Academic Program

Renovation's Academic Program is an interdisciplinary mini-conference within the convention, offering members an opportunity to sample new and current research on science fiction and other topics. In keeping with the Renovation theme of New Frontiers, the Academic Program adopted the general theme of Speculative Frontiers: Reading, Seeing, Being, Going, calling for papers reflecting on real and imagined frontiers whether physical, social, or technological.

Speculative Frontiers runs Thursday August 18 through Saturday August 20, and spotlights scholarly work on topics as diverse as the representation of human values in media zombies and the psychological issues involved in travel in deep space.

The original call for papers, which contains largely the same information, can be downloaded here. The proceedings are also available. Lastly, the academic program schedule is provided below as of August 15 2011 (but is, of course, subject to change.)

Thursday, August 18, 2011

11am	String Theory Frontiers: Tying Together Outer Space and the Inner Spaces of Ocean and Internet in Vonda N. McIntyre's Starfarers Linda Kay Hardie
12pm	The Time Paradox J.L. Evans
2pm	Destroying Imagination to Save Reality: The Apocalyptic Frontier in Science Fiction Keira Hambrick
3pm	Sling the Dangest Dangeroo: R.A. Lafferty's Science of Story Areas Andrew Ferguson
4pm	Writing About Politics in Speculative Fiction: Insights from Crossing the Frontiers between Novels, Films, Textbooks and Research Douglas A. Van Belle

Friday, August 19, 2011

10am	A Science of Science Fiction: Applying Quantitative Analysis to Genre Individuation Ryan Nichols
11am	The Promise and Peril of Rebooting a Beloved Franchise: A Narratological Analysis Heather Urbanski
2pm	Feminist Science Fiction and the Sociological Imagination Nolan Belk
3pm	Living in an Undead World: Redeeming Values in The Walking Dead Kim Paffenroth
4pm	Scholars, Science Fiction, and the Pursuit of Knowledge June M. Madeley (M), Ryan Nichols, Heather Urbanski, Douglas A. Van Belle

Saturday, August 20, 2011

10am	Psychological Issues in Deep Space Nick Kanas
11am	Technology as Cure? Virtuality, Proxies, and the Vulnerable Human Body Kathryn Allan
1pm	Frontiers of Fandom: A comparative analysis of membership data from two Worldcons that have taken place outside of the USA June M. Madeley
2pm	The Boundary Beneath: A Glimpse at Underwear in Speculative Literature and Film Sharon D. King
3pm	Near-Earth Objects: - Targets for Future Human Exploration, Solar System Science, and Planetary Defense. Paul Abell