Editors:

• Dr. Muhsin Yanar, Visiting Researcher, School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication, Birkbeck, Birkbeck, University of London
• Dr. Grace Halden, Senior Lecturer, School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication, Birkbeck, University of London
• Dr. Pelin Kümbet, Department of Literatures in English, Visiting Researcher, Cornell University
• Dr. Russell Kilbourn, Professor, Department of English and Film Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University

 contact email:

sciencesandfictions@gmail.com

 Presentation

Sciences and Fictions: Human Models Beyond Boundaries suggests the notion of 'model’ as a form, version, embodiment/disembodiment, re/presentation, and sample rather than adhering to a human standard. While'models’ typically imply rigidity and uniformity, according to posthumanism/s ‘models’ are more multiple, diverse, deformed/morphed, changeable, evolutionary, morphological, and transformative, both in form/body (corporeality) and as a concept. They can evolve and take on new forms and meanings due to advanced technologies.

The notion of model also implies “the erosion of the certainties of human concepts, not only the rejection of the supposed centrality of the human to knowledge and meaning, but also a more radical proliferation of the myriad ways of defining this entity called ‘human’” (Vint, 2020). This entails a bifurcation of the human into a greater number and variety of models—immortal, virtual, “disembodied” (Hayles, 1999; Vint, 2020)—without reducing it to a particular race or gender, class, orientation, subjectivities, agency, forms, and foundations.

This edited collection investigates what it means to be/come human in the techno-assisted and based world of the twenty-first century, looking at developments in sciences and how these are portrayed in contemporary (science and speculative) fictions. In Sciences and Fictions: Human Models Beyond Boundaries, sciences refer to nano-, bio-, info-, and cognitive (NBIC) sciences and how they research and experiment with ‘new human models,’ fictions, on the other hand, refer to new human models that science fiction and speculative fiction imagine beyond boundaries, including sex, gender, race, ethnicity, colour, and ability.

There has been an interest from a publisher in the book. We are looking for high-quality papers that examine how sciences and fictions suggest ‘new human models.’ We are calling for chapters for the collection generally related to the following topics: 

• Nano-, Bio-, Info-, and Cognitive (NBIC) sciences and new human models.
• Medical humanities and new human models
• Gender and new human models
• Pharmaceuticals and new human models
• Body works/modifications (fitness, piercing, tattooing, beauty culture, etc.), and new human models
• Contemporary British/American science/speculative fiction and new human models

Proposals and timeline

• Deadline for submission: 31 December 2024
• Notification of acceptance: 31 January 2025

Submission Guidelines:

Please send an approximately max. 300-word abstract alongside a title and a 150-word short bio to sciencesandfictions@gmail.com 

We look forward to receiving your submissions!