Nightmares from the Past, Visions of the Future: Alternative Futurism & Comics
"Framing the Unreal: Exploring Graphic/Visual Science Fiction and Fantasy"
ICLA Research Committee on Comics Studies and Graphic Narrative 20th Anniversary Conference
Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy - November 11-15, 2024
https://www.comics-studies.com/events/sff2024
Call for Papers
Panel #9: "Nightmares from the Past, Visions of the Future: Alternative Futurism & Comics"
Coordinators: Mattia Arioli (mattia.arioli2@unibo.it) and Chiara Patrizi (chiara.patrizi6@unibo.it)
In sharp contrast to its origins in the proto-fascist technological enthusiasm of the early 20th century, since the 1970s the term “Futurism” has been reclaimed and resignified by various marginal groups to imagine a new future against settler colonialism, racism, ableism, and heteronormativity. Hence, Alternative Futurisms can be seen as a militant response to contemporary discussions about race, gender, nation, and social justice. These types of futurisms often use sci-fi imagery, ideology, and themes to renew and recover marginal voices when envisioning a different future. Going well beyond the use of recurring Sci-fi tropes (cyborgs, space and/or time travels, AI, etc.), these texts offer a platform for emancipatory and critical speculations. When the term Afrofuturism (the first “futurism” to be studied) was coined by Mark Dery in 1994, the scholar noticed how Sci-Fi was embraced in ways that celebrated diversity and presented visions of hope and future.
Even though many of these works use Utopia and Science Fiction to narrate alternate histories that might lead to a real change for the better, others portray apocalyptic scenarios where the “what-if” meets the “if-this-goes-on” (Butler, 1998), functioning as cautionary tales. As Grace L. Dillon (2012:11) observed, “Indigenous futurisms are narratives of biskaabiiyang, an Anishinaabemowin word connoting the process of ‘returning to ourselves,’ which involves discovering how personally one is affected by colonization.” These narratives often retrieve ancestral traditions to recover from Post-Apocalyptic scenarios caused by the contact with settlers. Here, indigenous knowledge and cosmologies dialogue with western science in order to show how Native practices were not “primitive” at all—even though they were not based on western taxonomies. They also denounce how often western sciences (especially anthropology) were—and in some cases still are—intertwined with colonial ideology.
The field of Alternative Futurisms is particularly culturally relevant as it spans from literature to graphic, performative, and digital arts and music. Although the phenomenon is not new (Afrofuturism dates back to the 1970s), the increasing number of comics and graphic novels adopting this aesthetic is certainly a new experience. One of the reasons behind such growth might be due to the fact that comics seem particularly well suited for futuristic aesthetics, as they can easily host nonlinear narratives, constantly moving into the future and back into the past. Whereas Black Panther is probably the best known example of Afrofuturism, one can also mention the comics Is’nana the Were-Spider, inspired by African folklore, Nowhere Man, a technological crime fighter, or Matty’s Rockets, in which the main protagonist embodies elements of Harriet Tubman and Bessie Coleman, but also adaptations of classics of the genre such The Parable of the Sower. Being attuned to this heterogeneous and dynamic artistic landscape, this panel aims to discuss how mainstream and alternative comics use futuristic aesthetics to give voice to marginal groups.
We encourage submissions that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:
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Afrofuturism
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Africana Futurisms
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Indigenous Futurisms
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Latinx Futurisms
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Asian (American) Futurisms
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Queer Futurisms
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Disabilities in imagined futures
Interested scholars are invited to submit their proposals (400-word abstract and 200-word bio, preferably in a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file) to mattia.arioli2@unibo.it, chiara.patrizi6@unibo.it, framingtheunreal@comics-studies.com by JUNE 30, 2024. Please, include "Submission to SEMINAR 09" in the e-mail subject. Proposals that are not accepted for the seminar will still be considered for the conference.
We look forward to reading your proposals!