[Workshop] Ustopias in speculative fiction and science fiction (25-26.11.21)
[Workshop] Ustopias in speculative fiction and science fiction (25-26.11.21)
Ambivalent images of the future
Dr. Camil Ungureanu, member of the Center for Aesthetics, Religion and Contemporary Culture, together with Daniel Gamper (UAB), Katarzyna Paszkiewicz (UIB) and Guillermo Graíño Ferrer (Uni. Francisco de Vitoria), organize a semi-presencial workshop titled Ambivalent imaginaries of the future: Ustopias in speculative fiction and science fiction.
The guest speakers of the workshop are:
- Carme Torras Genís (IRI – Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics)
- Mathias Thaler (University of Edinburgh)
- Sara Martín Alegre (Autonomous University of Barcelona)
- Mihaela Matei (University of Edinburgh)
- Lars Tønder (University of Copenhagen)
Program and links to join the workshop
This workshop will focus on literature to address with interdisciplinary tools - ethics and robo-ethics, philosophy, ecology, social and political theory - issues related to the diagnosis of the current crisis of capitalist society and its possible overcoming: what forms of narrative and representation are used today in literature to explain the current crises of recent times. What are the specificities of speculative fiction and science fiction compared to the classics of these genres (G. Orwell, A. Huxley, Y. Zamyatin)? How are current myths (apocalyptic, little salvation, etc.) interpreted and constructed through literature, and what is the role of techno-scientific narratives? How are the utopian futures of capitalist/post-capitalist society represented in these kinds of narratives? Are new forms of nihilism emerging today, and how are they related to new forms of religiosity?