As Department Chair, I am delighted to announce that in the fall of 2024, George Fox University’s Department of Language, Literature, and Communication will launch the inaugural Eclectic Texts Conference (ETC), a two-day event aimed at combining popular cultural texts with academic research.
Through the courses our department offers the students of George Fox, we strive to foster rigorous engagement with the stories that shape our world, helping students understand how their own stories and shared cultural stories participate in and resist the most important story of all: the story of God redeeming the world through Christ.
In 2023-24 the world, our campus here in Newberg, and my household have been swept-up by the global sensation that is Taylor Swift and her record breaking Eras Tour — a crowning achievement on a music career that has earned Swift industry accolades and made her a billionaire business woman. Perhaps more significant to Swift’s global influence, is the loyal fan base of “Swifties” that has grown around her music, the stories and experiences she sings about, the values she embraces, and the relationships that grow between people because of her music.
To that end, as the Eras Tour will be winding-up in the PNW this fall, it seemed appropriate for our inaugural ETC to consider Taylor Swift as “The Voice of an Age”.
Embodying the university vision of “Christ and Culture,” this conference considers Taylor Swift’s position within literary, political, religious, and popular culture, with particular focus on how Swift’s music and fandom intersect with Christian faith and discipleship. The conference models how the intellectual life of Christians matters by turning our attention to things that matter to our culture and thinking along with the world about the musician so many of us love.
Consistent with George Fox’s emphasis on undergraduate education, this event will be designed to specifically welcome undergraduate research into conversation with professional scholarship. By design, the conference aims to be a welcoming environment for high school students — inviting them to see how the humanities foster thoughtful engagement with major economic and cultural influences — and giving them a taste of their next era, life on a college campus. Priced with students in mind, conference registration is only $5!
“Taylor Swift: The Voice of an Age” will be held over Friday and Saturday, October 25-26, 2024, on the George Fox University Campus in Newberg, Oregon. Everything you need to know can be found at gfuENG.link/SWIFT
Keynote Papers
The Keynote Speakers will feature Professors from George Fox’s English & Theology departments — their working titles include:
Gary Tandy
Swift and the American Singer-Songwriter Tradition
Melanie Springer Mock
The Feminism of Taylor Swift
Travis Pickell
Taylor Swift’s Theology of Regret
Call for Papers
Showcase your inner-Swiftie by presenting a paper! A Call for Papers is now open to other faculty and undergraduate students, not only from George Fox, but from other institutions who can travel to Newberg to join us. Submission of paper proposals is due on 13th September.
Conference Info + Registration
“Are you ready for it?”
grace & peace,
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