Fwd: 2nd Global Conference: Magic and the Supernatural

2nd Global Conference Magic and the Supernatural

Thursday 17th March ? Saturday 19th March 2011
Prague, Czech Republic

Call for Papers
Bewitched. I Dream of Jeannie. The Exorcist.
Charmed. Buffy. Dr. Who. Dracula. Dark Shadows.
Twilight and The Twilight Zone. Sookie Stackhouse
and Bill Compton. Dresden Files. Harry Potter. The
fascination and appeal of magic and supernatural
entities pervades societies and
cultures. The continuing appeal of these
characters is a testimony to how they shape our
daydreams and our nightmares, as well as how we
yearn for something that is more or beyond
what we can see-touch-taste-feel. Children still
avoid stepping on cracks, lovers pluck petals from
a daisy, cards are dealt and tea leaves read.

A belief in magic as a means of influencing the
world seems to have been common in all cultures.
Some of these beliefs crossed over into nascent
religions, influencing rites and religious
celebrations. Over time, religiously-based
supernatural events (miracles) acquired their
own flavour, separating themselves from standard
magic. Some modern religions such as the
Neopaganisms embrace connections to magic, while
others retain only echoes of their distant origins.

This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary
project seeks to examine issues surrounding the
role and use of magic in a wide variety of
societies and cultures over the course of human
history. People with access to magic or knowledge
of the supernatural will also be examined.

Papers, presentations, reports and workshops are
invited on issues on or broadly related to any of
the following themes:

~ Magic as paranormal, anything alleged to exist
that is not explainable by any present laws of science
~ the distinctions between magic and religion
and science
~ Magical thinking and the equation of coincidence
with causality
~ Folk magic and traditional systems of magic
~ Magick and Wicca as religious systems in
modern society
~ Witchcraft in the European context
~ Witchcraft and animism in African or Asian
contexts
~ Magic as illusion, stagecraft, sleight-of-hand
~ Magic in modern literature (ex. Harry Potter,
Harry Dresden, the saga of Middle Earth, the
Chronicles of Narnia, etc.) and in traditional
literatures (folk or fairy tales, legends,
mythologies, etc.)
~ Magic in art and the depiction of magical
creatures, practices or practitioners
~ the associations of magic with the monstrous
or evil; does one imply the presence of the other?
~ the portrayal of magic, magical creatures, and
magical practices or practitioners on television
and in film
~ the roles or uses of magic in video games,
on-line communities, role-playing games,
subcultural formations and identities
~ the similarities and differences of magical
creatures across societies and time periods
~ the interplay of magic and religion as well
as science
~ the sciences of demonology and angelology
~ the role of divination or prophecy in societies
or religions
~ the use of natural vs. supernatural
explanations for world events
~ Magic and the supernatural as coping mechanisms
for individuals and societies

The Steering Group also welcomes the submission of
pre-formed panel proposals. 300 word abstracts
should be submitted by Friday 1st October
2010. All submissions are minimally double blind
peer reviewed where appropriate. If an abstract is
accepted for the conference, a full draft
paper should be submitted by Friday 4th February
2011. Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously
to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in
Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the
following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d)
title of abstract, e) body of abstract

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain
from using footnotes and any special formatting,
characters or emphasis (such as bold,
italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and
answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do
not receive a reply from us in a week you
should assume we did not receive your proposal; it
might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to
look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs

Stephen Morris
Hub Leader (Evil)
Independent Scholar
New York, USA
E-mail: [email protected]

Sorcha Ni Fhlainn
Hub Leader (Evil)
School of English, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
E-mail: [email protected]

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
E-mail; [email protected]

The conference is part of the 'At the Interface'
programme of research projects. It aims to bring
together people from different areas and
interests to share ideas and explore various
discussions which are innovative and exciting.

All papers accepted for and presented at this
conference will be eligible for publication in an
ISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invited
for development for publication in a themed hard
copy volume(s).

For further details about the project please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/evil/magic-and-the-supernatural/

For further details about the conference please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/evil/magic-and-the-supernatural/call-for-papers/