Workshop Abstracts

Aaron Rabinowitz Rutgers University HBO’s Lovecraft Country presents a terrifying glimpse into the cultural landscape of Jim Crow America, focusing the audience’s attention on the tools of colonial oppression that defined the period. Drawing on the postcolonial work of Willinsky (1998), Mbembé (20

Dr. Johnathan Flowers American University Clifford the Big Red Dog, the titular character of Norman Birdwell’s children’s books and the extended media based upon it, is what is commonly referred to as a kaiju, or “strange beast” in Japanese popular culture. While authors like Nicole Waxman argue th

Gretchen Ellefson Southern Utah University The following has been used by certain philosophers as an example of an obviously true statement: 1. Witches do not exist.[1] Contrary to what many seem to think, I contend that (1) clearly false. If I am right, then we must ask why (1) seems (to some

Zack Brown SUNY Buffalo In this talk I will discuss my paper-in-progress about the horror-influenced video game Bloodborne. I think that Bloodborne serves as a potential site to consider both the relationships between philosophy/horror and between philosophy/video games, as well as the way in which

David Eduardo Torres Alvarez Trinity College Dublin Do we actually like being scared? Do we enjoy watching disgusting things? I believe the most natural answer would be a forthright “no, we don’t”, yet there seems to be cases when, confronted with a frightening vision or a revolting spectacle, we d

Blakely Phillips Georgia State University Perimeter College) What makes something eerie? Eeriness is a property both of real life situations (an empty airport at three in the morning, strange noises or appearances, abandoned places or things, and very old artifacts) and artistic works that represen