DECODINGS
Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts Newsletter
Winter 2025, Vol. 35, No.1
*SLSA 2025: Risk (Corvallis)
*Executive Meeting Notes
*Call for Essays; Configurations special issue: “Out of the Past”
*New Book Series: Proximities: Experiments in Nearness
*Call for Volunteer Ombudspersons
*Call for Papers: SLSAeu 2025 “The Lifespan: Perspectives on Ageing”
*Social Media & Website Redesign
*Policies:Respectful Behavior and Freedom of Speech
*AnthropoScene Book Series
*Configurations Book Reviews
*European and British Science Societies
SLSA 2025, “Risk,” August 21-24, 2025
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Stream Proposal Deadline: January 10, 2025
Proposal and Panel Deadline: February 17, 2025
To think in terms of risk is to imagine the future as a set of foreseeable possibilities and to ameliorate the potentially hazardous ones through action in the present. Distinct from danger, which is seen as inchoate and incalculable, risk carries with it the notion of statistical, probabilistic, or otherwise enumerated legibility, and the costs and benefits of prospective courses of action are given the narrative authority of mathematical language. But even as risk posits itself as a rational approach to considerations of the future, it ignores the mythology of its own construction: risk is, as its critics note, always a process of storytelling. Put slightly differently, risk management is not just a mathematical but also an affective exercise involving anxieties, fears, rational or irrational speculations, (dis)honorable activities, and ethical claims. Furthermore, the ways risk is managed – through techniques like data mapping and visualization, actuarial accounting, and insurance bands – help to create social – and not merely mathematical – perceptions about who, what, and where might be “risky.” Risk, therefore, is a discourse that constitutes subjects and is capable of perpetuating cycles of injustice and immiseration. https://litsciarts.org/2024/11/09/slsa-2025-cfp-risk/
This call for papers asks readers to consider risk as both a formal/generic term and as a term that shapes and is shaped by the contents of literature, the arts, and cognate disciplines. How do risk and other related concepts (danger, hazard, speculation, debt, credit, assurance, insurance) work to colonize the future, construct forms, and produce narratives? How does a history of risk and the language used to describe it (adventure, projecting, imagination, curiosity, novelty) help us to understand the past’s future and its hazards? How has risk been enlisted in representations of social Others for progressive or regressive ends? How does risk throw into relief or complicate ethical relationships between nations, between cultures, between communities, and between humans and the natural world?
We welcome papers that address these concepts as well as proposals (presentations, panels, streams, workshops, and roundtables) on other subjects that fall within SLSA’s mission to explore the cultural and social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine. We are taking steps now to ensure that the conference will be accessible and welcoming to all SLSA members by pursuing low-cost housing for graduate students and contingent faculty and by reaching out to Oregon State University’s KidSpirit to facilitate childcare for academics traveling with small children.
Possible topics related to the theme include but are not limited to:
Climate The Commons
Futures Past Geopolitics and Biopolitics
Disaster Relief Capitalism
Prostheses Sustainability
Human and Animal Health Surveillance
Disease Regulation
Artificial Intelligence Conflict
Tipping Points Exposure
Infrastructure Data Visualization / Narratization
Privacy
Program Committee (Corvallis): Raymond Malewitz, Tekla Bude, Surabhi Balachander, Evan Gottlieb
Conference site: https://slsa2025.org/
Direct Submission Questions to the Conference Chair:
Raymond Malewitz, raymond.malewitz@oregonstate.edu
For information about travel awards for student and underfunded members to participate in the conference, see https://litsciarts.org/awards/
All SLSA2025 participants must be members of the society. To join or renew membership, see https://litsciarts.org/join-renew-membership/
SLSA EXECUTIVE MEETING NOTES, 11/8/24
Attendees: David Cecchetto, Rajani Sudan, Adam Nocek, Ed Chang, Raymond Malewitz, Wayne Miller, Elizabeth Donaldson, Ranjodh Dhaliwal, Nat Mengist, Shane Denson, and Carol ColatrellaPresident’s Report: David Cecchetto explained that the book series Proximities has published one book and that others are in the pipeline. He commended Rajani Sudan and her team for the excellent conference, and he introduced the new officers–Rajani as president, Adam Nocek 1st Vice President, and Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal 2nd Vice President—and noted new member at large Nat Mengist.
