Organization and refereeing of academic paper sessions at ICFA is under the direction of Division Heads, also appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Board. You can find the Executive Board here and the Other IAFA Officials here. Perquisites received by board members, other officers, and division heads are listed here.
Children’s & Young Adult Literature & Art (CYA)The Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Art division welcomes critical scholarship that focuses on childhood, child characters, and literature aimed at younger readers. This includes picture books as well as middle-grade and young adult novels, short stories, and graphic novels that involve fantasy, horror, paranormal romance, science fiction, and any other aspect of the fantastic.Division Head: Sarah Canfield
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Fairy Tales and Folk Narratives (FTFN)The Fairy Tales and Folk Narratives division welcomes critical scholarship on all aspects of folk narrative and culture in all media. This includes but is not limited to oral and literary fairy tales, folk tales, wonder tales, legend, and myth, as well as adaptations and interconnections of oral and literary tales with other media.Division Head: Abigail Heiniger
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Fantasy Literature (FL)The Fantasy Literature division welcomes critical scholarship on all aspects of fantasy literature (broadly defined to mean anything from genre fantasy to magic realism) including, but not restricted to, criticism on works by fantasy authors writing in English, interdisciplinary approaches to the genre, and scholarship on fantasy theory. Division Head: Brittani Ivan Brittani Ivan is a PhD candidate at Western Sydney University, AUS. She received an MA with distinction from Kansas State University and an AB magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College. She has published in Mythlore on the fantastic landscapes of Diana Wynne Jones and Garth Nix. Her research interests include post-colonial theory, mapping, archival studies, book history, adaptation studies, and anglophone fantasy literature. She has been a member of IAFA since 2017, and has served as a conference assistant since 2022. |
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Film and Television (FTV)The Film and Television division welcomes critical scholarship, panels, and theory roundtables that deal with cinema and television and engage any genre of the Fantastic, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror. As with other narrative forms, the analysis of film and television can be taken up multiple ways and through varied critical lenses.Division Head: Larrie Dudenhoeffer Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA iafa.div.ftv@fantastic-arts.org Larrie Dudenhoeffer is a Professor of English at Kennesaw State University in the metro Atlanta area specializing in film and television studies, critical theory, and American studies. He is the author of Embodiment and Horror Cinema (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), Anatomy of the Superhero Film (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), and Walls without Cinema: State Security and Subjective Embodiment in Twenty-First Century U.S. Filmmaking (Bloomsbury, 2019). He is currently completing a "sequel" to his first book on horror cinema. |
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Gothic and Horror Literature (GaH)The Gothic and Horror Literature division welcomes critical scholarship focused on the inter-related modes of Gothic literature and horror literature, as well as closely related modes such as the Weird and the Grotesque. Papers may explore any aspect of literary horror or the Gothic, including but not limited to the evolution, cultural significance, and theory of these modalities, as well as specific types and typologies, for example: body horror, psychological horror, and philosophical horror. Papers exploring related topics, such as the role of the supernatural, the sublime, monstrosity, or affects including horror, terror, dread or anxiety, as well as interconnections between Gothic and horror literature and other media, including film, comics and games, are also welcome.Division Head: Jude Wright
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International Fantastic (IF)The International Fantastic division welcomes scholarship in all subgenres of the fantastic in world media. “International” means either non-anglophone or originating in a culture considered foreign within the anglophone world; this may include minority or Indigenous texts within an anglophone country. Projects in postcolonial and diaspora studies, area and language studies, translation theory and studies, comparative literature and media, non-anglophone epistemologies and technocultures, the role of the international division of labor and global finance in textual development, gender and queer studies especially in the Global South, international justice movements, global research methodologies and national archives, and Indigenous and Trans-Indigenous Studies are welcome. Division Head: M. Elizabeth (Libby) Ginway
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Science Fiction Literature (SF)The Science Fiction Literature division welcomes critical scholarship on topics related to science fiction novels, short stories, poems, and other forms that can be considered literary as well as those focused on critical theories related to the SF genre. This division’s emphasis is textual as well as theoretical; papers considering science fiction in film, television, or comics are encouraged to apply to the Film and Television division or the Visual & Performing Arts and Audiences division instead. Division Head: Keren Omry University of Haifa, Israel iafa.div.sf@fantastic-arts.org
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Visual and Performing Arts and Audiences (VPAA)The Visual and Performing Arts and Audiences division welcomes critical scholarship and discussions on a transdisciplinary variety of visual media. Among these are comic books, comic strips and graphic novels; graphic arts, including photography, paintings, illustrations, design, and sculpture; architecture and the depiction of architecture in visual media; the performing arts, including music, choreography and (musical) theatre; (video) games and gaming culture; fandom studies in all media and communities; as well as transformative texts such as mashups and viral marketing and audience/reception studies concerning audiences for any medium or genre of the fantastic.Division Head: Leisa A. Clark Hillsborough Community College, Tampa, FL iafa.div.vpaa@fantastic-arts.org
Leisa has an undergraduate degree in Anthropology, as well as graduate degrees in Women's and Gender Students and Humanities. She is currently an Instructor of Humanities at Hillsborough Community College. As a Humanities instructor, she is knowledgeable about The Visual and Performing Arts and Audiences. Starting in the 1980s, she has worked on over 50 different shows, on stage, as a director, and as a stage manager. Leisa has co-edited four books for McFarland and Company, working with Mary F. Pharr and Amanda Firestone to create volumes on The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Post-Apocalyptic Media, and Resistance Narratives (in Media). BIPOC Caucus OfficersThe BIPOC caucus hosts both Counter Space and Brave Space events. Counter Space is an international and transracial Think Tank and creative haven where the BIPOC Caucus hosts events that may be of particular BIPOC interest, including conversations known as Brave Spaces. Anyone submitting a proposal of potential BIPOC relevance and interest is welcome to submit the proposal indicating a preference to present in the Counter Space.Brave Space is a type of conversation intended to regulate and dignify an exchange of vulnerable questions and sensitive answers about racial bias and the pain of transforming traditions of privilege into shared opportunities, among other topics that have to do with race and ethnicity in historically colonized spaces and contexts. Brave Space conversations take place in the Counter Space under BIPOC Caucus supervision. Please review the Brace Space Rules of Engagement here: https://iaftfita.wildapricot.org/Policies.BIPOC Caucus PIO and Counter Space SchedulerSang-Keun Yoo Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA iafa.div.bipoc@fantastic-arts.org ![]() |