Alyson Buckman announces Thursday Evening's Entertainment to a Very Enthusiastic crowd

I wanted to include this video clip of Alyson telling everyone of the opportunities for publication and fun at the conference this year. After a day of panels and discussion, these evenings of silly fun are what make the conference such a pleasure every year. Too silly? Well, remember the organization's motto: "If it isn't popular, it isn't culture."

Singing Along With Buffy

Here's a little snippet of the Thursday night fun at the Fantasy/SciFi area's sing along. This is everyone having a good time with Buffy. Later, it was Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. (Amazing how many people knew the music and words by heart!)

SWPCA Conference High Tea

Here, graduate Students eagerly await the announcement of the awards for graduate student writing and Dr. Nama's keynote address while balancing tea, finger sandwiches, and cookies on their laps.

Friday, Feb. 12 at 2PM, the conference gathered for its "high tea" at which awards are distributed and the keynote speech given. It was an eventful afternoon. Prior to the doors opening, attendees socialized in the atrium where I found my own graduate students from Northeastern State University (Oklahoma). I cornered some of them and had them describe their fund-raising efforts that brought them to the conference. - Bridget Cowlishaw

Tiffany Biggers who appears in this video went on to win the award for best conference paper in American Studies by a graduate student. Congratulations to all the graduate student winners. We will post their names and picture here as soon as it is available.

Keynote speaker and 2009 Peter Rollins Book Award winner, Dr. Adilifu Nama

Dr. Nama (left) greets members of the SWPCA after his keynote address.

Dr. Nama's book Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film won last year's book award.

At the high tea, Dr. Nama gave the conference's keynote address. In it, he challenged the scholars present to engage the public at large in their analysis of popular culture, not to allow our ideas to remain in the ivory tower. In order to do this effectively, Nama asserted that we must consider how we write about our objects of analysis. He warned that academic jargon

alienates the general public and therefore does not serve our culture.

In the Q & A period that followed, Dr. Nama answered the question of how we can do tis demystification of our subject matter when peer-reviewed journals do not always reward such writing. Nama asserted that this is where those of us who do analysis of popular culture must do more than the traditional academic. He maintained that we cannot and should not neglect peer-reviewed venues for publication but that we should have two distinct versions of the work we do: one for the academic journals and one for mainstream press. He encouraged us to send this second version of our work to magazines and to seek speaking opportunities at

public libraries. Even if it doesn't count for tenure, it is our responsibility as public intellectuals to go the extra mile. One audience member used her opportunity during the Q & A to further Nama's argument by saying that all of us who have achieved tenure should exert any influence we can to acknowledge our junior colleagues' work as public intellectuals.

Dr. Nama received a standing ovation.

After many of the audience had finished speaking with him, our editor Bridget Cowlishaw sat down with Dr. Nama to discuss his work and his views on current popular films. His responses to the films Precious and Avatar might surprise you:

News about Coming SWPCA Conferences

Featured this midday (Feb. 12) is an interview with Ximena Gallardo, one of the area chairs for Fantasy/Science Fiction. The fantasy/SciFi are is being specially honored at the conference this year in acknowledgement of the continued growth of the area.
At the Area Chairs luncheon, Ken Dvorak and Phil Heldrich announced that next year's conference will be a joint meeting of the Southwest Popular Culture Association and the national PCA. It will be, in Phil's words, "the biggest popular culture conference ever on the planet." This event will be in April 2011 on the San Antonio Riverwalk. See the SWPCA website for details as they are available.
Later today, we will post the proceedings at the high tea where winners of the conference's graduate student awards will be announced.

Ximena Gallardo, one of four area chairs for Fantasy /Science Fiction speaks about the conference

Congratulations to Ximena, Alyson Buckman, Tammy Burnett, and Brian Cowlishaw who are honored at this conference for the enormous presence of Fantasy/Science Fiction panels at the SWPCA. In this interview, Ximena tells of the treats in store for Fantasy/SciFi scholars at the conference.

Co-Chairs of the Fantasy/Science Fiction area were given awards for their work


Left to right: Tamy Burnett, Alyson Buckman, Brian Cowlishaw, Ximena Gallardo, and C. Jason Smith.

Welcome to Our Coverage of the SWPCA 31st Annual Conference

This week the Southwest Journal of Cultures will be covering the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association's Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The conference began today at 1:00PM and will continue through Saturday, Feb. 13.
To begin our conference coverage, our editor Bridget Cowlishaw posts some video interviews of conference participants. First is one of the conference organizers, Ken Dvorak who tells us about the size and scope of the conference this year and his own history with the conference. (Ken also spoke with Bridget about his memories of Ray Browne. That video and others' memories of Browne will be posted in coming days.)
After a visit with Dvorak, we have a bit of video from the beginning of the third Fantasy/Sci-Fi panel that gives a taste of the many opportunities and good fun that characterize the conference. Following the panel intro, we have a few brief interviews with conference presenters and one of the several publishers working the conference. You will notice that all of the participants have come to this conference through mentors or have participated as mentors to their own graduate students. This emphasis on developing the next generation of academic leaders is central to the conference's ethos.
Enjoy the video and return tomorrow for more.

Fantasy/SciFi Panels Consider Feminist Responses to the Popular "Twilight" series and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

Above, Tamy and Alyson (right) prepare for yet another well-attended panel about

Joss Wedon's work.

Michelle M. E. Bernard and Chele Castleman (both of whom will present their own papers about Twilight later in the conference) engaged in a lively discussion after a panel of papers about the Twilight series. Such engagements are happening at all the panels this editor has attended so far. The Twilight panels have been particularly well-attended.

Anna Gurley, graduate student and Chair of a new area at the conference: Rhetoric and New Media

Anna describes being a new area chair on the morning of the second day of the conference. Anna is in the University of Oklahoma's English Department earning her Ph.D.

Ken Dvorak reports on the state of this year's SWPCA Conference

Ken speaks as conference participants arrive on the first day ( Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010)

Tammy Burnett introduces the third Fantasy/SciFi panel and announces special opportunities for fun, fellowship, and publishing at the conference

People soon figured out that they had to snag a seat early at the Fantasy/SciFi panels if they didn't want to stand for the whole discussion.

Associate Professor of English Joey Brown describes her relationship to the SWPCA Conference

Academic Presses Exhibit Their Publications and Find New Authors among SWPCA Conference Presenters

Above, McFarland's display of titles.

Below, McFarland representative Beth Cox tells about her press' affiliation with the SWPCA conference.

Above, Texas University Press also brought a number of titles and offered half price to conference participants.

Ryan Neighbors, graduate student visits the SWPCA Conference yet again

Ryan Neighbors is a graduate student at the University of Arkansas.

Elishia Heiden, graduate student at her first conference

Dr. R.M. Davis, retired professor of English and writer on his association with the SWPCA Conference