2024 Conference: Rajani acknowledged her team’s efficient arrangements for more than 200 attendees participating during the four-day meeting and praised the generous financial and in-kind support of the English Department at Southern Methodist University for the meeting.
Configurations: Serving with Melissa Littlefield as coeditor, Rajani reported the journal has received 48 new submissions and has a 14% acceptance rate. In 2025 the journal will scale back to three issues per year instead of four issues. Praising Jay Labinger’s efforts as book review editor, the editors will continue efforts to increase submissions, reviewers, and the visibility of the journal.
2025 Conference: Ray Malewitz will organize the 2025 meeting at Oregon State University. The earlier than usual dates of the meeting mean that low-cost accommodations for underfunded individuals and students will be available on campus to supplement rooms at nearby hotels. Details are below and at https://litsciarts.org/2024/11/09/slsa-2025-cfp-risk/
Call for essays for a Configurations special issue
Out of the Past: Reconsidering Nineteenth-Century Literature, Science, and Technology
Contributions are sought for a Special Issue of Configurations analyzing examples of nineteenth-century literary or visual texts about science and technology that are relevant to our current concerns. The text can come from any literary or artistic genre and from any cultural tradition; it should have been produced in the long nineteenth century: the period between the French Revolution (1789) and the end of World War I (1917). Each essay should concentrate on considering the form and the content of one work and its socio-cultural, historical, and political contexts, although connections to related works may be briefly considered in arguing for the significance of the selected literary text or artwork.
Questions that could be addressed include the following:
Timeline for Configurations issue 34.3 (final issue of 2026):
February 15, 2025—abstracts (250-500 words) due to both guest editors
October 15, 2025— authors’ manuscripts (5,000 to10,000 word essays) due to guest editors
Guest Editors:
Carol Colatrella carol.colatrella@lmc.gatech.edu and Hugh Crawford hugh.crawford@lmc.gatech.edu
Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology explores the relations of literature and the arts to the sciences and technology. Founded in 1993, the journal continues to set the stage for transdisciplinary research concerning the interplay between science, technology, and the arts. Configurations is the official publication of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA). https://litsciarts.org/
SLSA BOOK SERIES Proximities: Experiments in Nearness, from University of Minnesota Press
We are thrilled that the first volume of the Proximities Series—Microbial Resolution, by Gloria Chan-Sook Kim—is now published and available!
Adjacencies abound. We are past the moment of merely thinking in terms of how opposites attract and nodes network. Today, disciplines and fields move consciously proximate to one another, in conversation and growing together. Further, the future is no longer sometime in the distance, but appears near to us, often grasped as an impending horizon of political, social, economic, and environmental catastrophe. Now more than ever, so much is so close. See the Call for Proposals (https://litsciarts.org/proximitiesflyer.pdf) for more information.
Books in the Proximities series think proximately, that is, in disciplinary tandem, about the relationships within and between the arts, literature, and science, as well as how scholarship can best be in active dialogue with communities and the world around us today, and in the future. Published in association with the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, this series not only thinks across disciplines, but thinks about the continuities and crossings themselves, interrogating how and why their disciplinary proximities matter. Proximities publishes work that is crafted with nearness in mind: human nearness to one another and the world around us; nearness to one another’s thoughts; to our written and unwritten pasts; to critical trends and crises; to our futures ahead. This kind of scholarship powerfully catalyzes awareness of what it means to work interdisciplinarily by challenging assumptions about disciplinary thinking from the outside in, and the inside out. If interested in submitting a proposal, please contact the editors with a short description of your book project. Series Editors: David Cecchetto—York University (Toronto, Canada) dcecchet@yorku.ca and Arielle Saiber—Johns Hopkins University asaiber@jhu.edu
SLSA OMBUDSPERSONS: Any member interested in volunteering to serve as ombudsperson, should apply by emailing Carol Colatrella (carol.colatrella@lmc.gatech.edu); include a short statement of why you are interested in serving in this role and what experience you can bring the position. Current officers will review applications to make appointments.
