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February 20, 2005
SF Division Highlights
SF Division/ICFA 26
Robin Anne Reid, Division Head
Unless you have a handy time travel device tucked away in a pocket universe, you will not be able to attend all the SF sessions since there is such a rich variety offered this year. Since a number had to be double-scheduled, herein is a Guide to the Multiple Galaxies of SF events at ICFA 26!
This group of events includes roundtables, panels, and a lecture by our Guest of Honor, Rudy Rucker, as well as a paper session on his work and the work of our permanent GoH, Brian Aldiss. Some of these events tend to be more interactive and present more of a chance to share ideas, but all will be fascinating.
Session 25: SF Theory Round Table (Thursday 2:30 Gulfstar) Read Chapter 1 of Justine Larbalestier's The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction (copy on the website and copies at the registration desk). Len Hatfield, Joan Gordon, and Robin Anne Reid will lead a no-doubt wide ranging and fantastic discussion on this work.
Session 28 Panel: Science Fiction and Poetry (Thursday 2:30 Atlantic). Albert Goldbarth, David Lunde, Judith Kerman, Joe Haldeman, and Michael Arnzen will be discussion science fiction and poetry.
Session 55: Science Lecture (Friday 2:45 Bertram) will feature the guest of honor, Rudy Rucker, on "The Lifebox, the Seashell and the Soul."
Session: 88: Rudy Rucker and Brian Aldiss (Saturday 2:00 Bertram) with presentations by Loren Means and John Roche.
Session 93: Panel: PMLA Special Issue (Saturday 2:00 Atlantic) Marleen Barr, Carl Freedman, Jeri Zulli, John Clute, and Eileen Gunn discuss issues relating to scholarship on SF, focusing on the PMLA Special issue.
Having special connections to the theme of this years conference are these four paper sessions featuring a range of disciplinary approaches to SF and analyses which foreground the blurring boundaries between genres of the fantastic and "realism."
Session 18: Philosophy, Aesthetics and the Fantastic (Thursday 10:30 Intrepid) with presentations by John Garrison, Donna Ross Hooley, and Chris Tonelli.
Session 33: Blurred Boundaries and Slipstreams (Thursday 4:00 Gulfstar) with presentations by Faye Ringel, Steen Christiansen, and Grace L. Dillon that will range from medievalisms to slipstream to scarification.
Session 66: Cultural Ideologies and Ambivalence in SF (Friday 4:00 Intrepid) blurs boundaries by having presentations by Art Evans, Carl Yoke, and Robin McAllister on Jules Verne, William Gibson, and Daina Chaviano.
Session 75: Blurring the Boundaries Between SF and Realism (Saturday 8:30 a.m. Intrepid) with presentations questioning genre borders by Wilma Shires, Edward Carmien, and Heidi Robbins.
These two paper sessions feature presentations on some of the authors in Golden Age SF and the later challenges to the genre of SF during the sixties and seventies, covering major authors and issues during these decades.
Session 7: Culture, Conflict, and Controversy in Sixties and Seventies SF (Thursday 8:30 Bertram) with presentations by Rob Latham, David M. Higgins, and Jenny Bonnevier.
Session 43: From Cold Equations to Capitalism: Fifties SF (Friday 8:30 a.m. Donzi) with presentations by Michael Underwood, James Landau, and Amelia Beamer.
These four paper sessions all include presentations that foreground contemporary critical theories such as feminist, gender and queer theory, postcolonialism, Afro-futurism, and cover topics such as the origins of science fiction, feminist fabulations, cyberpunk and cyber-subjectivity, and the conditions for queer sf erotica. Authors analyzed include (but are not limited to!) Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, David Brin, and Walter Mosley.
Critical Theory & Multiple Approaches to SF (Paper Sessions)
Session 14: Feminist Fabulations (Thursday 10:30 Hatteras) with presentations by Audrey Johnson, Marleen Barr, and Janice M. Bogstad.
Session 34: Postcolonialism, Cyber-subjectivity, and Afro-futurism (Thursday 4:00 Intrepid) with presentations by John Rieder, Larissa Lai, and Isiah Lavender III.
Session 72: William Gibson (Saturday 8:30 a.m. Bertram) with presentations by Amy E. Eoff, Lisa Swanstrom, and Carol McGuirk.
Session 98: Intimate Adventure and Queer Erotica (Saturday 4:00 Gulfstar) with presentations by Jean Lorrah, Patricia Melzer, and Norman Stroh.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)
Observations and a Question from Irma
"These have been important to me:
1. Sharing the hotel costs is possible, as is looking for roommates through the iafa-list;
2. The lunch and banquet system, with piles of free books, and wonderful guest of honour speeches;
3. The total lack of shops near the hotel, meaning, unfortunately, a lack of pharmacy things" (ed. note: this is less of a problem for those with rental cars, of course).
And a question from Irma to other longtime conference-goers:
"Actually I would be interested to know how you could get to the beach without a car."
Anyone have any ideas?
Posted by ChrissieMains at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)
Advice to Newcomers from Robin Reid
The first time at a conference is like a visit to a new country. Each academic conference has its own culture. If this conference is your first one ever, the experience is even more frightening. The temptation will be to hide away in your room and to scurry to your session and maybe a few others and then to take cover. That's understandable--I did it myself at my first major conference (which was attended by about 1800 scholars!). But even ICFA, much smaller in terms of numbers (much more interesting in terms of focus and covering a much larger scope and area of disciplines than many academic conferences) can seem intimidating. Everybody around you will seem to know people and have others to talk to, while you alone are left to lurk in the hallways.
My advice would be to attend the newcomer events--to sign up for a mentor, to keep an eye out for those other people who look as if they are attending for the first time. And remember that we all share a common interest in the fantastic. Come a few minutes early to sessions, and stay after. Network. Talk to the presenters (don't we all love to hear that someone enjoyed our presentation!) Talk to the other audience members. Try to be there for more than just the day you're presenting if at all possible. Don't ignore the opportunities at the luncheons and around the pool and the lounges during the days and in the evenings to meet and hang out with others, especially if you recognize them from sessions, if they're working or writing in areas that you are also interested in. Some of the best connections and friendships start up in between the official events.
And the fastest way to start meeting people is to volunteer. All academic conferences are run by academics, most of us volunteering to do this professional service. Seek out your Division Head and talk to them: maybe you'd like to organize whole paper session in your field of interest next time, or suggest a panel discussion topic and then organize the event. Attend the business meeting and see what parts of the conference need volunteers. Getting involved in running things will guarantee you more involvement and interaction as well as people approving of you! If you enjoy the conference and plan to make this area one of your scholarship and/or teaching areas, you'll want to attend again, and you'll find that your second and third time things are different. You're no longer a newcomer, you know more of the language and the people.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)