PLEASE NOTE: This is sent on behalf of Danny Nicols - abstracts should be sent directly to: [log in to unmask]
Centre for Law, Society and Popular
Culture
Westminster Law School
The politics
and law of Doctor Who
Symposium Announcement and First Call
for Papers
Friday 5th September 2014
University of Westminster
Doctor Who is the BBC’s longest-running drama television series and
the world’s longest-running science fiction series. The massive public attention devoted to the
show’s 50th anniversary and to its choice of new lead actor confirms
that the programme merits serious academic attention. Politics, law and constitutional questions
often feature prominently in Doctor Who
stories, whether in the form of the Time Lords’ guardianship of the universe,
the Doctor’s encounters with British Prime Ministers, or the array of
governance arrangements in Dalek society. The show’s politics is also an adventure
through time, from the internationalising moralism of the Barry Letts-Terrance
Dicks years, the dark satire of Andrew Cartmel’s period as script editor and
the egalitarianism of the Russell T. Davies era. Yet the politics and law of Doctor Who have yet to be the subject of
wide-ranging scholarship. Proposals for
20 minute papers are therefore invited for a symposium on 5th
September 2014, to be held in the University of Westminster’s historic Regent
Street building just metres away from BBC headquarters. Possible subjects for papers might include,
but are by no means limited to:
Doctor Who’s ideology
The
Doctor’s political morality
Comparison
of politics of Doctor Who with
politics of other science fiction
The
merits/demerits of Harriet Jones as Prime Minister
Doctor Who and devolution
Portrayals
of British sovereigns in Doctor Who
Doctor Who’s politics of class,
gender and sexuality
Fan
responses to “political” Doctor Who
stories
International
law, intergalactic law and non-interference
Globalisation
and corporate domination
Satire
in Doctor Who
Politics
and law in audio adventures, comic books and novels
War
crimes and genocide
The
politics of UNIT and Torchwood
The
will of villains to secure power
Political
history and political nostalgia in Doctor
Who
Doctor Who’s construction of
British national identity
Abstracts should be 250 words in
length, and should be accompanied by a 100-word biography of the author. Abstracts should be sent to [log in to unmask] – deadline for receipt of
abstracts 17 January 2014.
Kim AkassCSTonline
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