Steeped in the wide-flung diaspora of the Gothic mode, the Southern Gothic is one of the most prominent ways the South is represented in media and culture. Represented in the works of writers as varied as Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Connor, and William Faulkner to Cormac McCarthy, Cherie Priest, and Jesmyn Ward, whether categorized as a form, a style, or a genre, the Southern Gothic is bound up with the specificity of regional cultural anxieties about race, class, gender, sexuality, history, and geographic identity itself. From its most stereotypical depictions to more nuanced, complex interpretations, the Southern Gothic shapes the wider perception of regional identities in ways that invite our contemporary scholarly engagement.

The Southern Gothic area of the Popular Culture / American Culture Association in the South (PCAS/ ACAS) invites proposals for individual presentations, roundtable discussions, or full panels of 3-4 papers at the 2024 PCAS/ ACAS Annual Conference, to be held October 17 - 19, 2024 in Greenville, SC. 

Topics might include (but are in no way limited to):

• representations of the Southern Gothic in film, TV, and literature

• adaptation(s) of Southern Gothic literature

• the Southern Gothic in popular music

• Global elements of/ approaches to the Southern Gothic

• the Southern Gothic in new media (games, podcasts, graphic novels, etc.)

• the emergence of “Southern noir” as a subgenre

• race, class, gender, and/ or sexuality in the Southern Gothic

• Southern true crime as a cultural phenomenon

• documentary and the Southern Gothic 

• Southern Gothic tourism

• monsters in the Southern Gothic: vampires, zombies, ghosts, etc.

• mental health narratives in the Southern Gothic

• specificity—or generality—in Southern Gothic geographies

• pedagogical approaches to/ uses of the Southern Gothic

• the spectre of history in the Southern Gothic

• sites of intersection between the Southern Gothic and other genres/ modes

PCAS/ ACAS is dedicated to working toward equity, diversity, and inclusion both within our organization and in academia at large. As such, we particularly welcome submissions by underrepresented and marginalized scholars across categories such as race, gender, sexuality, ability, and employment status (e.g., graduate students and non-tenure track or unaffiliated/ independent scholars).

To propose a presentation (of 20 minutes or less) or a roundtable discussion for the Southern Gothic Area, please send the following to Area Chair Stephanie Graves at SouthernGothicPCAS@gmail.com by June 15, 2024:

• Name of presenter(s), institutional affiliation (if applicable), & email address for each presenter

• Type of submission (individual paper, roundtable, or full panel)

• Presentation abstract (250 words or fewer)

• Indication if you need access to A/V (not all rooms have A/V available—if you don’t indicate the need, you may be scheduled in a room without AV)

Submission deadline is June 15, 2024; notifications of acceptance will be sent by July 1, 2024.

PLEASE NOTE: In order to be considered for the Southern Gothic Area, please follow the instructions above rather than submitting through the PCAS/ ACAS website.Everyone is invited to submit one academic paper and can, in addition, participate in one round-table discussion or creative session. Only those proposals intended for the Southern Gothic area should be submitted as outlined above; the PCAS/ ACAS website has an online submission form for the General Call.