Populism and Cultural Studies Conference. 19 – 21 November 2026

The Society for the Study of British Cultures (BritCult) will be holding its annual conference in Würzburg from 19–21 November 2026, with a focus on the phenomenon of populism. Claiming to speak ‘for the people‘, populism mobilises against elitism as well as against cultural heterogeneity and dispersion. Above all, populism emotionalizes and thereby shapes politics not only in contemporary Britain, but across the globe. If populism professes to translate cultural dispositions into a political programmatic, then cultural studies is arguably ideally poised for its critical examination.

BritCult 2026 is co-organised by JMU English & British Cultural Studies, American Cultural Studies, and Slavic Studies with the Schelling-Forum der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften an der Universität Würzburg.

Keynote speakers: Prof. Dr. Juha Herkman (University of Helsinki) and Prof. Dr. Melanie M. Schiller (Radboud University)

Workshop sessions/Call for Papers: While emphasizing British Cultural Studies as a grounding framework, the conference seeks to address the trans/national character of contemporary populism/s. Thus, a focus on the British Isles and world regions touched by British colonialism will be retained, while encouraging contributions from transnational and transdisciplinary perspectives. We especially welcome proposals relating to US-American and Slavic-speaking cultures and spaces. 

Call for Papers

If you are interested in contributing a 20-minute paper, please send your abstract (c. 300 words) and a short bio-note (c. 150 words) by 15 April 2026 to anglistik-britcult2026@uni-wuerzburg.de

Further information at our conference website: https://www.britcult.de/conference2026/