In anticipation of the general Call for Papers for the 2027 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, to be held in San Francisco at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District, May 6–8, 2027, the conference program committee invites proposals for thematic streams.
The theme of the 2027 conference is Artificial. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly pervasive—and almost certainly more so by the time we meet—we want to create space to consider it in the context of our disciplines in the Bay Area, at the heart of where much of this technology is being developed. At the same time, the idea of the artificial is broadly generative, and its reach extends well beyond this local and recent context.
At the core of the conference theme is “art”: human making, craft, and its material result; the counterpart of science. Next comes “artifice,” with its associations of ingenuity, technical skill, cunning, falsity, and deception. Our theme reaches its destination at “artificial”: fabricated, prosthetic, non-spontaneous. The artificial is the opposite not only of the natural or organic but, especially today, of the human.
Questions associated with the theme in its narrower sense might include: How do art, language, culture, media, and belief shape people’s encounters with technology? Do the linguistic artificial worlds of fiction, or the visual and multimedia worlds of painting, film, and other media, offer insights into those of AI? What, if any, are the roles of AI “superintelligence” in research and teaching in the humanities, especially languages?
The conference program committee also welcomes contributions engaging more broadly with humanistic questions centered on art, artifice, the artificial, and their others. How do texts represent artworks, artists, and art-making? How and why are categories such as the natural, the human, and the organic constructed? How do artworks reflect on distinctions between originals and copies, or authenticity and imitation? Investigations of style and technique, and of the concrete physical realization or “madeness” of cultural products, also fall within the scope of Artificial.
What are Thematic Streams?
Thematic streams consist of a series of panels tied together by a common topic and offered sequentially within the larger conference program. Streams provide a greater degree of cohesion than a single conference panel and can create sustained opportunities for participants to connect with international colleagues working on related topics, develop longer-term collaborations, or work toward joint publications in Scandinavian Studies or elsewhere.
Thematic stream proposals are being solicited in advance of the general Call for Papers so that accepted streams can be included in that call. Once a stream has been accepted, it will appear as an option in the conference submission system, allowing individual paper submitters to indicate that they would like their proposal to be considered for that stream. Stream organizers may assist the program committee in recruiting participants, reviewing submissions, and organizing the resulting panels.
Thematic stream proposals must include a 200–300 word abstract describing the stream and the name(s) of the proposed stream chair(s).
Deadline for thematic stream proposals: September 18, 2026
Looking to propose a pre-constituted panel, roundtable, workshop, or other organized session instead?
Accepted thematic streams will be announced with the general Call for Papers on October 1, 2026.
If you have questions, please contact:
sass2027@scandinavianstudy.org