Popular Arts Conference 2026
Program at a Glance
| Date & time | Room | Hotel | Panel Title | Track |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 08:30 am | Galleria 1 | Hilton | Creative Limitations & Pressures in Animation | Animation |
| Fri 02:30 pm | M301 | Marriott | Postmodern Superheroes | AmSFF |
| Fri 10:00 pm | Chastain F | Westin | Diversity and Representation in Comics | Comics |
| Sat 01:00 pm | Chastain F | Westin | Teaching Environmental Justice thru Comics | Comics |
| Sat 04:00 pm | Augusta 3 | Westin | Tabletop Games, Disability, & Diversity | TTGaming |
| Sat 07:00 pm | Chastain F | Westin | African and African-American Comics | Comics |
| Sun 02:30 pm | Augusta 3 | Westin | TTRPGs, Philosophy, and Agency | TTGaming |
| Sun 04:00 pm | Marietta | Hyatt | PAC Business Meeting | |
| Sun 05:30 pm | 309-312 | Hilton | Samurai to K-Pop: Recontextualizing Tradition | Silk Road |
| Sun 07:00 pm | Chastain F | Westin | Graphic Memoirs: Where Text & Visual Meet | Comics |
| Mon 10:00 am | Galleria 1 | Hilton | Horse Figures and Human Struggles | Animation |
| Mon 11:30 am | Embassy AB | Hyatt | Octavia Butler: Patterns and Parables | SF Lit |
| Mon 01:00 pm | Galleria 2-3 | Hilton | Beyond “The Burn”: Reckoning with Hegemony in Streaming-Era Star Trek | Trek |
Friday
Creative Limitations & Pressures in Animation
Friday 8:30am (Galleria 1 Hilton) Animation Track
Description: Panelists discuss aesthetics, politics, and industry pressures in animation. Scholars will look back at early regulations on depictions of 1970s black superheroes like Black Vulcan, Super Stretch, and Microwoman, and then forward to contemporary pressures around the use of CGI and AI in animated features, and the post-realism embrace of imperfection, from The Lego Movie to K-Pop Demon Hunters.
Presenters:
- Colin Wheeler (Kennesaw State University), “From The Lego Movie to K-Pop Demon Hunters: The Resurgence of Hand-Drawn Aesthetics in CGI Feature-Length Animation”
- Angela Marie Nelson (Bowling Green State University), “Black Superheroes in 1970s TV Sitcoms and Animated Cartoons: Gender, Race, and Power”
Moderator: Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge)
Postmodern Superheroes: Power, Violence, and Trauma
Friday 2:30pm (M301 Marriott) American Sci-Fi/Fantasy Media Track
Description: The scholars on this panel explore postmodern superhero media, focused on the television series The Boys (2019-present) and Watchmen (2019), focusing on the themes of violence, trauma, cynicism, corporate power, post-9/11 American exceptionalism, militarism, hero worship, and resistance to authoritarianism.
Presenters:
- Rob Brissey (Horry-Georgetown Technical College), “Postmodern Hope: Superman, Billy Butcher, and Resistance to Authoritarian Thinking”
- Ryann Munthe (Texas Woman’s University), “Mask of Trauma: Using Watchmen to Decode the Violence of Real and Fictional Trauma”
Moderator: Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
Conference Dinner
Friday 5:30pm
Group dinner for conference presenters and organizers; please see email for location & RSVP.
Diversity and Representation in Comics
Friday 10:00pm (Chastain F Westin) Comics Track
Description: Comics scholars explore issues of diversity and representation in comics, from the influence of Deaf culture on X-Men comics to the representation of women, people of color, and queer characters in Joshua Quagmire’s Cutey Bunny.
Presenters:
- Courtney Bliss (Marion Technical College), “It Started with a School: The role of education in Deaf culture and the X-Men”
- James Irby (Indiana University of Pennsylvania), “Marginalized No More! Progressive Bunny Hits the Mark”
Moderator: Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge)
Saturday
Teaching Environmental Justice through Comics
Saturday 1:00 pm (Chastain F Westin) Comics Track
Description: This panel examines the teaching and creation of sequential art and comics as pedagogical tools for addressing environmental problems; human, animal and environmental justice; and personal development of critical thinking, problem solving, perspective-taking and empathy.
Presenters:
- Lucy Monette (University of South Florida), “Beyond Anthropocentrism: Teaching Humane Inquiry Through Comics Pedagogy”
Moderator and Commenter: Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
TTRPGs, Philosophy, and Agency
Saturday 4:00pm (Augusta Westin) Tabletop Gaming Track
Description: Scholars of roleplaying games explore philosophical and cultural issues in the hobby. How do player agency and character goals interact? Should a player feel regret for the actions of their character? How can culture radically change the way a game is understood and played?
Panelists: Barry Rich (University of Tennessee Southern), Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale), Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge)
African and African-American Comics
Saturday 7:00 pm (Chastain F Westin) Comics Track
Description: Comics scholars explore themes and influences in African and African-American comics, including the influence of Black and African religion and spirituality, themes of science and technology, and Afro-/African futurism.
