Rooted in the ancient tradition of fabula, the concept of fabulation (or fonction fabulatrice) was perhaps most explicitly introduced to the modern philosophical lexicon by Henri Bergson, who described it as a “special faculty of voluntary hallucination.” It was later revisited by Gilles Deleuze, both with and without Félix Guattari, as a “speech act, an act of speech” that transgresses the boundary between the personal and the political, producing “collective utterances.”

In the twenty-first century, the concept of fabulation has proved potent across environmental philosophy, postcolonial thought, and literary criticism. Donna Haraway, in conversation with Isabelle Stengers and Vinciane Despret, has put forth the concept of “speculative fabulation” as a form of storytelling that explores possibilities and alternative futures. Meanwhile, Saidiya Hartman has discussed the power of “critical fabulation” as a method that combines historical and archival research with critical theory and fictional narrative to fill in the gaps within historical records. Echoing this approach, Nadia Yala Kisukidi argues that diasporic life is entangled with “the dynamics of fabulation” across generations, borders, and territories. Lastly, Tavia Nyong’o has conceptualized “Afro-fabulation” as a transdisciplinary method and social practice of Black queer temporality that uses myth-making to challenge dominant narratives and modes of representation.

How does fabulation – as a philosophical concept and literary device – continue to influence and empower writers, researchers, and artists today? How can fabulation be used in the context of archival research on marginalised subjects? What does the concept offer in terms of reading, interpreting, and imagining communities yet to come?

This panel explores the evolving concept of fabulation as both a philosophical method and a creative practice. We invite papers that engage with fabulation’s political, archival, and aesthetic potentials. We are particularly interested in the potential of fabulation as a mode of resistance against hegemonic forces across race, gender, class, and sexuality. Additionally, we are interested in the transatlantic dimension of the concept, both from the perspective of Franco-American intellectual history (notions of translation and reception of French philosophy) as well as that of diasporic lives and narratives.

Visit this page to submit an abstract: 

https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21978