Call for Papers, Abstracts, and Panel Proposals:
PEDAGOGY & POPULAR CULTURE AREA
2015 Midwest Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association
Annual Conference
Cincinnati, OH
Proposal Submission Deadline: MAY 15, 2015

Thursday-Sunday, October 1-4, 2015
Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, 35 West Fifth Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45202
Phone: (513) 421-9100

The Pedagogy & Popular Culture Area of the MPCA/MACA requests 150-250 word proposals for papers to be presented at the 2015 Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference. Proposals for co-authored papers, complete panels (3-4 presenters), or nontraditional formats such as workshops, roundtables, open forums, and/or visual/artistic/creative approaches are also welcomed.

Please submit proposals on any aspect of pedagogy and popular culture; any/all disciplinary approaches are welcome. Suggested topics and approaches include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Representations or discussions of pedagogy, education, and/or academia in popular/American/mass culture;
• Pedagogical approaches to teaching about or teaching with historical or contemporary popular culture texts;
• Theoretical underpinnings of cultural studies, critical pedagogies, and/or connecting the two to form a praxis;
• Theoretical and/or practical discussions of “public pedagogy” (in the sense of hegemonic narrative and/or the sense of deliberate academic/student participation in the creation of publicly disseminated information and projects—see Henry Giroux) and knowledge production;
• Integrating popular culture texts into more traditionally-oriented courses and disciplines;
• Interrogation and exploration of pedagogical problems or concerns;
• Discussions about the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, popular culture, and academia, including pedagogy; and/or
• “Best practices” presentations on teaching tools; lesson plan, syllabus, and/or assignment construction; and/or using new media technologies.

Please upload proposals to the Pedagogy & Popular Culture area, http://submissions.mpcaaca.org/. Individuals may only submit one paper; please do not submit the same item to more than one Area. Please include name, affiliation, and e-mail address of each author/participant with the abstract. A preliminary version of the schedule will be posted on our website around August 2015. The final version will be distributed in hard copy at the conference. If you have any questions, please email Jessica Birch at jessica.elizabeth.birch@gmail.com.

More information about the conference can be found at http://www.mpcaaca.org/. Attendees are financially responsible for all costs related to their participation in the conference, e.g., transportation, lodging, meals, registration, membership, etc. Graduate students are invited to apply for competitively awarded travel grants from MPCA/MACA. Details are available at http://mpcaaca.org/conference/travel-grants/.

Special Notes Regarding Proposal Submissions: (1) MPCA/ACA can provide an LCD projector for presentations. You must ask for it at the time you submit your proposal. (2) If necessary, indicate and submit potential scheduling conflicts along with your proposal. (3) If you wish your presentation to be listed as MACA (rather than MPCA), please include this request with your proposal.