Each Ombudsperson is an impartial entity who strives to see that SLSA members and SLSA conference attendees are treated fairly and equitably. Any member/attendee can seek the advice of an Ombudsperson. The Ombudsperson is impartial, neutral, and confidential. The rights and interests of all parties to disputes are considered, with the goal of achieving fair outcomes.
The primary responsibilities of the Ombudsperson are:
Ombudspersons: Marcel O’Gorman marcel@uwaterloo.ca and Kari Nixon mkarinixon@gmail.com
CALL FOR PAPERS: SLSAeu 2025 CONFERENCE:
The Lifespan: Perspectives on Ageing and the Life Course from the Medical Humanities, the Health Sciences and Age Studies
London (The Great Hall, King’s College), 4-6 June 2025
Conference of SLSAeu, European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts and The Sciences of Ageing and the Culture of Youth
Organizers: Dr Aura Heydenreich (President SLSAeu), Dr Martina Zimmermann (SAACY Programme Lead)
Ageing is too often seen as an inevitable period of decline at the end of life. The UKRI-funded research programme The Sciences of Ageing and the Culture of Youth (SAACY), based at the Centre for the Humanities and Health at King’s College London, a research hub invested in the human dimensions of healthcare, looks at how we can overcome this cultural pessimism by understanding ageing as a lifelong process rather than something that happens at the end of our lives. Older age poses challenges and opportunities just like every other phase in life.
This conference is interested in the synergistic capacities of ageing research across the humanities, social and medical/life sciences invested in ageing as a lifelong process. SLSAeu and SAACY join for this conference to share research at the many intersections of science, literature and the arts.
Ageing does come with material changes of the body, varying levels of energy and the possibility of ill health. But the decline narrative that aligns ageing with disease and evokes anxieties about vulnerability and dependence is only partly informed by the biological reality of bodily change across the lifespan. It is also directed by cultural and wider societal perceptions of what ageing means.
Biological ageing captures the impact of lifelong inequalities connected to the categories of difference that age studies are interested in; similarly, as a product and reflection of cultural values and beliefs, literature is essential for capturing the stories about ageing we live by. These stories, in turn, influence how we age, biologically, psychologically, socially; and they inform how we approach care, do research, and plan our lives on a changing planet.
Achieving attitudinal change to ageing would have far-reaching socio-economic and political implications – for how we retire, treat and care for older people, fund research and care, and understand intergenerational relations. It would break down barriers to opportunity across the age spectrum and contribute to healthier ageing for all. ‘The Lifespan’ wants to generate conversations between predictive and quantitative sciences and research approaches that describe and contextualise.
This three-day conference will be held at King’s College London. We are keen to foster conversations across disciplines within panels and invite contributions on lifespan/lifecourse approaches to ageing from disciplines such as Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Languages and Literatures, Narrative Medicine, Dementia Studies, Geriatrics, Gerontology, Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Public Health, Disability Studies, Epidemiology, Evolutionary Science and Medicine, Gender Studies, Philosophy, Critical Posthumanism, Postgenomic Sciences and Health Economics. We have a strong preference for papers to be presented in person, while hoping to be able to provide limited hybrid options.
Confirmed plenary speakers and round table discussants include:
Sally Chivers, Trent University, Canada
Ulrike Draesner, Leipzig University, Germany
Des O’Neill, Trinity College Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Susan Pickard, University of Liverpool, UK
Oliver Robinson, Imperial College London, UK
Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, Columbia University, USA
Aagje Swinnen, Maastricht University, Netherlands
Conference website: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/slsaeu-2025saacy-conference
For informal queries: SLSAeu-SAACY-Conference@kcl.ac.uk
Registration and bursaries covering travel and accommodation for SLSAeu 2025
Details for the registration will be provided in due course, with the Conference registration set at £175.
