Wanna see something funny? Go to
https://archive.is/ecZNo and check out the time schedule. Notice how long each 'seminar' is. 30 minutes. It's like even they know they can't make bricks without clay.
I mean, look at these.
Cordeliah Logsdon – Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings
Here, let me speed this up: 'There aren't any. LOTR predates the current trans-trender fad.'
Clare Moore – The Problem of Pain: Portraying Physical Disability in the Fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien
This might not be half bad on its own, but considering the context, I expect it will be stupid whining about how the other hobbits don't validate Frodo and his missing finger.
V. Elizabeth King – “The Burnt Hand Teaches Most About Fire”: Applying Traumatic Stress and Ecological Frameworks to Narratives of Displacement and Resettlement Across Cultures in Tolkien’s Middle-earth
Wasn't the line in question an analogy for why Gandalf didn't trust Saruman after he'd escaped Orthanc?
Christopher Vaccaro – Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
Saruman wasn't queer. Sit down.
Sultana Raza – Projecting Indian Myths, Culture and History onto Tolkien’s Worlds
Projection is a bad thing. Nobody's stopping you from developing a fantasy world based on Hindu mythology -- except for maybe yourself. That might be the issue here...
Nicholas Birns – The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism
Huh? I actually had to look up the Lossoth -- they're LOTR's version of the Inuit, and had aided Arvedui (the last king of Arnor) after Angmar pushed their shit in. Arvedui gave them the Ring of Barahir and told them to ransom it to his kin, if he was lost (which, sadly, he was). I grant there's a story to be told there, but what does racism have to do with it?
Kristine Larsen – The Problematic Perimeters of Elrond Half-elven and Ronald English-Catholic
Can I have more drugs? 'Cause I can't see how this even makes sense.
Cami Agan – Hearkening to the Other: Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
This one could be interesting, but my guess is that it will suck like the rest. The reference is to conversations between a human woman, Andreth, and the king of Nargothrond, Finrod Felagund. The conversations centered on the differences between humans and elves, a particularly intense topic since Andreth had been deeply in love with Finrod's brother, Aegnor.
Sara Brown – The Invisible Other: Tolkien’s Dwarf-Women and the ‘Feminine Lack’
Already explained in the LOTR appendices, Sara, assuming you know how to read. Dwarf women are few and look very similar to the men, which gives rise to the old myth in-universe of dwarves spawning from the earth.
Sonali Chunodkar – Desire of the Ring: An Indian Academic’s Adventures in her Quest for the Perilous Realm
I hope this is allegorical; desire for the One Ring is not a good thing.
Robin Reid – Queer Atheists, Agnostics, and Animists, Oh, My!
Nobody cares. Fuck off with you.
Joel Merriner – Hidden Visions: Iconographies of Alterity in Soviet Bloc Illustrations for The Lord of the Rings
Uh... I guess this could be kinda interesting, considering how much of LOTR was samizdat during the Soviet years.
Eric Reinders – Questions of Caste in The Lord of the Rings and its Multiple Chinese Translations
Someone's trying to justify their student loans, I guess.
Dawn Walls-Thumma – Stars Less Strange: An Analysis of Fanfiction and Representation within the Tolkien Fan Community
Once again, we see how 'representation' is somehow more important than quality. I hate these people so much.
Danna Petersen-Deeprose – “Something Mighty Queer”: Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien
Someone needs to destabilize this person's income stream.
Martha Celis-Mendoza – Translation as a means of representation and diversity in Tolkien’s scholarship and fandom
Another cry for 'muh duhversity'. They spawn like mushrooms in the dark, buried in shit.
These idiots are setting academia back and they don't even know it.