Naš svet, drugi svetovi
Our World, Other Worlds
Anthropology, Science Ficton and Cultural Identities
Contributor(s): Bojan Žikić (Editor)
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Cultural Essay, Theory of Literature
Published by: Srpski genealoški centar
- Page Count: 274
- Publication Year: 2010
- Language: Serbian
Propast sveta nije šteta: motiv katastrofe u romanima Dž. G. Balarda
Propast sveta nije šteta: motiv katastrofe u romanima Dž. G. Balarda
(It’s the End of he World…and It’s Not a Shame)
- Author(s):Dejan Ognjanović
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Other Language Literature, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
- Page Range:9-30
- No. of Pages:22
- Keywords:catastrophe; alienation,; apocalypse; evolution; deluge; surrealism; SF; Ballard
- Summary/Abstract:This paper deals with the process of alienation of our world and its transformation into an alien, radically different world. It also addresses the impact of that process to the psyche and identity of the characters of J. G. Ballard novels. Events in science fiction novels of this author seldom take place on other planets. Instead, the plot usually describes our planet, which influenced by catastrophes undergoes metamorphosis on both formal and substantial level that consequently determines the arising of a new psychology. Ballard’s novels "The Drowned World" and "The Crystal World", where planet undergoes deluge and crystallization, are taken as key examples. The paper explores rhetoric of catastrophe and apocalypse, and it is contrasted to Ballard’s vision which sees radical changes not only as fatal danger and damage, but also as new aesthetical (surreal). and evolutionary potentials. A philosophical view applied to material and themes previously (and thereafter) thematized in sensationalist, adventurous, and one-dimensional catastrophe and/or fantasy novels, is also emphasized. Instead of convulsive fight for the return to the old ways, which is dominant in such works, Ballard’s novels dare to examine the new, the unknown and radically different. By embracing catastrophe, they actually show full genre potentials of science fiction to discuss not other, but our own world, and not the aliens, but humans. By depicting apocalyptic devastation in neutral or even positive tones, Ballard actually speaks about the need for substantial rearrangement and redefinition of the existing world.
- Price: 4.50 €
Ostrvo dana sutrašnjeg: književna fikcija kao kulturna kritika
Ostrvo dana sutrašnjeg: književna fikcija kao kulturna kritika
(The Island of the Day After)
- Author(s):Gordana Gorunović
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
- Page Range:31-63
- No. of Pages:33
- Keywords:Michel Houellebecq; postmodern literature; anti-utopia; satire; cultural critique
- Summary/Abstract:"The Possibility of an Island", novel by contemporary French writer Michel Houellebecq, might not be science fiction literature in terms of genre, but it definitely uses this genre’s experiences when it comes to problematizing 21st Century future. Houellebecq’s satirical fiction about the end of Millennium and apocalypse, adds in a certain way to Western tradition of anti-utopian literature. In my opinion, its literary contemporaneity and cultural, anthropological and philosophical provocativeness (relevancy?) reflect in the fact that author maps and reconsiders main issues and current problems which Western civilization societies face in postmodern times: domination of consumerism and obsession with the bodily, the cult of youth and beauty, pornographized eroticism, sexual tourism, genetic engineering and possibility of cloning, media virtualization of reality, flourishing of new pseudo-religious cults (New Age sects), etc.
- Price: 4.50 €
Tekst kao laboratorija: naučnofantastična književnost kao antropološki eksperiment
Tekst kao laboratorija: naučnofantastična književnost kao antropološki eksperiment
(Text as Laboratory: Science FictionLiterature as Anthropological Thought Experiment)
- Author(s):Ilina Jakimovska, Dragan Jakimovski
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
- Page Range:65-80
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:anthropology; science fiction; thought experiment; methodology
- Summary/Abstract:Thought experiments in the physics of the 20th century played a crucial role in the development of theoretical concepts, especially in absence or unsuitability of experimental data. In social sciences, for ethical and other reasons, the very utilization of the experiment as a methodological tool has been highly disputed. Thus, it has not only been rarely performed, but its implications, if any, had almost no practical value. Science fiction as a genre is perfectly suited to complement an actual performing of an experiment in anthropology, providing hypothetical scenarios that serve to predict possible future(s) of humanity, but that are, at the same time, challenging prevailing theories and even trying to establish new ones, by moving current theoretical problems into another, more helpful and more constructive territory, the one of the thought experiment. The article examines a number of short stories belonging to the science fiction genre that deal with core anthropological issues such as the definition of 'human', the role of adaptation in human evolution, the development of social groups and establishment of complex societies, appreciation of other cultural systems and the relation of humans to the universe. By doing this, it promotes the utilization of science fiction not only as methodological tool for research purposes, but even more as a valuable tool for teaching anthropology.
