Once and Future Fantasies: My First Conference

(The background image is from Pixabay, the drawing I did myself)

                                                       Greetings Adventurers,  

In July, I presented at a conference with the The Centre for the Fantasy and the Fantastic at the University of Glasgow, virtually. I could not attend in person due to the fact that I had a surgery (tonsil surgery if anyone is worried) and also because of other health reasons, but it was a fantastic experience that I wish to share with you, along with my paper and my experience writing it. 

The conference was called Once and Future Fantasies playing on the title of the book, The Once and Future King by T.H. White, which is a retelling of the Arthurian legends. The Conference on the other hand was about the past and future of fantasy. So, here is my experience with the conference: 

                                                      Writing the Paper-

(Image from Wikipedia, 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling#/media/File:John_Bauer_-_The_Princess_and_the_Trolls_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)

 I feel like I should mention this part before I talk about my experience with the conference itself. I first heard about Once and Future Fantasies through a request for papers from The Centre. And I decided to submit a proposal to them. Here is my proposal: 

This paper will begin by looking at the theme of the Changeling Child in Celtic fairy tales. It will show the similarities between this theme and present-day dilemmas of parents of disabled children. It will demonstrate that there are parallels between the parents’ appeal to magic in fairy tales and the parents’ appeal to medicine in today’s world. In both contexts, parents call on special powers to “recover” the child that they expected to have. In spite of this, trying to recover the child can cause a disconnect between the parents and the child, because it communicates that they do not love the child as they are, and that the child needs to be “fixed.” As someone who is disabled, I find researching and analyzing this analogy between fairy magic and Western medicine to be interesting. In Folklore, a parent gives birth to a child; the child is not what the parent expected, and it turns out their real child was replaced with a Changeling. The parent tries to return the changeling to the fairies in order to get their real child back: that is, the child they expected. In our modern-day world, a parent gives birth to a child; the child is not what the parent expected, and it turns out the child is disabled. The parent turns to Western medicine to find cures for the disability in order to get their “real” child back: that is, the child they expected. Comparing these two contexts helps to highlight the flaws in medical-centered “cures” for disabilities and in the thinking of parents and doctors about disabled children.

In the months after my proposal got accepted, I worked hard on my paper in order to get it to the point where it could be presentable. This required a lot of research and reading to find the sources I needed to get my points across. Though it was a lot of work, it was very fun because I got to read a lot of books I had not thought I would read before and I learned a lot while doing so. Some of the books I read were: Fairies: A Dangerous History; Disability, Deformity, and Disease in the Grimms' Fairy Tales; and a lot of Irish fairy tales and folk tales, as well as folk tales from other Celtic and European cultures. 

When writing the paper, I talked about my own experiences with my disabilities as well as those of others, so this paper was pretty personal as well as academic. 

I should say, for those looking to write a paper or essay for a conference, that like novel writing you will go through several drafts, and you will do a lot of research before you arrive at an end result you're happy about. (I had to read several books, some of which did not end up getting included in the final paper). I began writing in February, and didn't deliver the paper till July, so I had a lot of time to research and write. 

                             The Paper and My Experience Presenting-

(Image from wiki commons, 

                                https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Z%C3%89LIE_AND_THE_FAIRY_CANDIDE_PRINCE_CH%C3%89RI.jpg)

My paper was pre-recorded, so I spent time editing and recording it before the conference. To me it was really similar to the experiences I've had with recording my acting videos-- though a bit different since I was not in character. I was very happy with the end result. On the day of the conference, I had to wake up very early, but it was worth it. The video for my paper was just posted on The Centre for the Fantasy and the Fantastic's YouTube channel, so you can check it out: 

I also want to give a huge thank you to the Centre for the Fantasy and the Fantastic for allowing to present virtually and making this a wonderful experience. I want to say "thank you" to them, also, for posting the video of my paper on their channel. 💙 This experience has inspired me to want to be a professor, because I won't be doing acting, writing, animating, etc. as a full time job. Having a job as a professor would allow me to continue to do those things professionally-- while still having a "day job" that I like. 

After I presented, the audience asked a lot of wonderful questions about my paper, such as how disability is presented in current Fantasy media-- or even how disability should be discussed and presented in classroom settings, and what resources to use. I am very happy that my paper sparked discussion and questions. And I am so happy that I got to present at Once and Future Fantasies. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Have you been to or presented at a conference? And do you have a favorite folktale involving Changelings or the Fair Folk? 

-Quinley