Three students in Jennifer Ezell’s Praxis class submitted their papers for a virtual academic/pop culture conference.
Oklahoma City University theatre and performance juniors Olivia Allen, Harley Harris and Shelby Parker all submitted academic papers at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference last week.
The actual conference is hosted by the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.
“The mission of the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) is to promote an innovative and nontraditional academic movement in Humanities and Social Sciences celebrating America’s cultural heritages. To provide an outlet for scholars, writers, and others interested in popular/American culture, to share ideas in a professional atmosphere, and to increase awareness and improve public perceptions of America’s cultural traditions and diverse populations,” the organization’s website reads.
The students’ essay topics varied, but they revolved around the concepts of the Monstrous Feminine and queer theory.
The Monstrous Feminine is a concept created by Barbara Creed. The Monstrous Feminine dives into the theory of how women are portrayed as “motherly” or are often seen as victims in horror films. The Monstrous Feminine also discusses how women try to fight these ideas.
Queer Theory dives into varying aspects of LGBTQ+ sexuality, how they are exploited, as well as ways to fight against this exploitation.
Harley Harris wrote their paper over analysis of The Monstrous Feminine in characters from the horror podcast “The Magnus Archives.”
Olivia Allen took the concept of The Monstrous Feminine and combined it with her love for Taylor Swift for her paper submission.
“I was rewatching the Reputation Stadium Tour, and I started to notice that it kind of matched up with what we had been discussing in class about feminism and the Monstrous Feminine. And to me, Taylor had recreated this character that had kind of taken it and turned it into a cool, positive thing. I decided I wanted to write my paper about that,” Allen said.
Shelby Parker wrote her paper about queer theory and “Phineas and Ferb,” titled, “Behold, the Queer-inator: Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Queerness in Phineas and Ferb.”
Her paper was about how throughout the Disney show “Phineas and Ferb,” Dr. Doofenshmirtz was made predominately to have gay characteristics, and how queer characteristics were exploited through him.
These papers began in Jennifer Ezell’s Praxis class. The basis of the class is to explore various critical analysis theories and how they’re seen in culture. Some of these theories include Abjection Theory, Male Gaze Theory and the Monstrous Feminine.
For an assignment, her students had to write papers about one of the theories mentioned in class and connect it to culture. Ezell encouraged students to submit their papers to the conference. Harris, Parker, and Allen were the three who did.
The Southwest Popular/American Culture conference was an opportunity for writers and scholars to experience a professional network.
“Research can be isolating. You’re alone in your room studying with a bunch of books. However, going to the conference and talking to others who are in the same interest field you are, you don’t feel alone anymore. The work that you do by yourself impacts other humans when it goes out into the world,” Ezell said.
Ezell said she liked the SWPAC conference because of how helpful and welcoming they are, as opposed to bigger conferences.
“We just don’t go to conferences because they’re fun. We don’t just go just to network. It’s for you, personally, to takes notes and learn from what they had to say after reading your paper. And if that helps, then that’s enough,” she said.
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