MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities 21
Call for Papers: Disgust

Disgust is one of our most visceral emotions. According to Sianne Ngai’s theorisation of ‘ugly feelings’, it shapes not only our immediate sensory reactions, but also our moral and cultural boundaries, revealing the assumptions underlying judgement and values. This issue seeks to explore how disgust is experienced and represented, and how its affective force informs the making, reading, and reception of literary and cinematic works. We invite proposals engaging with this theme. Proposals may cover a range of periods (from the medieval and Early Modern to the twenty-first century) and different cultural contexts (including English-, French-, Germanic-, Hispanic-, Italian-, Portuguese-, and Slavonic-speaking cultures). We hope to attract scholars working in a variety of fields (Modern Languages, English Studies, Comparative Literature, Cultural History, Gender Studies, Queer Theory, Film and Media Studies, the Digital Humanities, Art History, Performance and Reception History).

MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities is an electronic open-access journal intended to allow researchers to present initial findings or hypotheses. As such it will be of particular interest to postgraduate and early-career researchers. We invite proposals for papers of up to 4000 words in MHRA style, with completed essays to be delivered to the editors by 22nd April 2026. Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent, accompanied by a short biographical statement on the same page, to postgrads@mhra.org.uk by 19th January 2026. Abstracts must include clear reference to the authors/directors and literary/cinematic works to be discussed.