Presenter: Antionette Brown-Waithe (Georgia State), “The Future Was Long Ago: Agency, Power and the Search for Self in Black Speculative Comics”
Commenter: Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge)
Moderator: Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
Sunday
Tabletop Games, Disability, and Diversity
Sunday 2:30pm (Augusta Westin) Tabletop Gaming Track
Description: Scholars of tabletop gaming explore the relationship of the hobby to issues of disability and diversity, including critiques of issues of disability representation in major TTRPGs and an ethnographic study of how tabletop gaming communities attract, foster, and encourage acceptance and growth of its neurodivergent members.
Presenters:
- Sam Jones (Kutztown University of Pennsylvania), “Roll for Representation: Disability Portrayal in TTRPGs”
- Jackson Morris (Georgia State University), “In Response!: The TTG community and Neurodiversity”
Moderator: Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
PAC Business Meeting
Sunday 4:00pm (Marietta Hyatt)
Description: Interested in getting more involved with PAC? All PAC presenters, organizers, program committee members, and potential future participants are welcome to attend. We will discuss how PAC works, get your feedback on our processes, and make plans for PAC 2027.
From Samurai to K-Pop: Recontextualizing Traditions
Sunday 5:30pm (309-312 Hilton) Silk Road Track
Description: From the flattening of the traditional Samurai text, Hagakure, in the movie “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” to the creative reworking of K-Pop lyrics and lightsticks in the 2025 Korean protest movement, scholars examine how the dislocation of texts from their original cultural or historical contexts reshapes the ways they are interpreted, adapted, and mobilized.
Presenters:
- Eliza Gainty (University of Georgia), “Translating the Way of the Samurai: Decontextualization and Cultural Exchange in Ghost Dog (1999)”
- Kelly Kwon (Emory University), “K-pop Lightsticks in 2025 Impeachment Protest and Han Kang’s Literature on Authoritarianism”
Moderator: Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge)
Graphic Memoirs: Where the Textual and Visual Meet
Sunday 7:00 pm (Chastain F Westin) Comics Track
Description: Situated at the intersection of visual storytelling, autobiography, and cultural critique, graphic memoirs offer a uniquely embodied form of narrative. Comics scholars explore the way point of view is rendered not only through language, but through line, layout, color, and visual metaphor.
Presenter: Derek Wohlust (University of Florida), “Drawing Perspective from the Graphic Memoir”
Commenter: Courtney Bliss (Marion Technical College)
Moderator : Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
Monday
Horse Figures and Human Struggles in Animation
Monday 10:00 am (Galleria 1 Hilton) Animation Track
Description: Pop culture scholars discuss important social issues and critiques through animated narratives featuring anthropomorphized horses as main characters (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.)
Presenters:
- Mirjam Piepot (University of Alabama), “More Than Just a Children’s Horse Movie? Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Native American Representation”
Moderator: Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
Octavia Butler: Patterns and Parables
Monday 11:30 am (Embassy AB Hyatt) Science Fiction Literature Track
Description: Octavia Butler’s speculative fiction has been celebrated for her engagement with histories of oppression and survival, exploring power in alternate worlds and possible futures. Literary scholars will discuss Butler’s characters, her unique worldbuilding, and how her legacy has evolved.
Presenters: Jennifer Flaherty (Georgia College & State University), Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge), Mary Magoulick (Georgia College & State University)
Moderator: Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale)
Beyond “The Burn”: Reckoning with Hegemony in Streaming-Era Star Trek
Monday 1:00 pm (Galleria 2-3 Hilton) Trek Track
Description: Pop culture scholars examine Star Trek as a source of political commentary, focusing on how Star Trek Discovery (seasons 3-5) and Star Trek Academy respond to and comment on the role and status of the United States in a posthegemonic world.
Presenter: Ralph Lawson (Columbia College), “Beyond ‘The Burn’: Reckoning with Hegemony in Streaming-Era Star Trek”
Commenter: Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge)
Moderator: Courtney Bliss (Marion Technical College)
About the Popular Arts Conference
PAC is an annual academic conference for the studies of the popular arts, including science/speculative fiction and fantasy literature, film, and other media, comic books, manga, graphic novels, anime, gaming, etc. PAC presentations are peer reviewed, based in scholarly research. Visit our website for more info and next year’s CFP: https://populararts.org/
Organizing Committee
Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) – Founder, Program Co-Chair
Richard Scott Nokes (Troy University) – Program Co-Chair
Daniel Amrhein (Independent Scholar)
Courtney Bliss (Marion Technical College)
Jillian Marie Browning (University of Alabama, Birmingham)
Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge)
Kari Neely (Middle Tennessee State University)
Program Committee
Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (Georgia Tech)
Poe Johnson (Drew University)
Andrew Kemp-Wilcox (University of Arizona)
Ralph Lawson III (Columbia College)
Victoria Navarra (Randolph-Macon College)
Barry Rich (University of Tennessee Southern)
Katelyn Schuler (Troy University)
Matthew J. Smith (The Ohio State University at Newark)
Savanna Teague (Middle Tennessee State University)