SLSAeu and SAACY are committed to supporting MA/MSc and PhD students and other Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to present their work. We expect to be able to provide at least 20 bursaries to contribute to travel and accommodation for ECRs. If you wish to be considered for a bursary your abstract must be submitted by Monday 20th January 2025. Expenses for travel and accommodation can only be reimbursed if we have received receipts by Monday 16th June 2025.
Abstracts
Please submit your 250-word abstract alongside a 50-word biography by 20th January 2025. Formats include paper presentations (20 minutes) and discipline-crossing panels (including participants from three disciplines, one of whom the moderator). We also encourage sector-crossing panels that include artists and writers, and welcome art events. Proposals for discipline-crossing panels spanning sciences/medicine, social sciences, the humanities, and the arts are especially welcome.
Please use this online form, if you wish to submit an individual abstract. As the moderator of a proposed panel, please use this online form for submitting the panel proposal and abstracts for and on behalf of you panel members. The forms ask for contact details and offer the option to express interest in a travel/accommodation bursary. If you’d like to be considered for one of these, please also complete the box asking for a short (50-word) statement as to how you identify as an ECR.
Key Dates
Abstracts due 20th January 2025
Decision on talks and bursaries mid-February 2025
Registration opens mid-February 2025
Deadline registration to confirm talk 17th March 2025
Publication of conference programme 1 April 2025
Registration closes 30 April 2025
Conference 4th–6th June 2025
Conference organisers:
| Martina Zimmermann Reader in Health Humanities and Health Sciences Department of English Language and Literature King’s College London Director, Centre for the Humanities and Health | Aura Heydenreich Reader in German and Comparative Literature Co-Director, ELINAS Center for Literature and Natural Science Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany President, European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts |
SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEBSITE REDESIGN: Wayne Miller, Electronic Resources Coordinator (wayne.miller@gmail.com), asks for new images for the SLSA website homepage (litsciarts.org). Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal and Ed Chang are developing SLSA social media. SLSA members interested in contributing to social media on behalf of the society are encouraged to email Ed (change@ohio.edu) and Ranjodh (rdhaliwa@nd.edu). Along with Adam Nocek, Wayne, Ranjodh, and Ed will work with graphic professionals to redesign the SLSA website.
POLICIES ADOPTED:Respectful Behavior and Freedom of Speech & Call for Ombudspersons
The updated policies are posted here:
ANTHROPOSCENE: This book series from Penn State University Press was published in collaboration with SLSA. While not all scientists have accepted the term “anthropocene” as part of the geological timescale, the idea that humans are changing the planet and its environments in radical and irreversible ways has provoked new kinds of cross-disciplinary thinking about relationships among the arts, human technologies, and nature. This is the broad, cross-disciplinary basis for books published in the series, which includes specialized studies for scholars in a variety of disciplines as well as widely accessible works of interest to broad audiences. Send questions to the SLSA liaison for the series, Pamela Gossin at psgossin@utdallas.edu or psgossin@gmail.com. Titles in the series appear here: https://www.psupress.org/books/series/book_SeriesAnthropoScene.html SLSA Member Discount from Penn State University Press: Use promo code NR21 for 30% off AnthropoScene titles purchased directly, plus free domestic shipping and discounts on foreign shipping! See https://www.psupress.org/emailassets/NR_SLSA_1021.html
Configurations Book Reviews: Jay Labinger, the Configurations book review editor, will publish around 10 reviews per year, of books–on any topic–that are likely to interest a wide cross-section of SLSA members and Configurations readers. If you wish to propose a book for review, please email Jay (jal@its.caltech.edu) the author/title/publisher, a very brief description and statement of why it merits being reviewed in Configurations, and whether you would like to do the review yourself or, if not, any suggestions you may have for appropriate reviewers. Authors are welcome to propose their own recent book for review, with the same info. Jay will post a list of books on litsci-l and ask anyone interested in reviewing one of them to respond to him. Look at an issue of Configurations to get an idea of the preferred length and style for reviews. After a reviewer has been matched with a book, Jay will ask for submission of the review within four months, and he will share the estimated date of publication.
