Call for Submissions for a Special Issue of “Seminar: A Journal of Germanic
Studies"
“Visions of Tomorrow: Science and Utopia in German Culture"
Guest Editors:
Peter McIsaac, Gabriele Mueller and Diana Spokiene (York University, Toronto,
Canada
At the beginning of the 21st century, grand utopian thinking seems to have
lost much of the cachet it once had. Yet as scholars such as Wolfgang
Emmerich have observed, utopian modes of cultural production might
nonetheless offer indispensable tools for thinking through the implications of
rapid advances in the sciences and medicine. In asking whether science
represents one area where utopian thinking might retain—or regain—critical
purchase in today’s world, this special issue seeks to broadly examine modern
German-speaking cultural production (e.g. literature, film, music, architecture,
photography) through the lens of science and utopia.
Possible questions to address include: How might current cultural and scientific
exigencies draw on or reshape past attempts to mediate and evaluate
scientific ideas and advances? How do cultural discourses mediate and
evaluate scientific ideas and advances? How do cultural representations of the
natural sciences, the scientist and scientific processes of knowledge
production impact scientific discourses themselves? How do these texts
articulate the tensions between the perceived credibility, reliability, and the
limits of science on the one hand and the subjective intervention of the artist
on the other? Are utopian modes evident in areas other than the sciences?
Within this broad framework, we are especially interested in the intersections
of scientific discourses and utopian thinking on
" society’s changing social structure
" racial, ethnic, and gender differences
" generational relationships
" urban spaces
" natural environment
" education and knowledge
Manuscripts (max. 7500 words) may be submitted in English, German or French
and should conform to the Seminar guidelines which can be accessed at:
http://www.humanities.ualberta.ca/Seminar/submissions.htm
Enquiries and questions may be directed to:
Peter McIsaac, [log in to unmask]
Gabriele Mueller, [log in to unmask]
Diana Spokiene, [log in to unmask]
Submission due date: September 1, 2009.
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