Popular Culture Association 2027 Special Topic: UFOs, Cryptids, Conspiracies, and the Paranormal (Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association)
Boston, Massachusetts
Organization: Popular Culture Association
Event: Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association
The 2027 Conference of the Popular Culture Association (PCA) will host a special topic area on UFOs, Cryptids, Conspiracies, and the Paranormal.
The organizers of the PCA’s special topic on UFOs, Cryptids, Conspiracies, and the Paranormal welcome proposals for papers and presentations from an interdisciplinary range of fields, including sociology, literature, media studies, anthropology, folklore, religion, history, political science, medieval studies, rhetoric, education, and bibliography. Papers in this area will not seek to prove or disprove the reality of any of the stigmatized subjects under discussion; instead, they will explore the cultural forces at work in their origin and development, their form and content, and the audiences that receive them.
Discussions of UFOs, conspiracy theories, the paranormal, and cryptozoological creatures were once relegated to the fringes of American culture; yet in the last decade, they have steadily migrated toward its center. As the belief in conspiracy theories and the paranormal becomes increasingly influential on American culture and politics, understanding these ideas, how they develop, and the subcultures that form around them is essential for understanding the trajectory of culture in the 21st century.
The belief in UFOs, conspiracy theories, paranormal occurrences, and cryptozoological creatures may seem like four disparate concepts; yet, they are connected through their shared beliefs in “stigmatized knowledge,” a term developed in Michael Barkun’s groundbreaking 2003 monograph A Culture of Conspiracy to describe a range of ideas rejected by mainstream culture. From the belief that alien beings visit the earth to fringe science to radical politics, adherents of these subcultures regard these ways of knowing as forgotten, superseded, ignored, rejected, occulted, and/or suppressed sources of truth.
Area Theme
In accordance with the PCA’s 2027 theme of “Revolutions & Revisions in Popular Culture,” this area of study is particularly interested in papers relating to issues of transformation, resistance, innovation, and social change. Abstracts do not need to address this theme, but papers relating to them may be grouped in thematic panels.
Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- UFO/UAP Disclosure as Apocalypse
- Ethnography of Cryptozoological Practitioners
- Folklore and History of Cryptids in the Boston Area
- Combating Conspiracy Theories in the Classroom
- The Rhetoric of Stigmatized Knowledge Production
- Disclosure or Distraction? UFOs and Politics
- UFOs, Conspiracy Theories, Cryptids, and the Paranormal in Popular Television
- UFOs, Conspiracy Theories, Cryptids, and the Paranormal in Popular Film
- The Legacy of JFK's Assassination
- Folkloristic Aspects of UFO Accounts
- UFO Conspiracies and the Internet: The Influence of ParaNet
- Legend-Tripping and Paranormal Tourism
- Q-Anon and American Millenarianism
- Intersections of Conspiracy Theories and Moral Panic
- Alternative Archaeology and the Suspicion of Expertise
- The Apocalypse and Millennial Religious Movements
- Cryptids and the History of Science
- Cryptids and American Culture
Submission Guidelines
Please submit an abstract with a maximum of 300 words by October 31, 2026, through the PCA website: www.pcaaca.org. If you wish to submit a panel for the conference, all presenters must submit individually through the website, and then notify the Area Chairs of their intention to present together. If you wish to submit a proposal for a roundtable, please contact the Area Chairs in advance. Upon acceptance, presenters will need to submit a brief biography so that their session chairs can introduce them.
If you are not already a member of the PCA, you must join in order to submit a proposal, and presenters whose proposals are accepted must register for the conference no later than February 15, 2027. Prior to submitting, please review the full guidelines at https://pcaaca.org/page/submissionguidelines.
Questions? Please contact the area chairs:
Gabriel Mckee, gm95@nyu.edu
Jeremy Land, jland@mclennan.edu
Important Dates
Open for Submissions - 1 August 2026
Submission Deadline - 31 October 2026
Travel Grant Application Due - 15 November 2026
Notified of Acceptance - 16 November 2025
Travel Grant Recipients Notified - 31 December 2026
Early Bird Registration Ends - 31 December 2026
Regular Registration Opens - 1 January 2027
Draft of Conference Program Available - 7 January 2027
Regular Registration Deadline - 31 January 2027
Final Registration Opens - 1 February 2027
All Presenters Must Be Registered - 15 February 2027
PCA Conference in Boston - 24 - 27 March 2027
https://pcaaca.org/page/submissionguidelines
Gabriel Mckee