The EUROPEAN Society for Literature, Science, and the Art is the sister organization of the international, USA-based Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. SLSAeu welcomes colleagues in the humanities, the social sciences, the arts, and all fields of science, medicine, engineering, and computer sciences as well as independent scholars, artists, and scientists. https://www.slsa-eu.org/. The last meeting of SLSAeu, hosted by the Center for Literature and Natural Science in Birmingham, was held April 10-12, 2024, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the British Society for Literature and Science (BSLS) and the biennial conference of the Commission on Science and Literature (CoSciLit). The 2025 conference “The Lifespan: Perspectives on Ageing and the Life Course from the Medical Humanities, the Health Sciences and Age Studies” will be held at King’s College London June 4-6, 2025:
https://www.slsa-eu.org/uploads/3/1/9/7/31971835/slsaeu_2025_save_the_date_25072024.pdf
SLSA EXECUTIVE BOARD (2025)
President: Rajani Sudan, Southern Methodist University (rsudan@mail.smu.edu)
Executive Director: Carol Colatrella, Georgia Institute of Technology (carol.colatrella@lmc.gatech.edu)
First Vice-President: Adam Nocek, Arizona State University (Adam.Nocek@asu.edu)
Second Vice-President: Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal, University of Basel ranjodhsingh.dhaliwal@unibas.ch
Members-at-Large: Paula Leverage (2023-25), Shane Denson (2023-25), Nat Mengist (2024-26)
Graduate Student Liaisons: Ben Platt (plattbe@oregonstate.edu), Elena Maloul (emaloul@umich.edu)
Configurations Editors: Melissa Littlefield, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Rajani Sudan,
Southern Methodist University. Configurations Email address: configurations@smu.edu
Configurations Book Review Editor: Jay Labinger, California Institute of Technology (jal@its.caltech.edu)
Publications Committee: Pamela Gossin; Raymond Malewitz; Bruce Clarke
Electronic Resources Coordinator: Wayne Miller (wayne.miller@gmail.com)
Arts Liaisons: Dennis Summers (dennis@quantumdanceworks.com); Maria Whiteman (mtw1@iu.edu)
Social Media Liaisons: Ed Chang (change@ohio.edu); Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal (rdhaliwa@nd.edu)
Ombudspersons: Marcel O’Gorman (marcel@uwaterloo.ca); Kari Nixon (knixon@whitworth.edu)
Past Presidents: David Cecchetto, York University, Toronto; Marcel O’Gorman, University of Waterloo; Ron Broglio, Arizona State University; Robert Markley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Laura Otis, Emory University; Richard Nash, Indiana University; Alan Rauch, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Bruce Clarke, Texas Tech University; Eve Keller, Fordham University; Jay Labinger, California Institute of Technology; T. Hugh Crawford, Georgia Tech; Susan Squier, Penn State; Sidney Perkowitz, Emory University; Stuart Peterfreund, Northeastern University; James J. Bono, SUNY-Buffalo; N. Katherine Hayles, Duke University; Mark Greenberg, Drexel University; Lance Schachterle, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Stephen J. Weininger, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The Executive Director can be reached at (404) 894-1241 or carol.colatrella@lmc.gatech.edu.
Postal address: Carol Colatrella, Executive Director, SLSA, School of Literature, Media, and
Communication, Georgia Institute of Technology, 686 Cherry Street, Atlanta, GA 30332-0165
SLSA websites: http://www.litsciarts.org and http://slsa.press.jhu.edu
