2021 Ray Browne Conference
The Popular Culture Scholars Association is excited to announce the 2021 Ray Browne Conference for Popular Culture Studies:
Considering Conclusions: What Do We Learn When We Unpack the Popular?
March 5-7, 2021
Bowling Green State University
KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Dr. Jeremy Wallach
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:
Failures of Popular Culture Studies
Popular culture studies has spent so much time either defensively justifying its existence or celebrating itself that fundamental contradictions in the field remain unaddressed more than half a century into its existence. Dr. Wallach’s presentation outlines his own 25-year intellectual journey navigating a course between the Scylla of critical arrogance and the Charybdis of uncritical fannish enthusiasm. He concludes by asserting that he has found the only way forward to be to acknowledge fully the political context in which popular culture scholars work in which most forms of popular culture are openly and mercilessly derided, and their own subject positions as both scholars and active participants in popular culture broadly defined.
Jeremy Wallach is a Professor of Popular Culture in the School of Cultural and Critical Studies at Bowling Green State University.
| Time | Scheduled Activity |
|---|---|
| 1:50PM | Welcome Remarks - Day One Friday, March 5, 2021 |
| 2:00PM-3:00PM | Panel 1: Unpacking Popular Media and Identity: From Disney to Horror |
Joseph V. Giunta- “But Like All Dreams, I’m Afraid This Won’t Last Forever”: Framing Young Womanhood through Fantasy Circumscription and Adult Prescribed Gender Roles in Early 1950s Disney Animated Films Shane Hesketh- “I thought I killed Joey Cusack”: Unpacking the Identity Crisis in David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence Robyn Perry- “Borrowed from Way Back When”: Postwar Japanese Popular Music in America Through the Lens of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle Amanda Taylor- Social Identity, Etiquette Education, and Marriage: The Interpellation of Feminine Success and The Narrative Formula of Pretty Woman |
|
| 3:15PM-4:00PM | Panel 2: Wrestling with the Popular: Form and Performance |
Jules Patalita - Wrestling with the Pandemic: The Performance of Professional Wrestling During COVID-19 Nick Canada- Wrestling Through the Aperture: Editing, Cinematography, and Ideology in the Golden Age of Professional Wrestling Adam Nicholas Cohen- 'WWE and Saudi Vision 2030: Professional Wrestling as Cultural Diplomacy |
|
| 4:15PM-5:15PM | Social Hour: Join us for a game of Jeopardy, hosted by Shane Hesketh |
| 5:30PM-6:30PM | Creating and Utilizing Popular Culture Archives with Dr. Heather Fox and John King |
| Time | Scheduled Activity |
|---|---|
| 10:20AM | Welcome Remarks - Day Two Saturday, March 6, 2021 |
| 10:30AM-11:45AM | Panel 3: Gender and Sexuality in the Popular: Beyond, Between, Within |
Zamirah Hussain- Orville Peck’s Outlaw Country Camp: A Parodic Interpretation Judy Clemens-Smucker- Masculinity and Sport: An Analysis of “The M.V.P.” in the Television Comedy Schitt's Creek Dylan Miller- “Like a mailbox?” - A Critique of Hegemonic Gender in Amazon’s The Tick Jinx Mylo- Letting Go of Labels in TV’s Queer Utopias: Aspiration or Erasure? Anna DeGalan- A Wonder of a Woman: Wonder Woman’s Musical Themes as Persuasive Text |
|
| 12:00PM-1:00PM | Conference Keynote |
Failures of Popular Culture Studies Dr. Jeremy Wallach |
|
| 1:00PM-2:15PM | Lunch Break |
| 2:30PM-3:30PM | Panel 4: Redefining the Popular: Audience, Fans, and Adaptation |
Michaela Hansen- Genre is Dead. Long Live Genre: A Romance Frankie Krutsch- To Hell with the Canon: How Fanfiction is (Re)thinking Authorial Intent, Textual Ownership, and the Postmodern Condition Alexander Long- Literary Hobbits and Hobbits of Action: Redefining The Hobbit in Peter Jackson’s Film Adaptation of Tolkien Britton Seese- On a Dante Rollercoaster Ride with the Seven Deadly Sins: What Sandbox Simulation Video Games Accomplish for Literature Enthusiasts |
|
| 3:45PM-4:45PM | Panel 5: The Overlooked Political Power of the Popular |
Adriana Mariella- Tomorrow’s Incubator: Advertising & the Cultural Feedback Loop Shehee Simon- She/Her Petition for Peace, Safety + Security Dr. Christopher Leary- What Happens to Popular Culture in Authoritarian Societies? Emma Lynn- Political Activism on Tik-Tok |
| Time | Scheduled Activity |
|---|---|
| 10:20AM | Welcome Remarks - Day Three Sunday, March 7, 2021 |
| 10:30AM-11:30AM | Panel 6: Finding Empathy in the Popular: Personally and Globally |
Kelly Cole- Fiona Apple’s Shifting Personal and Political Narrative in Fetch the Bolt Cutters Oladoyin Abiona- Colors from Nigeria: Unpacking Ankara Fabric Dr. Britt Rhuart- “Life Itself”: Studying the Popular Through Roger Ebert’s Empathy Machine Haley Shipley- “I want to sing some other way”: Stryper and the Personal Paradoxes and Freedoms of Christian Heavy Metal for One Rural Ohio Girl |
|
| 11:45AM-12:45PM | Panel 7: Current Culture Research by the Faculty and Staff of the Department of Popular Culture and BPCL |
Dr. Kristen Rudisill- In Support of the Deer: The Dancing Women of Maanada Mayilada Dr. Matthew Donahue- The Amsterdam Sign Project Dr. Chuck Coletta- Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do. What are we doing in the funny papers?: The Lost I Love Lucy Comic Strip and the Rise of TV Comics Dr. Nancy Down- Women and Femininity in the Superhero Pulps: Nita Van Sloan in the Spider Pulps |
|
| 1:00PM-2:15PM | Lunch Break |
| 2:30PM-3:45PM | Panel 8: Memory and Authenticity in the Popular |
Dr. Patricia Webb- “Even Better than the Real Thing”? Constructions of Public Memories of Heritage Rock Music Benjamin Thomason- “Music For the People”: Quests for Authenticity in Detroit Rock from Punk to the Garage Revivalownership, and the Postmodern Condition Joseph McManis-Collectibles in the Collection: Pop culture realia in special collections Cheyenne White- Nostalgia and the Physical Book Tyler Wertsch- Consider the McNugget: Exploring How Popular Texts Recast the Past and Memory of War |
|
| 4:00PM-5:00PM | Panel 9: Unpacking “Comfort Food” During the Pandemic: Finding Discomfort/Comfort Through Foodways |
Dr. Lucy Long Jerry Reed Minglei Zhang |
|
| 5:00PM | Conference Closing |
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE:
The Ray Browne Conference for Popular Culture Studies is an annual graduate student organized conference that invites participants to consider the study of popular culture as an approach, proposal, and practice.
Please contact raybrowneconf@bgsu.edu with any questions.
To individuals with disabilities:
Please indicate if you need special services, assistance or appropriate modifications to fully participate in this event by contacting Accessibility Services, access@bgsu.edu, 419-372-8495. Please notify us prior to the event.
Updated: 09/24/2021 03:13PM