cfp.english.upenn.edu

1st International Akşit Göktürk Conference
15-16 April 2010
Call for Papers

Deadline for Submissions: 22 January 2010

The 1st International Akşit Göktürk Conference entitled “Visions of the Future Now and Then” in literatures in English will be held by the English Language and Literature Department, Istanbul University on 15-16 April 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Nowadays, a decade after the millennium, apocalyptic belief, once again, insists that the end has come for all humanity, indeed, the entire planet earth itself: ecological disaster, epidemic diseases, a technology and science gone wild, cloning, genetic engineering, overpowering mass media, global terrorism, famine and many other threats appear to signal the End. Post-modernism, engages with the ghosts of an unresolved past, rather then visions of a new future, reinforces this sense of an ending. These critical times are, then, the right time to reconsider visions of the future, both utopian and dystopian. Writers, of, practically, every century, have, traditionally, not only looked at the past and the present, but also directed their gaze at the future, constructing intriguing visions of the evolution or regression of humanity.
Papers are invited on any aspect on the conference theme. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
Millennial literature
Utopia/dystopia
Science fiction
The redefinition of the human being in the face of cloning and genetic engineering
The redefinition of sex/gender and sex/gender politics
Possible new worlds, both cities and rural spaces
Revolutionary technology and science
The future of literature

Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words in length, including your name, position and institutional affiliation to iagc2010@istanbul.edu.tr.