• Thursday, October 20-Saturday, October 22, 2022 (Virtual)
• Proposal due: August 1, 2022

Papers for the Politics, Civic Life and Culture area of NEPCA explore the role of political actors, institutions, ideology, rhetoric, and satire in popular culture. Topics and themes may be drawn from all policy domains – both foreign and domestic.

2022 Special topics and themes:

• Political and civic responses to COVID-19
• “Cancel culture” and its relationship to pop culture and performance 
• How popular culture is engaged by activists to effect political change
• The use of social media in both politics and policy
• The role of satire and humor as it pertains to politics, civic life, and pop culture

Papers need not be limited to the special topics and themes. Recent conferences featured panels on:

• The presidency in popular culture
• Storytelling in the public square
• News coverage of political figures and campaigns
• Narrative approaches to public policy
• Political icons
• American identity
• Political art or performance

Presentations will be limited to 15 or 20 minutes in length depending on the final panel size.

Singular presentations or full panels can be submitted for consideration.  Proposals can be submitted on the NEPCA Conference page or by going directly to the submission form here. Please select “Politics, Civic Life, and Pop Culture” as your designated area.
Please address any questions about submissions to the area chair, Dana Gavin, at dgavi001@odu.edu. I welcome questions at any stage of your proposal process, and I welcome questions from undergrads to grads to independent scholars to grad students to professors and beyond! I would love to work with you to make your proposal a success.