Future Histories of the Middle East and South Asia
Editors
Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Teresa Pepe, Joakim Parslow
(Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo)
Contributions are invited for an edited anthology titled Future Histories of the Middle East and South Asia. The anthology will be open to articles dealing with future histories and science fiction across time periods written in any of the languages of the Middle East (including North Africa and Turkey) and South Asia (including Indian English). Addressing science fiction as a mode rather than genre, we bracket the question of how the line separating fictional from putatively non-fictional genres is articulated across cultures and languages and leave the door open for contextually sensitive studies of speculative uses of technological and scientific references within a wide range of fields, from novels and plays to jurisprudence and engineering. The anthology thus intends to fill the critical gap that exists with respect to future histories in the Middle East and South Asia while at the same time uncovering engagements with science-fictional modes of discourse that might otherwise be overlooked. It will be published with a leading academic press and will be targeted at an academic audience. Articles should range from 5000-7000 words including endnotes and bibliography and should be written in English. Discussions should have a strong theoretical underpinning or provide new insights on historical contextualization.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
· Historical studies of future histories in the Middle East and South Asia regions, including science fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction
· Thematic studies of race, gender, colonialism, politics, ecology, and class issues in future-oriented speculative literature
· Future histories and science fiction adaptations in other media, including film, television, and the visual arts
· Political anxieties and aspirations as reflected in future histories
· Reworking of regional histories in future histories and speculative literature
· The entanglement with religion and mythopoetic thought from the region in future histories
· Inter- and intra-regional differences and similarities between different genre traditions
· Histories of societies, clubs and associations devoted to the discussion and/or fandom of science fiction, technological speculation and similar modalities
· Methodological considerations with respect to genre classifications and alternative genre aesthetics
· Reception studies of future histories
Abstracts of up to 500 words are invited by June 15th, 2018 to : futurehistoriesMESA@gmail.com
Please attach a current CV/short bio with institutional affiliation along with your abstract.
Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by 15th July. The deadline for completed articles is 10th January 2019.