Call for Papers: “Charting trans and posthumanist imaginaries in future-making”
(see Panel 53: http://sipsheff17.group.shef.ac.uk/index.php?option=24)
Science in Public Conference, University of Sheffield 10th-12th July, 2017
Emilie Whitaker, University of Salford, e.m.whitaker@salford.ac.uk
The call for papers closes April 18, 2017.
Posthumanism and transhumanism are two emerging cultural movements that use recent developments in science and technology to challenge, in rather different ways, conventional conceptions of the human condition. Originally seen as more aligned with science fiction than science fact, they now straddle the divide, helped along with increasing media attention and capital investment. Whilst posthumanism continues to be theoretically explored within the social sciences and humanities, transhumanism remains an outlier to the academy. This is despite developments in science and technology which decouple traditional understandings of human/non- human action, agency, labour and capital. In this respect, both trans and posthumanism come very well adapted to our ‘post-truth’ times. We welcome submissions on this general theme, including the following topics:
- Post- vs trans- humanist projections of the future of humanity, both utopic and dystopic
- The appeal to post- and trans- humanist ideas and images in the general culture
- Scientific bases – or not – for post- and trans- humanist knowledge claims
- The influence – or not – of post- and trans- humanist views on public policy
- The place of capitalism in post- and trans- humanist imaginaries
- The place of post- and trans- humanism in the academy: Do they bridge the ‘˜two cultures’?
- How trans and post humanism conceive of the place of democracy in guiding the future
- Exploration of how science communication invokes, borrows or rejects trans and posthumanist tropes.
We welcome ‘alternative’ contributions – for example, short pieces of prose or extracts of speculative near-future fiction – as well as empirically-based findings papers. We are also particularly keen to support early career researchers.
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