Two calls for papers at Academic Archers HQ - for the 2021 conference, and for the fifth book, on fandom.
Both listed below, with staggered deadlines.
Call for Papers – The Sixth Academic Archers conference on BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, February 2021 (online)
Dr Cara Courage and Dr Nicola Headlam invite the submission of abstracts to the sixth Academic Archers conference, to be held on 19-21 February 2021, at University of Felpersham, and The Bull and Brookfield Barn, Ambridge (aka, Zoom.)
The conference will feature a number of 15-minute papers, as well as 5 minute Quick Pitches, as well as seeking formats that work with the digital platform, such as film, audio and webinars, around the programme and issues contained therein, of BBC Radio4’s The Archers.
Submissions are invited from any academic discipline and subjects. Past papers have included:
· ‘From the moment those two joined the committee it’s been grunge bands, sumo wrestlers and souffle competitions’ - What Ambridge’s civil society says about UK politics in 2019
· Why are the residents of Ambridge so financially gullible and what can we do about it?
· When the Script Hits the Fan: When Archers fans stop listening – and why they can’t completely keep away
· Baddies in wheelchairs and the Disneyfication of Disability
This list is not meant to be proscriptive, exclusive or exhaustive, but is meant to inspire you to think how your academic research, sector professional expertise or listener forensic knowledge of The Archers can illuminate and explain life in Ambridge and Borsetshire as well as national and global rural issues. The conference is intended to give fans of The Archers a platform to exercise their love of the programme and their subject area and submissions for consideration are welcomed from those within academia and professional sectors, those working and retired and those with specialist knowledge of The Archers.
If you are a fellow The Archers fan and/or academic please submit your abstract of 200 words with a short biography to both cara@caracourage.net and headlams@gmail.com by 31 August 2020, indicating if you are proposing a paper (15 minutes), Quick Pitch (5 minutes) or other format. Please submit this as a Word attachment. Programming will be determined by an Academic Archers peer review panel and will be communicated from end-September 2020.
Further information on Academic Archers can be found at www.academicarchers.net/ where you will also find links to films of the 2017 and 2018 conferences.
Call for Chapters –Academic Archers book on BBC Radio 4’s The Archers fandom and teaching, learning and research, with Emerald 2021
Dr Cara Courage and Dr Nicola Headlam invite the submission of abstracts for consideration for the fifth Academic Archers book, published with Emerald, a dual aspect concern of BBC Radio 4’s The Archers and fandom studies, and of use of the programme in teaching, learning and research.
Confirmed book chapters include:
· Fans, Flouncers, Fundamentalists: Customs and belief systems of The Archers online fanbase
· Cult and Culture: Transformative Fandom de dum de dum de dum
· Gauging Guerrilla Academia – Exploring the impact of the ‘Academic Archers’ conference
· When the Script Hits the Fan: When Archers fans stop listening – and why they can’t completely keep away
· The healing powers of everyday country folk: The Archers? Better than therapy!
This list is not meant to be proscriptive, exclusive or exhaustive, but is meant to inspire you to think how your academic activity on fandom, or your use of storylines or radio production techniques for example, can add to our understanding and value of life in Ambridge.
The book is aimed at an academic and professional audience. Submissions are invited from any academic discipline and subject and can be single or inter/transdisciplinary, anchored in research and/or theory. Chapters selected for the book are invited to present a paper at the sixth Academic Archers conference, February 2021.
This publication will be the fifth of the Academic Archers library, joining The Fall of the House of Aldridge: power, politics and family in Ambridge (Emerald, 2021), Gender, Sex and Gossip: Women in The Archers (Emerald, 2019), Custard, Culverts and Cake: Academics on life in The Archers (Emerald, 2017) and The Archers in Fact and Fiction: Academic Analyses of Life in Rural Borsetshire (Peter Lang, 2016.)
Emerald publishes monographs, handbooks, short form and professional content across a range of business, finance and social science disciplines. Its aim is to publish new and innovative research and practical content that meets the needs of researchers, students, educators and practitioners.
If you are a fellow The Archers fan and/or academic please submit your abstract of 200 words with a short biography to cara@caracourage.net by 31 July 2020.
Further information on Academic Archers can be found at www.academicarchers.net/ where you will also find links to films of the previous conferences, podcasts of the Saturday Omnibuses and publication information.