Medusa Conference - Outside & Beyond The Bounds: Uniqueness Through the Anthropological Lens

Medusa Conference 2026 Outside and Beyond the Bounds: Uniqueness through the Anthropological Lens 
 
The Anthropology Graduate Student Union (AGSU) at the University of Toronto invites proposals for the 14th annual Medusa Graduate Conference. This year’s conference will take place over three days between March 11th and 13th, 2026. The conference will be held primarily in person in the Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, St. George Campus, but will support hybrid participation and attendance. 
 
This year's theme is: 'Outside & Beyond the Bounds: Uniqueness Through the Anthropological Lens'. From narratives about the 'new normal' mobilized post-pandemic, to Canadian PM Mark Carney's speech at the WEF admitting to the end of business as usual for the international order - ideas of 'normalcy' under threat or in crisis have permeated popular consciousness. Rather than further entrenching this narrative, anthropology is uniquely well-placed to challenge the very concept of normality altogether. We therefore invite a diverse range of reflections on all that undermines or exceeds common sense, measurement, standards and values. We want to think about what it means to be displaced beyond the status quo, new ideas and speculation, uncanny occurrences and refusing bodies, fringe movements and states of exception. Or maybe you want to challenge the idea of uniqueness altogether: is there such a thing as an outlier? We will therefore accept work including but not limited to the following themes: Financial, scientific, and popular speculation; contemporary archaeological phenomena; disability and bodymind difference; the vanishing ‘present’; illness and health; questioning ‘uniqueness’ itself; hallucinations, trance, and dreams; style and body modification; digital archaeologies and online material culture; statistics and anomalies; hauntings and urban legends; data politics, algorithms, and AI; conspiracy theories, esotericism, the occult; revolution, subversion, suppression and surveillance. 

Wednesday, March 11, 12pm-7pm

Thursday, March 12, 9am-5pm

Friday, March 13, 9am-5pm

*If you are interested in attending the launch dinner on Wednesday, March 11 at 5pm, please register HERE