The neoMONSTERS Within: The Others in India’s Science Fiction

Project Information

neoMONSTERS

Grant agreement ID: 101023313

DOI

10.3030/101023313

Project closed

EC signature date 23 March 2021

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 5 September 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 214 158,72

EU contribution

€ 214 158,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - neoMONSTERS (The neoMONSTERS Within: The Others in India’s Science Fiction)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

How do monsters function – and what do they mean – in a world ravaged by religious and political extremism, fundamentalism, and the pandemic? Monsters are entangled in fictional imaginings and lived realities and become mutating and mutagenic metaphors in/of our popular culture(s). The neoMONSTERS action investigates the alternate presents and fictional futures in India’s contemporary Science Fiction to view monsters as neoMONSTERS: “Mutating/Mutagenic Ontological Narratives in Space-Time Echoing Realistic Situations”. It delves into how India’s popular narratives negotiate epistemes of monstrousness and manifest contesting ideologies within the nation’s popular imagination. It also studies how/why the others in India’s SF were created and interrogated by new tomorrows. Understanding these monsters and the times in which they are imbricated can help us revisit the way we approach marginalised populaces.
The action sheds light on how monsters are entangled with the worlds we inhabit and imbricated in the milieux that produces us. The project objectives revolve around 1) understanding monsters that operate within Indian Science Fiction, 2) illuminating the connections between Science Fiction, popular imagination, dystopias, GCC and political turmoil 3) refining the “transMIT (mythology, ideology, technology) thesis,” of the IN Situ model 4) studying monsters and related phenomena across mediums, 5) creating an archive of texts/videos that can act as a base camp for further forays into the area and to communicate/disseminate the results of the research to both scientific and general audiences, and 6) exploring the synthesis of a comparative framework that assesses how speculative traditions and popular imaginations are critiqued and deployed across different regional traditions. The overall objective – which was to locate, place, understand, and theorize monsters of Indian SF – was met via the outcomes of the project.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

I spent my time at IKOS, UiO on two inter-connected inquiries: one, how political and religious ideologies (Islamism, capitalism, communism, Hindu Nationalism etc.) negotiated India’s lived realities in its contemporary SF narratives. Two, how the epistemes of monstrosity engaged with the notions of marginalization and otherization in present-day India which is caught in a right-wards lurch. Both these inquiries proceeded via a systematic research design that incorporated different academic approaches (such as monster studies and SF studies), texts from different languages (such as Hindi, English, Tamil) and mediums (films, games, web series), leading to the first cross-language study of India’s SF others/monsters. For example, zombies were studied as they ravaged across cultural production of the 21st century.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The neoMONSTERS action is one of India’s first cross-genre, cross-media, cross-language study that theorizes SF monsters – especially zombies and aliens – within the context of 21st century India. This cutting-edge action led to multiple publications, workshops, panels, and podcasts that worked across the domains of theory and fiction, and academics and popular imagination. Its impact has been felt across academic and general audiences, as evidenced by the traction it has garnered. Moreover, its theoretical findings can now provide a base for further forays into India and its contemporary science fictional monsters.

Please see below for results:

Publications
1. “Zombies and India: The neoMONSTERS Epidemiology”. The Journal of Popular Culture. 56(2), 2023
2. “Genre-Zombies and Zombie-Genre: Science Fiction, India and the Undead”. Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction. 145/54(2), 2023.
3. “AI, Wars, and Climate Change: India's Future(s) in Three Hindi “Large Short” Films”. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 34(1), 2023.
4. “Altars of Alterity: The Curious Case of Aliens in India's Science Fiction.” Altered Space: Essays on the Global Transformation of Science Fiction. Edited by Gary Westphal. McFarland (Forthcoming, 2024)
5. “Rendezvous with Rama (Rajya): The Golden Past in India's Anglophone Science Fiction”. The Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms. Edited by Dillon, Lavender, Chattopadhyay and Taylor. Routledge (2023).
6. “Control+Alt+Delete Humanity: Shovon Chowdhury's The Competent Authority .” Uneven Futures: Strategies for Community Survival from Speculative Fiction. Edited by Yoshinaga, Guynes and Canavan. MIT Press (2022)
7. “The Day After Tomorrow in Bengaluru: Environment, Global Climate Change and Dystopia(s)”. Science Fiction in India: Parallel Worlds and Postcolonial Paradigms. Edited by Khilnani and Bhattacharjee. Bloomsbury (2022)
8. “The Recipe for Good Indian Science Fiction: Technology, Politics and Religion.” Worlds of Difference: Arab and Muslim Science Fiction. Edited by Elzembely and Aysha. McFarland (2022)

Conferences (attended/co-organized)
1. VICFA22: Presented a paper “Event, Content and Intent: Extraterrestrials in Contemporary Indian SF” at Virtual International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts, USA (October 7–9, 2022).
2. DiGRA India 2022 Conference: Videogames, Science Fiction and India (Nov. 26-27, 2022) (online)
3. SFRA 2022: Co-organized Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) “Futures from the Margins” Conference (CoFutures), Oslo (June 27-Jul 1, 2022)
4. CoF 2023: Co-organised “CoFutures Conference 2023: Community Speculations and Technopolitics (June 15 – 17, 2023). (online)
5. Indian SF Writers’ Convention 2023: Co-organised a 5-day convention with workshops, panels, roundtable discussions, dialogues, and conversations with leading SF writers from India (March 01-05, 2023)
6. Monster Conference 2022: Presented a paper “The Zombie Mob: India and the Undead” at Monsters Conference 2022 (Sep 6-9, 2022). University of Reading and University of Western Australia (online).

Workshops (participated/co-organized/conducted) - 6

Panel discussions/talks/keynotes/lectures delivered -10

NeoMONSTERS Podcasts: 4
#1: Zombies in Delhi? A Conversation with Mainak Dhar (2022)
#2: Zombie/Toke? A Conversation with Jugal Mody (2022)
#3: Love/Monsters. A Conversation with Rashmi Ruth Devaasan (2022)
#4: Monsters in Bangla Science Fiction. A Conversation with Dip Ghosh (2022)

Bibliography: co-compiled, secondary texts of Indian SF along with the CoFutures team
Exhibition: Co-curated the “Futurings Art” Exhibition, SFRA, University of Oslo (June 27-Jul 1, 2022)
Co-edited volume: 1 (under production, currently in talks with Routledge)
Short film: 1 (currently in post-production phase)

asset-99-4x.png

Presentation title slide

Presentation title slide