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: [log in to unmask]

Sorcha Ni Fhlainn
Hub Leader (Evil)
School of English, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net,
Freeland, Oxfordshire, UK
E-mail; [log in to unmask]


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/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/at-the-interface/evil/magic-and-the-supernatural/call-for-papers/