Project description
India’s SF monsters as metaphorical reimaginings of the ‘other’
India’s fictional futures will be mapped by this new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project. neoMONSTERS will explore India’s religious and political minorities through a study of its science fiction (SF) monsters. The research will delve deep into India’s popular imagination as it engages with a ‘Maoist’ China, ‘Islamic’ Pakistan, ‘Western’ transnational capitalism/neo-imperialism and Hindu nationalism in and via its SF. The project will consider whether alterity in Indian SF – and hence, in India – is primarily contingent upon the discourses of nationhood (vis-à-vis Pakistan/China/US/Europe), religion and political orientation. It will also check how the ‘others’ of Indian SF (aliens, zombies, clones, mutants, robots and monsters) become referents of religion, ethnicity and political orientation.
Objective
The Science Fiction (SF) of a spatio-temporal location is a window into the soul of a people. It manifests the “cultural unease” that specific identities evoke in the national imagination. SF not only demonstrates how contesting ideologies slug it out within the ring of the popular but also interrogates how metaphorical reimaginings of the ‘other’ are projected on and by a people’s collective psyche. This proposed action maps India’s fictional futures and the state of its religious and political minorities through a study of its (SF) monsters. It explores how India’s popular imagination engages with a ‘Maoist’ China, ‘Islamic’ Pakistan, ‘Western’ transnational capitalism/neo-imperialism and Hindu Nationalism in and via its SF. The action argues that alterity in Indian SF – and hence, in India – is primarily contingent upon the discourses of nationhood (vis-à-vis Pakistan/China/U.S./Europe) religion (e.g. Islam, Christianity) and political orientation (e.g. Islamism, Maoism, Capitalism). It also seeks to comprehend how the ‘others’ of Indian SF (aliens, zombies, clones, mutants, robots, AI and monsters) become referents of religion, ethnicity and political orientation. Appropriating core methods of Science Fiction Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Digital Humanities, Game Studies and Transmedial Narratology, this action delves into the mechanics of otherness and its negotiation with contemporary South Asian geopolitics. Through its emphasis on post-2000 narratives selected from across mediums, the action spans across the extrapolations of tomorrow (e.g. future wars, religious dystopias) and the distortions of the present (e.g. zombie apocalypses, robot uprisings). It hunts for India’s such neoMONSTERS: Mutagenic Ontological Narratives in Space-Time Echoing Realistic Situations.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities philosophy, ethics and religion philosophy metaphysics teleology
- social sciences sociology anthropology science and technology studies
- humanities languages and literature literature studies literary genres essays science fiction
- humanities philosophy, ethics and religion religions christianity
- humanities other humanities library sciences digital humanities
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
0313 Oslo
Norway
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.