- Price: 4.50 €
O robotima i ljudima ili: imaju li roboti dušu?
O robotima i ljudima ili: imaju li roboti dušu?
(On Robots and Humans: do Robots have a Soul?)
- Author(s):Ljiljana Gavrilović
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
- Page Range:81-109
- No. of Pages:29
- Keywords:science fiction; robots; slaves; Other; human rights; technology
- Summary/Abstract:Human-robot relation is analyzed as relation between masters and slaves based on Isaac Asimov’s robot stories and their filming decades after their original release, but also using other narratives from literature and film regarding this topic. In times when human rights are guaranteed to everyone, at least in a declarative manner – to women, non-whites, indigenous peoples, members of sexual, cultural, religious, ethnic and other minorities – relation between human and robot-as-Other reflects permanent need of Western civilization to dominate over the Other. Establishing fictional law order and ethics which logically/ naturally/ willingly submits robots to humans, together with visible human fear of robots seen as autonomous (=uncontrolled) technology, reflects ambiguity towards contemporary technological development and uncertainty in defining self in relation to technology. Popularity of those narratives suggests that problems, questions, and relations modeledwithin them are close or at least recognizable to many people of different backgrounds, and that means that such narratives shape everyday behavior of more and more people in globalized world.
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O nečemu ni iz čega i pozitronskim dušama: antropologija, naučna fantastika i tehnologija
O nečemu ni iz čega i pozitronskim dušama: antropologija, naučna fantastika i tehnologija
(On Something out of Nothing and Positronic Souls: Anthropology, Science Fiction and Technology)
- Author(s):Zlatko Knežević
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
- Page Range:111-143
- No. of Pages:33
- Keywords:anthropology; genre; technological systems
- Summary/Abstract:Science fiction was, both as a literary genre and through its presence in film and television, the object of many disciplines until present time. The idea of inevitable technological progress and scientific development as basis of the future of human worlds is present as one of key science fiction motifs. This paper’s aim is to use the specificities of anthropology as a discipline so it could observe reflections of the construction and constitution of technological systems, and, even more importantly, their promises in science fiction literature and genre in general.
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Svemir kao američki imperijalni prostor
Svemir kao američki imperijalni prostor
(Cosmos as American Imperial Space)
- Author(s):Vladimir Ribić
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Customs / Folklore, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
- Page Range:145-164
- No. of Pages:20
- Keywords:United States of America (USA); imperial hegemony; cosmos; science fiction; folklore
- Summary/Abstract:Since 1950s the United States of America (USA) legitimized their imperial hegemony also by conquest of Space. Consequently, this empire sees itself as a legitimate representative of the humanity. Such a notion reflects itself in both folklore and science fiction.
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"Nacionalni heroj" u domaćoj naučnofantastičnoj književnosti
"Nacionalni heroj" u domaćoj naučnofantastičnoj književnosti
("National Hero" in Serbian Science Fiction Literature)
- Author(s):Ivan Đorđević
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Sociology of Culture
- Page Range:165-190
- No. of Pages:26
- Keywords:national hero; science fiction literature; tradition; national identity
- Summary/Abstract:Appearance of heroes from national history/mythology in Serbian science fiction prose is characteristic for last two decades of the 20th century. Karađorđe Petrović, Prince Miloš Obrenović, Prince Marko (Marko Kraljević) and other national heroes entered the Serbian SF stage simultaneously with processes of returning to tradition which were characteristic for the wider social context of Serbia of that time. Primary goal of this paper is to determine ways in which those heroes are represented in Serbian genre literature, with premise that a "national hero" is in fact a social and cultural construction determined by historical and political context. Symbolical recollection and "fishing" of national heroes from a historical/mythological "pool" in this particular domain of popular culture is discussed from the aspect of their positioning, re-contextualization and revalorization with regard to the sociopolitical reality of culture in which such literature emerged.
