Alexis Lothian & Lauren J. Lacey
Academic Programming
One of the things that sets WisCon apart is that we place many types of fannish interactions side-by-side in our programming. We have panels dedicated to exploring a single book or film as well as panels that look at, say, race across all of science fiction. We have author readings, discussions of fanfic or fanvids, and conversations about games and gaming.
We also have an entire track dedicated to scholarly investigations of feminism and science fiction — open to scholars of all descriptions.
The proposal period for WisCon’s academic track programming is now open! We invite proposals from anyone with a scholarly interest in the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and disability with science fiction — broadly defined — in literature, media, and culture. We especially welcome scholarship on the work of 2016’s Guests of Honor Sofia Samatar, Justine Larbalestier, and Nalo Hopkinson and on the histories and cultures of feminist and social-justice-oriented fan communities.
We encourage submissions from scholars in all fields, including interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary areas, and from amateur and independent scholars as well as graduate students, postdocs, and faculty.
An incomplete list of possible subjects:
- Gender, sexuality, race, class, and disability in individual works of science fiction and fantasy, especially the work of this year’s Guests of Honor Sofia Samatar, Justine Larbalestier, and Nalo Hopkinson
- Feminist, queer, critical race, and critical disability analysis of science fiction and fantasy in media (film, television, music, video games, online culture)
- Speculative aspects of feminist and social justice movements
- Science fiction and feminist science and technology studies
- Race, colonialism, and speculative fiction; Afrofuturism and related cultural movements
- Fan cultures and communities
- Feminist pedagogy and speculative fiction in the classroom
An incomplete list of possible formats:
- 15-20 minute paper presentations, with or without visual accompaniment
- Groups of presentations submitted together as panels
- Presentation of scholarly creative works, including digital scholarship
- Readings from recently published or forthcoming scholarly books
- Discussion-based panels and roundtables on scholarly research, teaching, or service
- Mentoring sessions on academic professional life: graduate study, the job market, tenure and promotion, publishing and presentation
- Screenings and discussions of short films or videos
The deadline for submitting an abstract for WisCon 40 is midnight Central Time on February 1, 2016.
Please submit your proposal using this form (wiscon.net site profile is required). You will be asked for a 100-word abstract, which will be printed in the convention’s program, and for a more detailed proposal of up to 500 words. If you are proposing something other than a traditional paper, please make sure you describe the format of your proposed program item. A projector and screen will be available; if you have further technological needs, please let us know in your proposal.
If you have questions, please email: academic@wiscon.net