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MAGIC & THE SUPERNATURAL 1st global conference

salzburg

Salzburg

1st Global ConferenceMagic and the Supernatural

Monday 15th March – Wednesday 17th March 2010Salzburg, Austria

Call for PapersBewitched. I Dream of Jeannie. The Exorcist.Charmed. Buffy. Dr. Who. Dracula. Dark Shadows.Twilight and The Twilight Zone. Sookie Stackhouseand Bill Compton. Dresden Files. Harry Potter. Thefascination and appeal of magic and supernaturalentities pervades societies andcultures. The continuing appeal of thesecharacters is a testimony to how they shape ourdaydreams and our nightmares, as well as how weyearn for something that is more or beyondwhat we can see-touch-taste-feel. Children stillavoid stepping on cracks, lovers pluck petals froma daisy, cards are dealt and tea leaves read.

A belief in magic as a means of influencing theworld seems to have been common in all cultures.Some of these beliefs crossed over into nascentreligions, influencing rites and religiouscelebrations. Over time, religiously-basedsupernatural events (miracles) acquired theirown flavour, separating themselves from standardmagic. Some modern religions such as theNeopaganisms embrace connections to magic, whileothers retain only echoes of their distant origins.

This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinaryproject seeks to examine issues surrounding therole and use of magic in a wide variety ofsocieties and cultures over the course of humanhistory. People with access to magic or knowledgeof the supernatural will also be examined.

Papers, presentations, reports and workshops areinvited on issues on or broadly related to any ofthe following themes:

~ Magic as paranormal, anything alleged to existthat is not explainable by any present laws of science~ the distinctions between magic and religionand science~ Magical thinking and the equation of coincidencewith causality~ Folk magic and traditional systems of magic~ Magick and Wicca as religious systems inmodern society~ Witchcraft in the European context~ Witchcraft and animism in African or Asiancontexts~ Magic as illusion, stagecraft, sleight-of-hand~ Magic in modern literature (ex. Harry Potter,Harry Dresden, the saga of Middle Earth, theChronicles of Narnia, etc.) and in traditionalliteratures (folk or fairy tales, legends,mythologies, etc.)~ Magic in art and the depiction of magicalcreatures, practices or practitioners~ the associations of magic with the monstrousor evil; does one imply the presence of the other?~ the portrayal of magic, magical creatures, andmagical practices or practitioners on televisionand 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 magicalcreatures across societies and time periods~ the interplay of magic and religion as wellas science~ the sciences of demonology and angelology~ the role of divination or prophecy in societiesor religions~ the use of natural vs. supernaturalexplanations for world events~ Magic and the supernatural as coping mechanismsfor individuals and societies

The Steering Group particularly welcomes thesubmission of pre-formed panel proposals. 300 wordabstracts should be submitted by Friday 2ndOctober 2009. All submissions are minimally doubleblind peer reviewed where appropriate. If anabstract is accepted for the conference, a fulldraft paper should be submitted by Friday 5thFebruary 2010. Abstracts should be submittedsimultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstractsmay be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats withthe 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 abstainfrom using footnotes and any special formatting,characters or emphasis (such as bold,italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt andanswer to all paper proposals submitted. If you donot receive a reply from us in a week youshould assume we did not receive your proposal; itmight be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, tolook for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs

Stephen MorrisHub Leader (Evil)Independent ScholarNew York, USAE-mail: smmorris58@yahoo.com

Sorcha Ni FhlainnHub Leader (Evil)School of English, Trinity College, Dublin, IrelandE-mail: snf@inter-disciplinary.net

Rob FisherNetwork Founder and Network LeaderInter-Disciplinary.Net,Freeland, Oxfordshire, UKE-mail: magsup@inter-disciplinary.net

The conference is part of the ‘At the Interface’programme of research projects. It aims to bringtogether people from different areas andinterests to share ideas and explore variousdiscussions which are innovative and exciting.

All papers accepted for and presented at thisconference will be eligible for publication in anISBN eBook. Selected papers maybe invitedfor development for publication in a themed hardcopy volume(s) or for inclusion in thePerspectives on Evil journal (relaunching 2010).

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