Beyond Normal: The Fantasy Bodies of National Culture
a panel with andrè carrington, Julie Elman, & Ramzi Fawaz
March 25, Friday
10 am to 5 pm
andrè carrington, English & Philosophy, Drexel University and author of Speculative Blackness
Julie Elman, Women’s & Gender Studies, University of Missouri and author of Chronic Youth
Ramzi Fawaz, English, University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of The New Mutants
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, exploring genres and affective modes like fantasy, speculative fiction, and enchantment.
10 am
Coffee Service and Welcome
10:10 to 11:30 am
Julie Passanante Elman, University of Missouri
Author of Chronic Youth
Discussant: Lisa Duggan, New York University
11:45 am to 1 pm
Ramzi Fawaz, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Author of The New Mutants
Discussant: Phillip Brian Harper, New York University
Lunch Break
2:15 to 3:30 pm
andré carrington, Drexel University
Author of Speculative Blackness
Discussant: Heather Masri, New York University
3:45 to 5 pm
Roundtable Discussion
5 pm
Reception
Social & Cultural Analysis
20 Cooper Square, 4th Floor
Co-sponsored by the NYU Department of Social & Cultural Analysis (American Studies Program; Gender & Sexuality Studies Program); Center for the Study of Gender & Sexuality; Asian/Pacific/American Institute; Department of English; and NYU Press.
This event is free & open to the public. Venue is wheelchair-accessible.
For more information about this event, contact the NYU Department of Social & Cultural Analysis at 212-992-9650.
Facebook event page here.
