서아시아 연구 세미나를 공지드립니다.

5월 15일 4동 308호에서 "Space Aliens, Islam and Politics in Arabic Science Fiction"이라는 주제로 세미나가 열립니다.

많은 관심 부탁드립니다.

Seminar in West Asian Studies

Lecture: Space Aliens, Islam and Politics in Arabic Science Fiction

Speaker: Prof. Jörg Matthias Determann,  Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar

Date: 15 May (Tuesday)

Time: 16:00 - 17:30

Venue: Seoul National University, Building 4 Room 308

About the Speaker: Jörg Matthias Determann is Assistant Professor of History in the Liberal Arts and Sciences program at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar. He is also Associate Editor for the Arabian Peninsula of the Review of Middle East Studies. Previously, Determann worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at Zentrum Moderner Orient and the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies at Freie Universität Berlin. Determann is currently writing a book with the working title Lord of the Worlds: Astrobiology and Islam. He has published three books with I.B.Tauris. His most recent one, released in 2018, is titled Space Science and the Arab World: Astronauts, Observatories, and Nationalism in the Middle East. Determann’s second book, which was published in 2015, has the title Researching Biology and Evolution in the Gulf States: Networks of Science in the Middle East. His first book was based on a doctoral thesis at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. This book is titled Historiography in Saudi Arabia: Globalization and the State in the Middle East.

Abstract of the lecture: This lecture is based on research for a book with the working title Lord of the Worlds: Astrobiology and Islam. Despite fantastical tales, such as One Thousand and One Nights, and the Gulf’s futuristic architecture, the modern Arab world is not commonly associated with science fiction. Religion, repression and rote learning are often blamed for a perceived lack of creativity, imagination and future-oriented thought. In contrast, my research seeks to probe some of the wildest Arab and Muslim imaginations: about extraterrestrial worlds and their inhabitants – the ultimate “Other.” Arabic science fiction has described wars with alien invaders, but also romances and sexual relationships between humans and their others. Extraterrestrial civilizations have provided mirrors for those on Earth and thus have served as subtle tools for political and social criticism. I argue that Islam has been generally supportive for science fiction through fundamental ideas of God as “Lord of the Worlds” (rabb al-‘alamin). Even the universe’s strangest beings can be seen as creations, and evidence for the existence, of an all-powerful God. Repression has perhaps also helped Arabic science fiction more than hurt it. Censorship has arguably encouraged authors to disguise criticism of contemporary politics by setting plots in future times and on different planets.