Call for Papers – November 2026 Research Symposium

Call for Papers:

Dark Opacities Lab x Nazar: A Theory of the Evil Eye invites papers for a two-day research symposium to be held at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke—Mooniyang—Montreal, QC, Canada, from November 6-7, 2026. We welcome submissions from scholars, graduate students, artists, community organizers, and practitioners. The conference will be held in person. There is no registration fee; however, participants travelling from outside Montreal will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses. 

“Nazar: A Theory of the Evil Eye” is a framework that considers the triangulation of race, colonialism, and psychoanalysis through the Nazar talisman. It asks what if we used the various distinct and overlapping valences and traditions of the Nazar amulet to consider the possibilities of repelling the psychic and material energies and intentions that harm the minoritarian and the already vulnerable. By using repulsion and antagonism towards such forces and intentions, this framework animates and enlivens work that seeks to question, on the one hand, the gaze, voyeurism, and other structures of excessive sight; and, on the other hand, forms of capture, be it through systems of surveillance, policing, or other carceral apparatuses. 

We invite submissions that engage with, though are not limited to, the following themes:

We especially encourage interdisciplinary, experimental, and politically engaged approaches that move across artistic, scholarly, communal, and embodied forms of knowledge production. 

Please send your abstracts (250-300 words) to info@darkopacitieslab.com by June 19, 2026. Please send any questions to us via email in the meantime. Accepted applicants will be notified by email by early July. For more information about Dark Opacities Lab x Nazar: A Theory of the Evil Eye Research Cluster, visit https://darkopacitieslab.com/work/nazar/