bastard Fairies in their 2010 title track “Man-Made Monster.” The lyrics of the song oscillate between cackling threats of murder and cannibalism, and the lament, “It didn’t have to be this way, I’m a man-made monster led astray.”

The monster is a paradox: simultaneously a true threat, and the object of sympathy. Monsters have been used for millennia to frighten and control—from children’s stories that threaten them with monsters if they don’t listen to their parents, to propaganda that instills a fear of a monstrous Other to encourage citizens to go to war. History and literature are also replete with misunderstood monsters, creatures who are misjudged, and perhaps even become monstrous because of the judgement they experience. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, misunderstood monsters may even have outnumbered sincerely scary ones. And in the second decade of the twenty-first century we’ve all experienced monstrous events on a number of scales, from the personal to the political to the physical and medical. There seems to be no end, and that’s just how we like it.

This global and inclusive conference is an interdisciplinary exploration of the variety of monsters, from gooey spider-legged creatures under the bed, to serial killers safely locked in jail and historical memory. Why do cultures create such abundances of monsters, both in fiction and in our tellings of reality? What are their functions, their roles in society, their cultural impacts? And at the same time, what draws so many people to the monstrous? Are we driven by some primal urge to touch evil, or is there a redemptive impulse in the desire to save a misunderstood creature or person? What about the way monsters are used to justify horrors perpetrated on Others, and how monstrous actions become justified in themselves based on cultural or political beliefs?

This project takes a broad definition of “monsters” and “the monstrous,” including monstrous creatures, people, actions, and events, with a view to forming a series of innovative interdisciplinary dissemination activities including publishing and future international collaborations among other project plans.

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Through his view of humanity as something insignificant in contrast to the cosmos, Lovecraft anticipated significant concerns over the uncertainties proper to the twenty-first century. In the current context of the Anthropocene, we are not threatened by physical hyperobjects or monsters he envisioned, but we struggle to accept that we cannot escape the destructive effects of what we continue to call natural catastrophes. In fact, we continue to believe that we are in control of what happens on Earth. Yet we face two undeniable truths: earthquakes, hurricanes, heat waves, raging fires and sometimes viruses cannot be stopped; and our insistence to claim control over the planet brings permanent destructive marks on its surface, waters and atmosphere. While Lovecraft’s monstrous creatures come from distant pasts and futures, the ultimate monster in our own times is humanity itself.

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The concept of pop—or popular—culture is slippery and oddly illusory. We might think we understand it and know what it is even if we can’t quite define it, but due to the fact that it is a contemporary phenomenon in full swing and related to popular and everyday activities, its meaning, production and circulation flows are quite complex. Part of what holds society together, pop culture works in large part through various forms of media to disseminate normative modes of behaviour and thought, introduces new and innovative ideas, offers inclusivity and an easily generated in-group mechanism, and can often serve as a belief system upon which to hang one’s values.

Ultimately, pop culture serves as a regulating force within a cultural group as well as a glue for keeping that group cohesive. It can be seen working in ways both large and small, from the use of favorite quotes or the wearing of articles of clothing from popular visual media to the participation in new forms of dance or music, the visiting of various kinds of clubs or other establishments, an awareness of the current and most ‘cool’ car, and more.

Undoubtedly, media of all kinds as well as academic knowledge production are part of pop culture. However, where this might seem obvious, what about small, everyday tasks? How does a collective mechanism work differently depending on the scale in which it functions? And what are the conceptual perceptions of pop culture in each of these dimensions?

Fleet Admiral Gial Ackbar, a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, is one striking example of pop culture. His line “It’s a Trap!” in “The Return of the Jedi” (Lucasfilm, 1983) is one of the most famous and beloved quotes in the original franchise trilogy, becoming a popular internet meme and a way to elucidate how ubiquitous pop culture references are in our society. Similarly, the phrase “Run away!” from Monty Python and the Holy Grail offers a similar example. The opening song for Gilligan’s Island, a popular television show in the US from the 1970s carries resonance for those who remember it fondly and who might sing the refrain “a three hour tour” over and over again, and recently Kate Bush’s song “Running up that Hill” reached its highest point on the charts forty years after its release because of its use in a popular Netflix show.

