What does the future hold for us, as the inhabitants of a planet much burdened by a burgeoning population, whose demands for time-saving technologies and physical comfort are endless? Will there be wars over potable water? Will we give up gold and gems and treasure oxygen instead? Or will existence end with either bang or whimper?

Utopian visions carry hope and contrarily, but more importantly, dystopian ones are much-needed warnings of what is likely to happen. This latter view made us feel that cli-fi needs to urgently present unflattering futuristic scenarios of our continued apathy towards nature and climate.

To this end, our seminar focuses on representations of, and discussions on, such futuristic and postapocalyptic worlds in which nature and climate have been ruthlessly exploited.

In the words of renowned anthropologist Matthew Wolf-Meyer, “the apocalypse is never singular; it is always multiple. In its multiplicity, the apocalypse is unimaginable” and yet this unimaginable can be mapped through spec-fic as the way out is to “imagine them one by one, to play with catastrophes and apocalypses in the confines of a novel or film” which is what spec-fic does “with aplomb" (Wolf-Meyer 6).

Approaching the Speculative Fiction along the lines of Vandana Singh, who described the genre (or umbrella-genre) “as a broad marker of non-mimetic imaginative literature” (Banerjee 30)  in her Speculative Manifesto published in The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet (2008) we are inviting scholarly and creative presentations exploring the interface between speculative fiction and postapocalyptic-futuristic portrayals of the planet, its climatic challenges, as well as the impact of such challenges on humanity.

Our list of suggested topics includes but is not restricted to the following. However, we would prefer papers generally aligned to the main theme.

• Presentation on major/emerging/underrated exponents of the relevant genres
• Study of the afterlives of classic post-apocalyptic spec-fic
• Presentations studying the trans-genre spread of the dystopic (in comics, film, web-series, anime, songs, games, etc.)
• Others and Otherizing in the genre
• The Subversive and the Generic
• Commercialization of the dystopic

Interested presenters are to submit their abstracts of 300 words and a brief bio-note(100 words) to: english2024rkmv@gmail.com by 23.59 hours (IST), 03 March 2025.

Selected presenters will be individually informed via email, by 06 March 2025.
Virtual presentations will not be permitted.
We plan to publish selected papers as conference proceedings (with ISBN) from a reputed publisher.

Registration fees:

For faculty and others: Rs. 800

For students: Rs.  300

The Registration fees will cover refreshments, seminar kit, and lunch for both days. Please note that no TA/DA will be paid to presenters.

References:

1. Wolf Meyer, Matthew J. Theory for the World to Come Speculative Fiction and Apocalyptic Anthropology. (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2019), 6.

2. Banerjee, Suparno. Indian Science Fiction Patterns, History and Hybridity. (Wales: University of Wales Press, 2020), 30.

 The seminar is co-sponsored by Kalpabiswa Publications, Joydhak Prakashan, and The Antonym Collections.