Project description
Future fiction and Science Fiction aids in a better understanding of global changes
Futuristic fiction and Science Fiction writers and artists in traditions of Afrofuturism, Sinofuturism, Indofuturism, Latin@futurism, and Arab/Gulf-futurism have flourished in the last decade. The common factor in all these cases is the influence of the current dramatic changes in climate, demography and technological development on society. The EU-funded COFUTURES project aims to research these imagined future fictions as local patterns of adaptation to global changes. It will study the cultural, scientific and geographic determinants of the regions, as well as imagined technological and societal challenges. The goal is to answer how future fictions could contribute to a better understanding of global challenges locally.
Objective
This project investigates future fictions from five distinct traditions: Afrofuturism, Sinofuturism, Arab/Gulf-futurism, Latin@futurism, and Indofuturism. All these fictions respond to the burning issues of the present, the transnational discourses of demographic change, climate change, and technological change, but they imagine different, localized ways of engaging with these transnational discourses.
Research Questions
What contributions can contemporary future fictions make to our understanding of global issues?
The project is split into three sub-questions to structure the enquiry:
1. What are the cultural and scientific bases for the development of different geography based future fictions?
2. What are the future changes – societal and technological – imagined in these future fictions?
3. How can we understand the response to global challenges – demographic change, climate change and technological change – in the local changes imagined in these futures?
Based on this, the project will develop a theory of “COFUTURES” (Co: Complex –Coexisting –Comparative).
Context
The project studies the recent proliferation of fiction based on ethnic, cultural, or national identity as take-off points for imagining possible futures even if their locations of production are globally spread. While many of these have older histories, these fictions have come together in this decade as alternative visions of the future that are resistant to perceived colonial or neo-colonial hegemony and are read as new forms of self-assertion. No methodologies have been developed to study all these together as shared phenomena, and no theories exist that can even make sense of them as similar yet distinct phenomena. There have also been no attempts to understand the specific sources for these futures in terms of the kinds of scientific and technological developments they project and the societal developments they imagine as localized responses to global challenges. This is the COFUTURES aim.
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.
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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.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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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) ERC-2019-STG
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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.