[csaa-forum] CFP Science Fiction Histories Symposium

[Darren Jorgensen]

CALL FOR PAPERS

STATE OF THE ART:  SCIENCE FICTION HISTORIES
Perth, Western Australia
22nd-23rd March 2008

In his recent history of the genre, Roger Luckhurst argues that the
marginalisation of Science Fiction (SF) from the literary establishment
helped readers and writers to identify its conventions. Fandom blossomed
from this liminal space, its culture providing a unique history of the
relations between texts and their readers. While fans were the first
historians of SF, other communities have since established their own
versions of the genre. The rise of national SF in countries such as
Brazil and the old Soviet Union, China and Japan de-centre its
Anglo-American bias. Feminist and queer writers work to unravel its
phallocentrism and heterosexism. Histories of black and Aboriginalist
fiction point out the political uses of the form. The genre has itself
been shaped by its reception by these communities. In Anglo-American SF,
the genre's intimacy with fandom has transformed the way its fiction
(and history) has been written.  It is with a view to thinking through
such developments that this symposium seeks work on what SF has been to
different audiences at different times, on rewriting generic history to
arrive at a better understanding of the state of the art today.
 
Papers are invited on the following or related topics:
*	Histories of the SF community
*	Intersections and interactions between fan and popular cultures,
and between fandom and the general public.
*	Political histories in SF, such as Marxist, anarcho-capitalist,
etc
*	Intersection of SF with feminist & queer theories
*	Postcolonial approaches to SF
*	National histories of SF
*	Non-Anglo-American traditions of SF
*	History of race in SF
*	The collapse of genre: slipstream, new weird, etc

 
Sponsored by Curtin University of Technology, the symposium will be held
as part of State of the Art: Swancon 2008, the National Australian
convention of science fiction, fantasy and horror.


SPEAKERS
Swancon  33 guests of honour are:
*	Ken McLeod (Scotland)
*	Paul Cornell (UK)
*	Glenda Larke 
*	Zara Baxter

Confirmed Speakers for the Symposium are:
*	Mark Bould (The University of the West of England)
*	Andrew Milner (Monash University)
*	Sylvia Kelso (James Cook University)
*	Stephen Dedman (University of W.A.)


SUBMISSIONS
Submissions are sought for both individual papers and panel
presentations.
Papers -submit 300-500 word abstract
Panels  - submit 300 word description of the panel theme and short
abstracts / details of panel participants


PUBLICATION OF PAPERS
Selected papers from the symposium will be published in a special
journal issue.  To be considered for publication, draft papers must be
submitted before the symposium.

DEADLINES
Abstracts due:  				December 7. 2007
Draft papers (for publication) due:	 March 14, 2008


CONTACTS
Sonia Marcon,  Swancon Academic Stream
Darren Jorgensen,  Media, Society & Culture, Curtin University of
Technology 
Helen Merrick,  Media, Society & Culture, Curtin University of
Technology

Email: sciencefictionhistories at gmail.com
Website: http://www.swancon.com/


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