Media such as TV and streaming platforms of all kinds, social media and digital platforms, podcasts, cinema, the press and others are all cultural products that form the vast universe that is pop culture. Furthermore, various fan practices and fandoms around the world construct meaning and have disputes around their favourite artists and franchises, dress as their favorite characters at conventions, and debate the imagined outcome of impossible physical competitions between fictional heroes. Is there anything more ‘popular culture’ than a discussion about who would win a fight between Captain America and Eleven, or about whether Sailor Moon would be a good companion for Doctor Who? If you’re part of the in-groups, you’ll know those references. If you aren’t, you’ll look them and the in-groups will have expanded. This is the power of popular culture.

Research and analysis around pop culture includes cultural studies, adaptation studies, media studies, political economy, business and many more and the field is growing in the last few years with specialized publications and events.

In this conference we hope to begin a conversation about pop culture practices, products, and meanings, along with discussions about their consumption and circulation. From some perspectives, pop culture may seem to have its roots in Anglo-European and American perspectives but this is merely a subject position issue. Popular culture as a category occurs around the world and helps each country, and subsets within them, form their sense of identity. The scope of the Project therefore includes examinations of pop culture and its effects from around the world, both from marginalised local perspectives within Anglo-European and American pop culture, and from other pop culture milieus worldwide. We are also interested in work that examines Anglo-European and American pop culture from a transnational perspective.

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Literally the opposite of utopia, or ‘perfect place,’ the term dystopia was coined in the mid-19^th century and has been used to both critique laws, policies and actions by those in power, and to describe states of being.

A dystopian society is generally seen as an imagined state of existence or an imagined society, characterized by gross imbalances of power, injustice, cruelty, suffering and hopelessness, with either totalitarian or nonexistent — or at least invisible — and always unethical forms of government.

It sounds pretty grim, a place none of us would want to visit let alone live in. Yet dystopian literature, film and television are among the most popular of genres, drawing millions of readers and viewers to each newly imagined dystopic world. And it’s been this way since the late 18^th century when Jonathan Swift published what is considered by many to be the first dystopian novel, Gulliver’s Travels. Though dystopias have evolved since then, often figured as occurring either after an apocalypse (though they differ from a post-apocalyptic world) or as a result of a long-term disintegration of society, they have only risen in popularity.

Since 2001 the world has seen its share of dystopian events including the rise of far right, fascist movements in political systems around the world, the worsening climate crisis, the rise in instances and awareness of terrorism—if not the underlying reasons for it—and the Covid-19 pandemic. These have in many ways shaped our daily lives, and we seem to be moving farther and farther away from any chance at a balanced, comfortable life, let alone a utopia. Yet, contrary to what might seem to make sense, this has only increased our desire to engage with dystopias. Instead of finding ways out of the darkness, we are actively choosing to run toward it—at least in fiction.

In this exciting, global and inclusive interdisciplinary event our goal is to examine the conceptualization, proliferation and ubiquity of dystopias, and their popularity.

To that end, we ask:

What is it about dystopias that have us seeking them out, willing to engage with each new version of a bleak future or dismal alternate version of reality? How have they become such an integral part of our lives that simply Googling the word brings up more than 100,000 hits, with unending lists of the top 50 or 100 dystopian novels, short stories, TV shows or movies?

What is it about a dystopia that keeps us turning the pages, that keeps us glued to our seats, and that makes it impossible to turn away from their forbidding, unspeakable futures? Is it that they are in a sense prophetic? Do we see our own futures? Do we use them to understand current events, political movements or politicians? Are they maps of places we do not wish to go, perhaps guides for actions we do not wish to take? Do we use them to look for clues in the world we live in to forestall our march toward disaster? Or perhaps do we use them as a measure of what lengths we ourselves would go to in order to survive in the situations they depict—and as a way of asking when those measures are necessary?

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Fairy tales, emerging from the oral tradition, are some of the oldest narratives we have. Following mythologies, legends, epics, folk tale traditions, fairy tales contain elements from the realistic to the supernatural and the fantastic. Having been told in different cultures and in different languages, these tales change and transform as they pass from mouth to mouth, from culture to culture, from generation to generation; it is the foremost part of our tendency to create, to tell, to share. Hoping to add more to explorations in understanding fairy tale, we invites varieties of disciplines, professions, practitioners and storytellers to create, tell and share with us.

Fairy tales work on various levels: as psychoanalytic maps, as reflections of traditions, stereotypes or traumas of collective or personal consciousness, guides to navigating, understanding and functioning in life, as well as including regional or international imageries, motifs and symbols. As a part of our cultural memory as well as history, they are is filled with vast ranges of imagery, symbols and motifs which are continually being adapted, rewritten, reinterpreted and subject to formal and thematic changes.

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