Call for Chapters
The Palgrave Handbook of Monsters and Monstrous Bodies, under contract with Palgrave Publishers, is an interdisciplinary collection of chapters, that provides a snapshot of the evolving field of Monster Studies. This Handbook offers a comprehensive review of globalizing and expanding interdisciplinary explorations of monsters and monstrous bodies. It will become the only Handbook of its kind that focuses on both monsters and the monstrous by world-leading experts, established academics, emerging scholars, and new academics bringing together scholarship across disciplines about the monstrous in
multiple contexts and time periods.
We are seeking scholars of diverse identities, races, and genders, especially those from non-Western institutions or whose work examines monsters and monstrous bodies from global perspectives and nonnormative experiences and narratives to complete the text. Scholars will reflect on the tremendous growth and wide-ranging appeal of these engagements throughout the disciplines. The chapters will emphasize how cultures create ideas of monstrous bodies and utilize monsters as allegories for all manner of identities, issues, and socio-cultural experiences. The Handbook will serve as an interdisciplinary holistic reference to those interested in the links between monsters and socio-cultural attitudes.
CURRENT CONTRACTED CHAPTERS
1. “How To Create a Monster: From Anatomy To Trauma And All Points In Between” Sherry Ginn
2. “Abjection,” Dr. Katherine H. Lee, Indiana State University
3. “Imposing Order on the Monstrous: A Cultural Taxonomy of the Modern Zombie,” Rob Smid, Curry College Massachusetts
4. “Demonstrification: How Monsters Can Be Agents of Social Change,” Colleen Karn, Methodist College
5. “Holy Monsters: Bodies, Impairment and the Sacred in the Middle Ages,” Lisa R. Verner,
University of New Orleans
6. “In Sickness and in Hell: Monstrous Revenants and Infectious Disease,” Leah Richards, Ph.D., LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York
7. “Hell is a Teenage Girl”: Revenge and the Monstrous-Feminine in Jennifer’s Body” Hannah Hansen, Massey University New Zealand
8. “Monstrous Monster Makers: Examining Mad Scientists and their Creations,” Heather M. Porter, M.S. & Michael Starr, University of Northampton, UK.
9. “Black Vampires and Antiblackness: New and Old Histories”, Deanna Koretsky, Spelman College
10. “Jordan Peele’s Horror Noire Oeuvre: Black Studies, White Students, and the Politics of DEI Curricula in this Era of Woke Culture,” Jayson Baker, Curry College,
11. “Let’s Do the Monster Mash” Dance Horror in Vampire Films,” Elizabeth Miller Lewis, The University of New Orleans
The Palgrave Handbook of Monsters and Monstrous Bodies
12. “A Monstrous Hunger: Female Vampires and Appetite,” Robin A. Werner, The University of New Orleans
13. “Monstrous Bodies: The Quadroons Balls of New Orleans,” U. Melissa Anyiwo, The University of Scranton
14. “Dumb show: Mute children in New Zealand literature and cinema,” Jenny Lawn Massey University New Zealand
15. “Obsessed with Fangs, Fur, and Tentacles: Monster Pornography and a Desire for Monstrous Sex,” Amanda Jo Hobson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
16. “The Danger of the White Progressive,” Liza A. Talusan, PhD
17. “The Demamification of Black Women in Educational Leadership: Sirol’s Song,” Loris Adams, National Cathedral School.
TOPICS MAY INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:
✓ Monster Hunters of Eastern Europe
✓ African monsters and monstrous bodies in fiction and folklore
✓ Manga & Anime Monsters: Globalizing Japanese Storytelling
✓ (Re)Envisioning (Dis)Abilities and Monstrous Bodies in Global Media
✓ Monstrosity in Asian contexts
✓ Exploring Monstrosity in International Children’s Media
✓ The Monsters of Nollywood & Bollywood.
✓ Selling Black Bodies in Pain
✓ Monstrous Tourism in Ghana and the US
✓ Making monsters? Historical Narratives of the Other.
✓ Monstrous mythologies of the Diaspora.
✓ Animating Monstrous Bodies in Indie Comics and Graphic Novels
✓ The Impact of Independent and Self-Published Production on Monstrosity in fiction and film
✓ Queering the Monstrous
✓ Monstrous Children and the Horrors of Caretaking
✓ Monstrous Bodies: Envisioning Queer Feminist Pornography
✓ Nasty Women of Gothic Literature
✓ Monstrosity, Comedy, and the Awkward Blurring of Genres
✓ Exploring the Quotidian and the Profane in Contemporary Monsters-Next-Door Fictions
✓ Romancing the Monstrous, Or Why We Want to Date Monsters
✓ Monsters and/or Monstrous Bodies to Redress Cultural Appropriation
✓ Policing Monstrous Flesh
TIMETABLE:
✓ Thursday, February 29th, 2024 – Proposals & Bio due
✓ January 1st, 2025– 1st drafts due
✓ June 15, 2025 – 2nd drafts due
✓ October 30, 2025 – Final Drafts Due
Please email 300-word proposals with a short biographical statement (50 words) and inquiries to Melissa Anyiwo and Amanda Jo Hobson by Thursday, February 29th, 2024. The final chapters will be approximately 7000-9000 words.
Proposals Due by Thursday, February 29th, 2024
Editors:
Amanda Jo Hobson, Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, amandajohobson@gmail.com
U. Melissa Anyiwo, Associate Professor History, Director Black Studies, The University of Scranton melissa.anyiwo@scranton.edu
