[ecrea] IJoC Publishes a Special Forum Section on Imagining Futuretypes

International Journal of Communication Publishes Special Forum Section
—“Imagining Futuretypes”

Humans have been imagining the future since the distant past. From ancient
calendars and pyramids to modern blockbuster films and video games, the
artifacts we build and the stories we tell reveal our aspirations and our
fears about the world to come. Yet it is also a truism that stories about
the future, whether utopian or dystopian, surreal or banal, also tell us a
lot about the world we live in today. Ironically, speculative fiction allows
many writers and readers to inhabit a form of honesty and clarity about the
human condition that is often lacking in more “realistic” contemporary
fiction, and even from much journalism and documentary.

This IJoC Special Forum Section on Imagining Futuretypes takes a close,
critical look at several of the most dominant themes in speculative fiction,
using these well-worn tropes as a starting point for understanding how we
reflect and reproduce our contemporary world via the conceit of the imagined
future.
By examining narrative concepts such as machine consciousness, alien life
forms, interstellar travel and material replication, we have much to learn
about contemporary visions of race, class, gender, sexuality, and identity.
By understanding these imagined futures, we are also afforded a glimpse at
our possible actual futures, which are manifested in part through the
popularization of these futuretypes, and through our internalization of
their logics. In short, they help to extend our vocabulary about the future,
ultimately shaping what we will do, think, and build. In this respect, they
amount to a form of science fiction capital, their power stemming from the
implicit, explicit, and contested aspirations they give voice to.

Guest-edited by Lonny J Avi Brooks and Aram Sinnreich this Special Forum
Section of 11 papers grew out of a series of programmed and impromptu
conversations between a diverse range of scholars at the National
Communication Association annual conferences in 2013 and 2014. It features
an editorial introduction, nine “provocations” (most of which include
video clips), each by a contributing scholar, and followed by several short
response pieces by other contributors. Additionally, the Special Section
includes a commentary by futurist McKenzie Wark, tying together many of the
dominant themes across our conversations.

We invite you to read this new Special Forum Section that published November
5, 2016 at http://ijoc.org. 
__________________________________________________

A Seat at the Nerd Table — Introduction
Aram Sinnreich, Lonny J Avi Brooks

Everybody and Nobody: Visions of Individualism and Collectivity in the Age
of AI
Aram Sinnreich, Jessa Lingel, Gideon Lichfield, Adam Richard Rottinghaus,
Lonny J Avi Brooks

Black Holes as Metaphysical Silence
Jessa Lingel, Daniel Sutko, Gideon Lichfield, Aram Sinnreich

The Aliens Are Us: The Limitations That The Nature of Fiction Imposes on
Science Fiction about Aliens
Gideon Lichfield, Aubrie Adams, Lonny J Avi Brooks

The End of Material Scarcity: Dystopia and Immanent Critique of Capitalism
Adam Richard Rottinghaus, Roseann Pluretti, Daniel Sutko

The Medium is the Message of the Future: Tyranny of Media in Organizing Our
Imaginary
Daniel Sutko, Jessa Lingel, Aubrie Adams, Adam Richard Rottinghaus

Narratives on Extending and Transcending Mortality: An Essay on Implications
for the Future
Aubrie Adams, Adam Richard Rottinghaus, Ryan Wallace

Toward an “Other” Dimension: An Essay on Transcendence of Gender and
Sexuality
Roseann Pluretti, Jessa Lingel, Aram Sinnreich

Future Im/Perfect: Defining Success and Problematics in Science Fiction
Expressions of Racial Identity
Ryan Wallace, Roseann Pluretti, Gideon Lichfield, Aubrie Adams

Afro-Futuretyping Generation Starships and New Earths 05015 C.E.
Lonny J Avi Brooks, Daniel Sutko, Aram Sinnreich, Ryan Wallace

Imagining and Reimagining the Future—Commentary
McKenzie Wark

______________________________________________________

Larry Gross
Editor

Arlene Luck
Managing Editor

___________________________________________________
International Journal of Communication (IJoC)
USC Annenberg Press
University of Southern California
http://ijoc.org/

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