Beyond Normal: The Fantasy Bodies of National Culture
- Organizer: Department of Social & Cultural Analysis at NYU
- Venue: 20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor Conference Room
- Address:
20 Cooper Square
New York, NY 10003 United States
Presented by the NYU Department of Social & Cultural Analysis. Cosponsored by the A/P/A Institute at NYU.
A symposium featuring andré carrington, Julie Passanante Elman, and Ramzi Fawaz. How do popular culture and mass media shape our notions of what it means to be healthy, happy, safe, and human? And how might imaginative genres like fantasy and speculative fiction break the mold of the “normal life”? This symposium brings together three scholars, working at the intersections of critical race, disability, and gender and sexuality studies to consider how the misfit, freak, speculative, and mutant bodies of American culture are variously contained or authorized by different twentieth century and contemporary media and social forms. Genres and affective modes like fantasy, speculative fiction, and enchantment will be explored.
Symposium Schedule
10AM: Coffee Service and Welcome
10:10AM-11:30PM: Julie Passanante Elman, University of Missouri, author of Chronic Youth
Discussant: Lisa Duggan, New York University
11:45AM-1PM: Ramzi Fawaz, University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of The New Mutants
Discussant: Phillip Brian Harper, New York University
1-2:15PM: Lunch Break
2:15-3:30PM: andré carrington, Drexel University, author of Speculative Blackness
Discussant: Heather Masri, New York University
3:45-5PM: Roundtable Discussion
5PM: Reception
Image: “–Sf Wyv 40 –” by wyv1 is licensed under CC BY 3.0.