2026 ELLAK Graduate Student Seminar Call for Papers
Reimagining English Studies: Across Worlds, Media, and Disciplines
Date: June 27, 2026
Venue: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교)
Hosted by 한국영어영문학회 (ELLAK)
The familiar contours of English studies are becoming less distinct. The rapid expansion of AI, ongoing methodological debates, the limits of Anglo-/Eurocentric as well as masculinist canons, the environmental crisis, the growth of public humanities, and discussions of the “end of literary theory” all prompt us to rethink the field’s established boundaries. The 2026 ELLAK Graduate Seminar invites proposals that explore how English studies is being reimagined amid global, environmental, technological, and institutional shifts. As literary and linguistic scholarship increasingly engages with the environmental crisis, digital transformations, and interdisciplinary inquiry, emerging research crosses boundaries of medium, method, and field. This seminar foregrounds experimental approaches to literature, language, and culture, highlighting graduate research as a vital site for methodological innovation and critical reflection.
We welcome abstracts that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:
* Interdisciplinary methods
* Theoretical reorientations and disciplinary debates
* Endings, transitions, and generative paradigms
* Artificial intelligence, digital humanities, and changing cultures of reading and writing
* Media, form, and creative practice (hybrid genres; multimedia storytelling across film, performance, visual and platform media)
* Environmental criticism and apocalyptic narratives
* Bios: biopolitical and posthuman encounters
* Translation, world literature, and transnational circulation
* Social justice, care, and collective futures
* Violence, conflict, and the politics of representation
* Precarious gender and sexuality
* Post post-theories (The future of postcolonialism and postmodernism)
* The end of theoretical linguistics: corpus and quantitative approaches
With these themes in mind, we are honored to welcome Professor Seolji Han (Kyungpook National University) as our keynote speaker. She teaches courses on media, including K-pop, science fiction, and media theory. Her research spans Global Modernism, Critical Theory, Posthumanism, Ecological Writing, and Digital Humanities.
In addition, authors of selected Best Papers will be invited to present in a general session at the 2026 ELLAK International Conference, which will be held in winter 2026. We look forward to the active participation of graduate student researchers.
For this seminar, no full paper is required. Only an abstract submitted via the Google Form is required. Please send us your 300-word abstract with 3–5 keywords via the following link: https://forms.gle/Z7aXDAnn6Ux7mmJt9
Important Dates
* Abstract Submission: Due April 15, 2026
* Acceptance Notification: May 1, 2026
Contact
* ellak.grad@gmail.com
