Call for Papers: 4th International Interdisciplinary Conference on Boredom 

June 24 to 25, 2021,

Faculty of Philosophy, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

For years, the literature on boredom has been crowded with complaints about the scarcity of research on the subject, even though there is a large amount of papers and books on this phenomenon, since philosophers, theologians, sociologists, and writers have reflected on boredom for centuries. The area of cross-disciplinaryBoredom Studies has been successfully launched and continued to steadily grow over the last two decades. Whatever domain of reality boredom researchers scrutinize, boredom emerges as a significant part of our daily lives. 

In accordance with previous editions, the 4th International Interdisciplinary Boredom Conference aims to attract specialists on boredom from a wide range of disciplines to expand the knowledge we have already achieved concerning its nature, history, causes, and consequences. The goals of this encounter are to 1) gather together boredom researchers from various academic disciplines worldwide; 2) make new and develop existing connections between them; 3) create the venue for interdisciplinary boredom-oriented academic discussion; 4) promote Boredom Studies as a justified, significant, and needed domain of scientific research; and 5) establish recurrent organizational and social structures that enable further development of Boredom Studies. 

We look forward to proposals addressing the following areas of interest:

·       Philosophy, Theology and History of Boredom

·       Psychology and Psychiatry of Boredom

·       Anthropology and Sociology of Boredom

·       Animal Boredom

·       Boredom in Literature and Art

·       Boredom in Education and Pedagogy

We also look forward to the contributions outside above list as we planned to organize an open session.

Please, send proposals (in English) of no more than 500 words to josros@ucm.es or mariusz.finkielsztein@gmail.com no later than January 31, 2021. Those selected will be notified on 10 February 2021. Registration fees for speakers (50€ for Professors and Professionals / 25€ for Ph.D. and postdoctoral students) should be paid from February 10 to April 10, 2021. Attendance is free of charge unless for attendants pursuing ECTS credits. The proceedings of this conference will be published either as a special issue or an edited volume. 

Organizers: Dr. Josefa Ros Velasco (RCC at Harvard – Complutense University of Madrid Postdoctoral Fellow), Dr. Mariusz Finkielsztein (Institute of Sociology, Collegium Civitas, Poland), Prof. Dr. José Luis Villacañas Berlanga (Complutense University of Madrid), Prof. Dr. Antonio Rivera García (Complutense University of Madrid), Prof. Dr. Nuria Sánchez Madrid (Complutense University of Madrid).