Dark Economies: Anxious Futures, Fearful Pasts — Falmouth University, UK. 21st-23rd July 2021
After the
success of the Folk Horror in the Twenty First Century conference hosted by
Falmouth University, we are holding another related conference in 2021.
We are
aiming to have a face to face conference at the beautiful Falmouth Campus in
Cornwall. With sub-tropical gardens and the beach nearby, there will be a
‘Welcome to Dark Falmouth’ cemetery walk above the lovely Swanpool lake, an art
exhibition, a gig and street food in place of the more usual staid conference
dinner. If we’re going to beat Covid we want to do it in style!*
The
present is dark. With the rise of Covid-19, right-wing populism, global
migrations and immigrations, continued violence, abuse and crime, prejudice and
intolerance, there is increasing anxiety about the future. The Earth itself is
under threat from environmental catastrophe and a mass extinction event is
anticipated. The collapse of society, morality, and the environment was often
also feared in the past, particularly in Gothic, horror and dystopian fictions
and texts. What were the monsters of the past? What are our monsters now?
Anxieties
and uncertainties abound in the age of the post-human and the post-digital.
Ours is a world with the dark web and past and present dark economies. Yet,
there is radicalism and light here too as boundaries are traversed, subverted
and annihilated. Gender binaries are collapsing. The old patriarchal order is
at least seriously under threat (if not yet quite dead) in the light of
movements such as #MeToo, #TimesUp, Black Lives Matter and the LGTBQi wave of
positivity. Capitalism is shaking and activism is reshaping the world.
This
conference addresses these issues head on. By encouraging provocative, radical
and respectful discussions, we aim to generate serious interdisciplinary and
transdisciplinary engagements with scholars, practitioners, artists, and
activists. The conference will look back to the past in its examination of how
dark concerns and anxieties were envisioned, and to the future and the
visionary imaginings of how things can be. The debates will range from the
local to the global. While the conversations will be transnational, the setting
for the conference will be Cornwall, UK. Historically associated with pirates,
piskies, and general lawlessness, Cornwall is a Celtic fringe that literally
hangs off the end of England. With sublime landscapes, surging seas and deep
mines, Cornwall is made up of black granite and makes the perfect backdrop for
a conference on dark economies.
The papers called for
and selected will be asked to address some of the following issues:
- Covid-19
- The climate emergency
- The destruction of the environment
- The politics and economies of fuel and energy
- Extinctions and annihilations
- Decadence and/or Degeneration
- Past fears of environmental changes (agricultural revolution and legal
amendments) and their effects on the rural population
- Degeneration and moral disintegration
- The ‘monsters’ of the present and past, and their representations and
responses in Horror and Gothic fictions and texts
- Crime and criminality throughout the ages
- The dark side of gender abuse and violence in the time of #MeToo and Incel rages
- Anxieties around the digital – the dark web, AI and the non-human
- Consideration of the post-human
- Slavery: modern and historical
- Issues of immigration and displacement
- Gendered fears
- Fears surrounding progress: industrialisation, new technologies, medical
scientific and advances
- Fears and anxieties surrounding colonisation
- Dystopian representations of the future
- Dystopian representations from the past
- Historic ecological visions
- Folklore and Folk Horror
- Dark economies and tourism in the regions and localities, including
Cornwall
- The rise of populism
- Racism in politics and society
Each paper will
present a clear challenge to conventional and traditional ways of thinking. The
aim of the conference is to explore the fears of the past and the contemporary,
as well as the grave anxiety being expressed by many groups and individuals
about the future – for both humanity and the world.
Please send 250 word
abstracts + a short bio to: Darkeconomiesconference@gmail.com
We
also welcome panel proposals, ideas for screenings of short films, or workshop
proposals.
Submission deadline: 1
February 2021
* However, if the darkness continues we will move the
conference online or to a blended format.