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Final reminder! Apologies for cross-posting!
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CFP AAG 2017
>
>
> Critical Worldbuilding: Toward a Geographical Engagement with Speculative
> Fiction
> ​​
>
> Session Organizers: Jeffrey Martin (University of California, Berkeley)
> and Gretchen Sneegas (University of Georgia)
>
> “Worldbuilding” - the construction of imaginary worlds - has long been a
> staple of speculative and visionary fiction. Today, the creation of
> alternate science fiction and fantasy universes - often with their own
> maps, histories, ecologies, cultures, and social structures - increasingly
> contributes to popular culture and big business. From novels to movies to
> games, from alternate versions of the “real world” (Marvel’s many
> properties, True Blood, Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle) to
> the more alien and bizarre (the many settings of Dungeons and Dragons,
> James Cameron’s Avatar, China Miéville’s Bas-Lag), these worlds represent
> an important and under-considered object of study and intervention for
> critical geographers.
>
> While speculative fiction has long been examined as a lens through which
> to view the world - as it was, is, or could be - we contend that geography
> and critical social science have been under-involved in the creation,
> analysis, and struggles over fictional worlds. Worldbuilding is a
> fundamentally geographical exercise and an unavoidably political act (even
> if not recognized as such) - ideas, concerns, and controversies in the
> “real world” are embedded and reproduced through fictional worlds, and the
> production and consumption of these worlds informs and is informed by
> contemporary debates.
>
> In this call for papers, we ask: How might critical social science and
> geographical tools help us understand and engage with speculative fiction?
> How might critical geography inform the creation of “better” fictional
> worlds, and to what end(s)? What can fictional worlds tell us about our
> “real” world? How might speculative fiction contribute to geographical and
> social science theory and method, in a similar manner to the history of
> dialogue between science fiction and technological practice?
>
> We seek a selection of papers and other contributions (see below)
> representing the breadth of the geographic discipline, across such themes
> and sub-disciplines as earth sciences, political economy, discursive
> representation, race, gender, technology, ecology, social relations,
> ideological reproductions, cartography, and more. Possible topics include,
> but are in no way limited to:
>
>
>    -
>
>    Critical race theory and the construction of the other/alien;
>    -
>
>    Landscape as character, the co-production of social and physical
>    landscapes;
>    -
>
>    The durability of environmental determinism and other debunked
>    narratives in fiction;
>    -
>
>    Colonialism and the frontier, progress narratives and modernization;
>    -
>
>    Cartography and the representation of fictional/speculative worlds;
>    -
>
>    Political economy’s presence and absence across worlds, and the
>    naturalization of capitalism;
>    -
>
>    “Blindspots”/erasures in historical fiction, “reading back” modern
>    norms;
>    -
>
>    Tropes, “resonance”, and challenging “realism” in speculative fiction
>    (see esp. gender, sexism);
>    -
>
>    Nature and environmentalism;
>    -
>
>    Present and near-future u/dystopias
>
>
> **We also welcome submissions representing less “traditional” forms of
> analytical scholarly work. Such submissions may include short works of
> fiction, graphic novels/comics, poetry, video shorts, maps, and other forms
> of representation showcasing our own worldbuilding geographic expression.**
>
> Bringing together a diverse group of theoretical orientations, we hope
> this session will contribute critical insights to ongoing discussions on
> the interrelation between art and politics, the “real world” and the many
> worlds of our imaginations.
>
> Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words by 5 p.m., October 15
> to: Jeff Martin (j.vance.martin [at] berkeley [dot] edu) and Gretchen
> Sneegas (gsneegas [at] uga [dot] edu).
>
>
> --
> Jeff Vance Martin
> PhD Candidate and Doctoral Researcher
>
> Department of Geography
> University of California, Berkeley
> [log in to unmask]
>
>