Welcome to the 34th Annual Meeting of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, virtually hosted by the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Dates: September 30 – October 2, 2021
Conference Chair: Irina Aristarkhova
Due to the ongoing uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 SLSA conference and member exhibition was virtual. Thank you all participants and attendees for a great conference!
Program Schedule (as of September 28, 2021, all program times are Eastern Daylight Time of Ann Arbor/Detroit/Toronto, GMT-4):
https://easychair.org/smart-program/SLSA2021/
Opening Keynote Thursday September 30, 17.00-18.30: Lisa Nakamura, chaired by Osman Khan , “The Minor Energy of Anti-Asian Digital Racism: Women of color and the digital labor of repair”
Zoom Webinar Link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/9108529852
Keynote Plenary Friday October 1, 13.00-14.30: Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, and Imani Cooper Mkandawire, “Theorizing in a Void”: Towards a Theory and Practice of Black Feminist Mathematics and Science
Zoom Webinar Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81266378493
Youtube Streaming Link: https://youtu.be/Q0_-dMrdGD4
Closing Keynote Saturday October 2, 17.00-18.30: Cristóbal Martinez with Liz Lerman, chaired by Jane Prophet, “Our Fathers, Crimes, and the Nature of Energy in the Universe” Zoom Webinar Link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/92701800715
SLSA Members Virtual Poster Exhibition is here: https://stamps.umich.edu/events/slsa-exhibit
SLSA2021 Awards Ceremony Saturday October 2, 10.30-11.00 Zoom Link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/98841503329?pwd=alhEcW44dkpXaXFnNFFiOUJKdm4rUT09
Featured Session 18G Roundtable: “Afro-now-ism and Radical Artistic Actions for building shared, ethical and decolonial AI Infrastructures with Stephanie Dinkins, Mimi Onuha, Moreshin Allahyari and Jason Edward Lewis,” moderated by Srimoyee Mitra and chaired by Jennifer Junkermeier-Khan, in conjunction with a Partner Exhibition at the Stamps Gallery and Stamps Lecture: Stephanie Dinkins curated by Srimoyee Mitra at https://stamps.umich.edu/events/stephanie-dinkins-on-love-data
Zoom Link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/98086585307?pwd=SXRRMGpaaklPdzNOODlGZFNlc3QyZz09
Virtual Partner Exhibition Re(new)All with Sensorium: Center for Digital Art & Technology at York University, curated by Ian Garett, Melanie Wilmink and Joel Ong: see the program for details for Thursday, Sept. 30, Friday, Oct. 1, and Saturday, Oct. 2 evenings
Institutional Partners: Digital Studies Institute, Comparative Literature, English Language and Literature, ESC: The Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (https://esc.umich.edu)
Publication Partner The Scholar’s Choice: PDF with book selection for SLSA2021 is available here: http://www.scholarschoice.com/Portals/35/PDFs/SLSA-virtual-book-exhibit-2021.pdf
Publication Partner The University of Minnesota Press virtual booth z.umn.edu/slsa21 with a special 40% discount
Theme: Energy
SLSA21 Virtual Conference and Poster Member Exhibition will feature panels, individual papers, roundtables, workshops, arts lounges, social networking events, and creative work that deal with topics related to the expanded notion of energy. Energy (etymologically meaning “in or at work, working”) connects us to the most pressing issues of the day: mental and physical vitality or fatigue (individual and collective, personal and political, creative and professional), including in the pandemic; the sources of energy (their extraction, depletion, abundance, and exhaustion; bitcoin mining and computational infrastructures; body energy, its flow, exploitation, alienation, and finitude); scientific theories and creative imagination around the relation between matter and energy (as in electromagnetic, particle, gravitational, acoustic forms of radiation; the living and the non-living, metamorphosis). Submissions are also invited that explore how energy is connected to power, science, and profit, history and war, flesh and labor. Building on previous SLSA topics “Out of Time” and “(Out of) Mind,” in Fall 2021 you are invited to consider the meaning of having or being “out of energy.” There will also be contributions from colleagues in the sciences, engineering, technology, computer science, medicine, the social sciences, the humanities, the arts, and independent scholars and artists that share a broader interest in problems of science and representation, and in the cultural and social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine.
Due to the uncertain nature of the pandemic year, the conference is planned as fully virtual. Though our intention is to follow the format of previous SLSA conferences with synchronous live presentations (similar to the Modern Literature Association 2021 conference), chairs will be responsible for their panels and could decide with their individual panelists if a pre-recorded presentation is necessary due to time difference or other circumstances. To facilitate SLSA community gathering opportunities, in addition to individual papers, panels, roundtables, workshops, and artwork submissions, this year we will feature organized social networking events and arts lounges to discuss and share research interests and creative work in less formal settings.
SLSA2021 will have:
- Individual papers and pre-organized panels
- Workshops, roundtables, arts lounges, and social networking events
- A Poster Member Virtual Exhibition
Conference Registration costs for presenters and attendees at SLSA 2021 are:
For students, independent scholars, researchers or artists/designers, pension members, and members of sponsoring institution (U. of Michigan): NO COST
Those with limited institutional support for conferences/travel: $50.00 ($25 reduced fee)
Those with institutional support/professional development funds: $150.00
Conference Registration Link with Membership Options (you do not need SLSA membership if you are only attending, though we strongly encourage you to support the Society by becoming a member): https://slsa.press.jhu.edu/membership/conference
Presenters in SLSA 2021 must be current members of SLSA. To become a member, go here: https://slsa.press.jhu.edu/membership/join.
NOTE: reimbursement of the membership fee is possible for some individuals—
Graduate students, artists, and independent scholars who register for and attend SLSA 2021 (a virtual conference) and who wish to be reimbursed for membership fees will be asked to complete an online reimbursement request form that will be available on the society website (litsciarts.org) between October 5 and December 1, 2021. Reimbursement will be in the form of a US bank check mailed to a postal address.
Direct link for reimbursement: https://www.litsciarts.org/membership-reimbursement/
Accessibility: This is an online event using the Zoom platform with an auto-generated Live Transcript available. If you anticipate needing any additional accommodations, email contactslsa21@gmail.com by August 31 so we can arrange for your accommodation or an effective alternative.
Questions?
For questions and inquiries email: contactslsa21@gmail.com
Conference Production Team (Thank You!) :
Susan Schaefgen (June 2021 – October 2021), Cheryl Evans (Stamps School, July 2021 – October 2021), Andre Grewe at Stamps Communications (2020-2021)
Ariel Mallett (Stamps School, 2020-March 21) and Kim Karlsrud (2020)
Conference Location
Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design and partners will virtually host the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
We acknowledge that The University of Michigan, named for Michigami, the world’s largest freshwater system and located in the Huron River watershed, was formed and has grown through connections with the land stewarded by Niswi Ishkodewan Anishinaabeg: The Three Fires People who are the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi along with their neighbors the Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee and Wyandot nations.
