SFRA 2012 Call for Papers

CFP: Environmental Science Fiction and the Non-Urban Scape

2012 Science Fiction Research Association Conference: Detroit
June 28th-July 1st
Urban Apocalypse, Urban Renaissance: Landscapes in Science Fiction and Fantasy
sfradetroit2012.com

Ecocritic Patrick D. Murphy notes, “The idea of the land as scape establishes place, whether woods or lake or mountain range, as something separate from human culture” (Farther Afield 13). Proposals are invited that explore how science fiction has addressed this land-as-scape problematic. Has science fiction largely supported a conception of the non-urban (“land,” “place,” “nature,” etc.) as escape from culture? If so, what texts maintain the land/culture divide? Or, has science fiction done much to challenge this divide with an understanding of nature as something we are always in—as something we cannot escape? What science fiction works maintain this more complex view of land and culture, and what do these works contribute to recent efforts to upset conventional notions about “nature” (e.g., Timothy Morton, Slavoj Źiźek)?

This panel is sponsored by the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), a professional affiliate organization of SFRA. Please submit a 200-word proposal in the body of an email to Eric Otto at eotto@fgcu.edu by Friday, April 6th, 2012. See http://sfradetroit2012.com/ for more information about the conference.