Seminar Director

Aimee Bahng Assistant Professor of English
Dartmouth College

Seminar Description

A new you. A better tomorrow. A secure future. Such pronouncements of constantly upgradable lives hope to turn a profit on projections of disaster, the imminence of accident, or the disquiet of deterioration. By capitalizing on narratives of fear and uncertainty, this kind of predatory speculation asks us to invest in a future already colonized by those who would pathologize the world to profit from it. This seminar investigates “the future” as a space of critical contention and examines “speculative fictions” in the broadest sense: as cultural narratives that articulate possible futures. We will question to what extent a diverse range of speculative practices‚ from the literary imaginings of speculative fiction to the machinations of finance capitalism‚ materialize consequences of the future in the present. If “extrapolation” names both a literary genre and an investment tool, does the term reference similar practices of fictive worlding based on fantastic calculations? Who tells stories about the future? How do these imagined futures manifest across the varied but connected terrains of cultural production and market exchange? What sorts of alternative futures are being mapped? What are the conditions that inform and compel them? How can speculation yield a productive space of critique? How can we stake out the future as a space-time of radical potentialities (rather than an already occupied territory of First World imperialism?

This seminar hopes to bring together scholars from across the disciplines (anthropology, history, science and technology studies, new media studies, literature, economics, and philosophy, for example) whose work contributes to ongoing discussions about risk and uncertainty; histories of probability, prediction, and literary experiment; the relationship between science and fiction; technologies of the state; disaster capitalism and states of exception; even apocalyptic visions. As the financial crash of 2008 reminded us, the cost of “securing a future” too often takes its toll on the disenfranchised, protecting the privileged few while displacing others. For this reason, we take particular interest in projects that can bring our discussions of speculation into conversation with globalization studies, queer theory, postcolonial critique, as well as philosophies of labor.

In preparation for the conference, participants will be asked to circulate short, 5-10 page excerpts of relevant works in progress. During the seminar, participants will respond to, build upon, and draw connections between these excerpts. Depending on participant interest, participants may also be asked to familiarize themselves with a short set of common academic and/or cultural texts.

Participant papers and readings will be made available via a seminar blog, which the Seminar Director will make available after December 1. The blog will also serve as a space for the seminar to take shape prior to, during, and beyond the physical meeting in San Diego.

Application Process

Prospective participants should email Aimee Bahng  a 1-2 paragraph statement of interest and a short description of their academic project (including disciplinary background).