Queer Approaches Journal: Inaugural Issue: Nightmares
Organization: Queer Approaches to Media
For the inaugural publication of the Queer Approaches Journal, you are invited to submit an abstract on the theme “Nightmares.” Nightmares, whether actual or metaphorical, are all around us. Whether it is imagined futures or the horrors of contemporary realities, nightmares haunt our daily lives. How do we mediate our social, cultural, and personal relationships to nightmares? How do we navigate the fraught relationships between dreams and reality?
We are seeking contributions that think through, with, or pressure, this concept through formal, cultural, theoretical, industrial, historical, and other approaches. For this issue we encourage critical submissions that engage with media objects, industries, technologies, and histories that either articulate or respond to the issue theme. We encourage scholars to take risks in their submissions with new work and welcome scholarship that has creative components. We also encourage work that iterates on any relationship between queerness and media, encouraging theoretical and historical research that engages with the issue theme.
Please email all submission materials to the editors at queerapproaches@gmail.com.
Potential Topics and Keywords:
Dreams
Dystopias
Utopias
Speculation
Imagination
Poetics
Historiography
Affect
Haunting
Monsters
Paralysis
Ghosts
Horror
Fear
Submission Guidelines:
Abstract, 300-500 words
Bibliography 3-5 sources
Bio, 100 words
About the Publication
The Queer Approaches Journal is a new peer-reviewed publication which emphasizes elevating the work of early-career scholars and graduate students. It is edited by the Queer Approaches to Media research cluster at the University of California, Irvine, housed in the School of Humanities, and affiliated faculty.
All Submissions are due November 17, 2025
Initial drafts of papers will be due March 1, 2026
Publication is anticipated for early fall 2026
For additional information, please email the following email address: queerapproaches@gmail.com.
Brandon Blackburn