SLU-Madrid Hosts International Conference on Monster Studies
Saint Louis University-Madrid hosted "Monstrous Bodies: From Frankenstein to the Posthuman," a two-day international conference on April 24-25 that brought together scholars from four continents to examine the figure of the monster as a lens for some of the most pressing questions in the humanities.
Organized by the Department of English, the conference featured 40 presenters across nine panels, with participants representing institutions from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. The program opened with a keynote address by Margrit Shildrick, Ph.D., whose book Embodying the Monster helped establish the field of monster studies, followed by a second keynote from Michael Marder on vegetal life and the limits of the human.
Presenters connected topics ranging from Frankenstein and artificial intelligence to Gothic empire, reproductive politics, feral motherhood and ecological grief, repeatedly returning to a central question: who is labeled monstrous, and what are the consequences of that designation?
A dance performance and creative reading extended the conversation beyond the traditional panel format, underscoring how the monstrous also operates through artistic expression and cultural practice.
The conference concluded with a reception that reinforced SLU-Madrid's growing reputation as a center for internationally connected and socially engaged humanities scholarship.