[H-verkko] CFP: Science Fiction Across Media: Alternative Histories, Alien Futures

[agricola at utu.fi]

Agricolan Artikkelipyyntötietokantaan
( http://agricola.utu.fi/nyt/pyynnot/ )
on tullut seuraava ilmoitus:

Science Fiction Across Media: Alternative Histories, Alien Futures

Call for Papers

Science Fiction Across Media: Alternative Histories, Alien Futures

Umeå University, Sweden
April 23-24, 2012
 
Science fiction is becoming a mainstream and increasingly popular
genre in fiction and film, as demonstrated by recent novels by Kazuo
Ishiguro, Michel Houellebecq, Junot Diaz and William Gibson as well
as the global success of James Cameron's Avatar. Yet science fiction
is more than simple entertainment. This workshop considers science
fiction as multi-medial explorations of alternative histories and
alternative futures and invites scholars across the humanities to
present their ongoing work on science fiction either in the form of
full-length 20-minute papers, or as shorter papers on work in
progress or mini-presentations on crucial concepts or ideas (8
minutes).
 
We are particularly interested in papers that explore science fiction
in and across its varied media – novels, short stories, films,
animation, comic books, computer games – and/or that focus on some
aspect of the complex representation of natural and technological
ecologies in the genre:
·      alternative social and environmental histories
·      new approaches to the representation of crisis and disaster
·      alien ecologies and their relation to terrestrial crises
·      alternative visions of humans'/nonhumans' relationship to
place
·      wild, rural and urban environments of the future or on other
planets
·      contrast or convergence of organic, mechanical and virtual
environments
·      mapping and the (technological) representation of territories
and geographies
·      futurist forms of energy, transportation, food provision and
resource extraction
·      synthetic forms of nature, including synthetically generated
or modified bodies
·      environmental utopias and dystopias
·      new directions in the representation of gender, race and
species in science fiction
·      ecological scarcity and abundance
·      physical and systemic violence in relationships within and
between species
·      thematic, stylistic and media changes in science fiction as a
genre
·      changing audiences of science fiction
 

The workshop will take place in HUMlab, Umeå University’s digital
humanities laboratory, and will emphasize informal, yet critical
discussion of papers and presentations.

The workshop is arranged by Finn Arne Jørgensen (Umeå University) and
Ursula K. Heise (Stanford University) on behalf of Umeå Studies in
Science, Technology, and Environment (USSTE), the Nordic
Environmental History Network (NEHN), and the Nordic Network for
Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies (NIES).

Please submit a 200-word abstract and a 1-page CV to
scifi at nehn-nordic.org by Saturday, March 10. Indicate whether you
wish to present a full-length 20-minute paper, a shorter paper on
work in progress, or a mini-presentation on crucial concepts or ideas
(8 minutes).  

We will cover accommodation and meals for all participants, and will
seek to provide travel fellowships for participants from the Nordic
countries.

For more information, please contact:

Finn Arne Jørgensen
Associate Senior Lecturer, History of Technology and Environment
Department of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies
Umeå University
901 87 Umeå
finn.jorgensen at idehist.umu.se

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Ilmoituksen lähetti: Agricola <agricola at utu.fi>
Ilmoitus vanhentuu: 11.03.2012
Lisätietoja WWW-osoitteesta: http://