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January 18, 2005
SFRA2005 Reminder
You'll have such a great time meeting colleagues and listening to thought-provoking papers at ICFA that you won't want to wait an entire year for another conference. You'll be wondering where else you can go to listen to like-minded scholars discourse on science fiction and fantasy.
One possibility is SFRA2005 in Las Vegas in June. You can find more information on the conference through SFRA's website at www.sfra.org. But check it out soon; the deadline to submit a paper proposal is Feb. 1, 2005.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)
Hotel Reservations
Just a reminder to all those attending the conference in March to book their hotel rooms soon. Information about rates, dates, and deadlines is available on the website at www.iafa.org.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2005
A/V reminder
All requests for AV equipment should have been submitted to your Division Head no later than 1 December, 2004.
IAFA supplies slide projectors and screens, overhead projector, video monitor and USA ONLY tape and DVD players, and occasionally LCDs. Recorders of various kinds are the responsibility of the presenter.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2005
SF Theory Roundtable Reading
Science Fiction Theory Roundtable March 2005
The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction
Justine Larbalestier
Wesleyan University Press
2002
ISBN: 0-8195-6527-x paper
Chapter 1: "Faithful to Thee, Terra, in Our Fashion: Stories about Science Fiction, Fandom, and Community" page 15-38, Notes p. 242-245
Larbalestier argues in her introduction that the "period from 1926-1973 is absolutely crucial to the formation of contemporary feminist science fiction, and yet very little critical work has been undertaken on that period" (2). Most scholarship on feminist sf begins with stories and novels from the seventies. As important as the period of the 1970s is to feminist sf, the claim that the author goes on to make about the extent to which science fiction "has always contained some kind of engagement with the terrain of sex and sexual difference" (2) is an important one. Larbalestier's argument and the early chapters of her monograph serve to counter the common-sense notion that many have that "women" or questions of gender did not exist in science fiction until the 1970s, or that the only sf that deals with questions of gender is a narrowly defined canon of feminist sf. Larbalestier does not deal only with feminist science fiction but with women's engagement with science fiction from the origin of the contemporary genre in the U.S. during the 1920s despite the on-going critical and cultural myth that "women" did not exist in sf until the 1960s-70s. This monograph is based on an empirical and archival approach combined with ethnographic and linguistic methodology and draws upon the theories of the Annales school of history. Larbalestier uses major sf magazines, including letter columns and articles, fanzines, prozines, and interviews with fans to support her claims as well as analyzing sf stories.
The first chapter examines Gernsback's Amazing Stories, focusing on the response of readers, especially women readers, and the development of fan communities during the 1920s. This chapter is important as an example of an historical methodology that does not evaluate texts by aesthetic or other "literary" criteria. By analyzing how letter columns worked to construct a sf discourse relating to "gender" and "fans" from the start and provided the groundwork for the fan communities which later led to fanzines, conventions, and the growth of the fan culture(s), Chapter 1 provides an intriguing look at fans (of both genders) engaging in debate over gender in science fiction from a key period in North American sf.
This chapter and Larbalestier's work as a whole, raise interesting questions that we might discuss in March.
Possible issues include (but are not limited to) questions about methodology of sf scholarship. How predominant have "English departments" been in the past and to what extent could scholars of other disciplines bring new methods and tools to bear? Another question would be how "science fiction" is taught: Are courses that simply assign published works that meet a genre or literary criteria ignoring an important aspect of science fiction community and culture? While that approach may be appropriate for "literature classes," does this book open up the possibility (if it does not already exist) that other departments might have a stake in "teaching" science fiction from a very different perspective? What are the implications for future scholarship involving the very active and, according to many, the much larger female presence in today's internet fandom?
Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:37 PM | Comments (0)
Rocky Mountain MLA CfP
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature and Film Panel welcomes proposals for presentation at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (RMMLA) annual convention at the Coeur d'Alene Resort on the Lake in northern Idaho from Ocober 20-22, 2005. There is no special theme or focus.
Please send abstracts (250 words or so) to me by February 28th.
Dr. Lance Rubin
Chair, Department of Humanities
Arapahoe Community College
Littleton, CO 80160
lance.rubin AT arapahoe.edu
Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:35 PM | Comments (0)
Mentorship Program
At the Association’s June 2001 Board Meeting, IAFA and the IAFA Student Caucus (SCIAFA) passed a resolution to sponsor a Mentoring Program aimed at helping student scholars (and others new to ICFA) to find their way around ICFA, discover the natural friendliness of the conference as quickly as possible, use ICFA as an entrance into existing scholarly communities concerned with the fantastic, and leave with both fond memories of the supporting organization and plans to return. So far, the mentoring program has been a great success, so we boldly continue for a fourth year at ICFA-26 in 2005.
The success of this program depends upon its volunteer participants, and we would like to urge you to sign up as either a mentor or mentee, either by filling out a form on the Student Caucus web site or by sending an e-mail to Stefan Ekman, the current student representative, at stefan.ekman AT englund.lu.se. (Please include the information listed below in the e-mail.) For more information, check the Student Caucus web site (one click away from www.iafa.org).
Thank you in advance!
When signing up, please include the following:
§ Your name.
§ Your e-mail address.
§ Your institutional affiliation.
§ Your main interests in the field of the fantastic.
§ When you will be arriving at the conference.
§ When you will be departing from the conference.
§ Whether you are currently planning to attend the conference reception on Wednesday evening.
§ Whether you are signing up as mentor or mentee.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:32 PM | Comments (0)