Mobility and Mutability
Human experience is marked by movement and change. In cultural production we see mobility and mutability in light of progress, class mobility, and a shifting episteme. In literature and the arts these terms transform into migrations, monsters and character growth—in genres ranging from the epic to science fiction, or from the picaresque to cowboy poetry. Considering mobility and mutability, the following questions arise: How do mobility and mutability mark the evolution of life and the arts? How do we understand intermediality and dystopian futures in these terms? Why do founding myths of peoples around the world reflect exodus or displacement? How do terms mutate in the formation or new fields of study?