We hope SFRA members will propose work that would benefit the special-session:

Hacking (In)security: Rewiring Systems through Genre

How does contemporary global genre fiction re-imagine political / personal insecurities? How can it subvert oppressive systems?

Texts from 1950's - present. Please submit 350 word abstracts and CV by 15 March 2017 to Jessica L. FitzPatrick (JLF115@pitt.edu) and Sagnika Chanda (SAC204@pitt.edu).

We particularly encourage abstracts that do one or more of the following:

• focus on postcolonial SF
  
• use the "(in)security" conference theme to contend with intersectional modes of resistance   
  
•  illuminate atypical textual mediums
• contend with the potential of alternative imaginative modes
  
• explore works that challenge traditional genre orientations and borders
• consider imaginative ways to not only challenge and reform but also defy and elude systemic modes of oppression
  
• deliberate porous citizenship and spatial boundaries
  
• challenge the dialectic connotations of security/insecurity at personal/political levels
  

Accepted participants will then move forward as a special-session proposal for the 2018 MLA Annual Convention, held in New York City from 4 to 7 January. All participants will need to be members of the MLA. The presidential theme for the convention is #States of Insecurity. For more details about the conference see https://www.mla.org/Convention/MLA-2018 ; for details about special sessions see https://www.mla.org/Convention/Planning-a-Convention-Session/Special-Session-FAQs.  Please contact Jessica FitzPatrick and Sagnika Chanda with any questions.