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Mi smo ja, a oni su roj. Individualni i kolektivni identitet kao relaciono svojstvo ljudi i tuđina u naučnoj fantastici
Mi smo ja, a oni su roj. Individualni i kolektivni identitet kao relaciono svojstvo ljudi i tuđina u naučnoj fantastici
(We are Me, and They are Hive. Individual and Collective Identity as a Relational Characteristic of Humans and Aliens in Science Fiction)
- Author(s):Bojan Žikić
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Sociology of Culture
- Page Range:191-218
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:identity – individual and collective; identity – construction; description; ascription; Us/Them; science fiction; anthropology
- Summary/Abstract:We construct identity in order to be similar with someone, and different from someone else. In order to emphasize difference between those two intents, but also the consequence of the identity construction, we tend to represent the given construct in a way that it basically negates the construction process, and suggests the alleged essentiality of identity instead. Such cases are tested in real world by research of so-called identity description and ascription, which always leads to the expected inconsistencies in identity construction practices. However, science fiction offers almost laboratory conditions for examining ways in which identities are constructed with the aim of separating a group or community from another one on cultural cognitive level. Among frequent methods of that kind is the use of motifs about collective mind / genetic memory of aliens as an exceptionally important tool used for confrontation with humans. The aim of this text is to show how the mentioned motif is used as a mean for construction of the identification marker which substantially differs human from alien races, and which is built on the opposition between individual and collective identity as relational characteristics of humans, i. e. their alien enemies. Examples from shows and films "Star Trek", "Stargate", and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Third Beings)" will be used as explanatory material.
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The Great Gig in the Sky. Kratka istorija NLO fenomena i ljudske fasciniranosti "vanzemaljcima"
The Great Gig in the Sky. Kratka istorija NLO fenomena i ljudske fasciniranosti "vanzemaljcima"
(The Great Gig in the Sky. A Short History of UFO Phenomena and Human Fascination by Aliens)
- Author(s):Danijel Sinani
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
- Page Range:219-254
- No. of Pages:26
- Keywords:unidentified flying object; aliens; contactees; abductions; UFO organizations; UFO movements; UFO religions
- Summary/Abstract:This paper deals with the most important aspects of the UFO phenomenon. What has been presented here is a short history of the development of the phenomenon, the most important protagonists and the key events that have influenced the shaping of the idea about the existence and contacts with extraterrestrial intelligences. The phenomenon of the contact with extraterrestrial beings, the role and the positions of the most famous persons who claimed they had maintained communication with alien entities, abductions by aliens as well as the organizations of contactees have been considered. The conceptualization of the role of extraterrestrial beings and the messages that they are, allegedly, sending to mankind have been presented and the messages’ religious contextualization was pointed out.
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O (ne)poslušnim kćerima: žene i rod u diskursu naučne fantastike
O (ne)poslušnim kćerima: žene i rod u diskursu naučne fantastike
(On (dis)obedient Daughters. Women and Gender in Science Fiction Discourse)
- Author(s):Iva Nenić
- Language:Serbian
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Customs / Folklore, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Sociology of Culture
- Page Range:255-270
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:genre; cyberpunk; cyborg; female Messiah; science fiction
- Summary/Abstract:Discursive constructions of gender and femininity in science fiction point to the close ties of science fiction’s "secondary worlds" to the living practices and experiences considering technology and cultural articulation of the difference. Early science fiction novels featured female characters somewhere in the back of the stage, but new wave in science fiction tended to disbalance stereotypes concerning gender, thus making path for cyberpunk and "hard" science fiction from the mid-1980s and on to disperse once unified notion of gender by thematizing effects on technology on human subject. Figure of human-machine hybrid today isusual part of both science fiction and theoretical imaginary, where key contribution stems from the work of feminist theorist Donna Haraway and her view of cyborg as symptom-metaphor of female emancipation through pact with technology. But who owns cyborg’s pleasure? Answer to this question could be found in two science fiction series which proved to be influential in changing genre’s paradigm – in William Gibson’s cyberpunk trilogy "Sprawl", and in Dan Simmons’ tetralogy "Songs of Hyperion" – where key for dealing with fears (and hopes) regarding human relation to technology lies in female characters.
- Price: 4.50 €