My current vision for my futures project is to write an essay investigating ‘intersectional cyborgism’ in speculative narratives and thread my own creative work (most likely a short story) throughout, responding to and embodying the ideas discussed. Integrally, it will be an interdisciplinary project in many ways, both through its form and in its focus. My project will focus on ideas from Donna Haraway’s ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’ and its surrounding scholarship, and hopefully build on this, using instances from various literature and media. It will center on the ideas and work of Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurism, and potentially draw from and analyse why this frame of thinking and these artworks are important. I am very interested in AI and in the digital, as well as finding and envisioning solutions to big problems which also intersect, for example climate change, late-stage capitalism, wealth inequality, racism, sexism, and colonialism.
Previous influences for me were the authors Octavia E. Butler and Samuel R. Delaney, as well as the artist Keith Piper, whose work I focused on for my undergraduate dissertation (particularly his 2022 exhibition Jet Black futures. A key text which I am keen to investigate is Janelle Monet’s The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, which invokes many, if not all, of the key themes I plan to investigate. My undergraduate degree was in English and History of Art, so this will undeniably influence my project and the disciplines it covers.
I am currently in the stage of researching, finding relevant scholarship and artworks, and compiling a reading list. Cyberpunk and science fiction are key influences for me and there are works which I am interested in investigating from literature, film, and art. I think the figure of the cyborg is central in this and in exploring dualisms and the unifying or breakdown of these ideas, exploring the dichotomy of human and machine, and utopia and dystopia. Potentially, the essay will investigate these dualisms and both dismantle and amalgamate them, as well as break down the idea of dualisms. Another interesting element of this investigation is the fictional version of the cyborg versus the cyborg in reality and how these visions can be synthesised.
My reading and works list has been heavily influenced and built up by the various modules on the course: I was introduced to some incredible artists which are very relevant to my project during Creating Visual Narratives (such as Solomon Enos), and have found some authors, as well as some key scholarship, to investigate throughout the course, particularly in Writing Speculative Fiction, such as Ursula Le Guin. There are also many a short story on Clarkesworld that are influential, as well as the artists Alberta Whittle and Rashaad Newsome, and the exhibition In the Black Fantastic (2022) curated by Ekow Eshun.
Text remix was also integral to my learning and understanding of coding and how it can play with text, especially when incorporating AI such as chat GPT and other tools such as Blackout Poetry. These were really interesting ways to generate creative outcomes and experiment with literature. This may be useful when writing my short story element, and the knowledge gained from this course will certainly inform my futures project. Key ideas for my project were also developed on the various courses, particularly in World of Story, in which the group work and discussion introduced me to new authors, texts, and works, and also helped in the generation of question such as ‘How do we produce hopeful narratives for the future when also struggling with the painful reality of the world?’ and ‘how can we find the bridge between hope and realism?’. I also developed key questions and lines of thinking during the Writing Speculative Fiction and Creating Visual Narratives modules, investigating utopia and dystopia, the need for these kinds of stories, and how helpful they are (or are not) in our current world. Additionally, Gamifying Historical Narratives introduced some interesting scholarship to me in regards to gamification and the representation of history.
I also want to incorporate an element of my own writing or creative work alongside an essay and I hope they can complement one another. I want to do this both to demonstrate and develop my different skills and to incorporate interdisciplinary elements into my project. I was spurred to include this element to my project, rather than just writing an essay, because of The World of Story, Writing speculative Fiction, Creating Visual Narratives, and, in part, Text Remix. The importance of this interdisciplinary way of working was something I also learned through the module Interdisciplinary Futures. A key text for the formulation of my project is perhaps Creative Criticism: An Anthology and Guide, Edited by Stephen Benson and Clare Connors.
I would like to further research and develop my ideas and form, including a few areas which I think I will perhaps need some advice with, in particular: theories and academia surrounding intersectionality and using an intersectional lens, development with creative writing and my original narrative piece, advice on the structure of my project, and (maybe) ideas and theories of phenomenology. Additionally, I have often been given the feedback before of trying to accomplish too much or having too wide a span, and often need time and help focusing my project down. This may be difficult here as I am attempting to find a focus whilst also not limiting myself and including an interdisciplinary element and perspective. My project is also likely to incorporate ideas from narratology, so that is another aspect that I will need to look more into. I imagine that it will take a qualitative approach and use discourse analysis.
