SFRA 2027

Call For Proposals

Did history end? Is it impossible to imagine a future beyond capitalism? More than three decades after Francis Fukuyama’s “end of history” thesis, Mark Fisher famously observed that “it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” While contemporary science fiction often reflects this sense of capitalist inevitability, the genre also remains one of the most powerful tools for imagining alternative futures. What place does Asia occupy within these imaginaries of alternative futures?

Asia has long occupied a central place in the Western imagination of both the past and the future. On the one hand, the West has historically imagined Asia through an Orientalist lens as a site of timeless premodernity. On the other hand, cyberpunk since the 1980s has projected Asia as the technological future of the West through techno-Orientalist imaginaries. In response to these frameworks, Asian speculative writers have developed alternative visions that are neither simply Orientalist nor techno-Orientalist, but instead shaped by Asian futurisms deeply informed by colonial histories and their lingering aftermaths. Some writers move even further beyond linear models of historical progress altogether, as in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Taoism-inspired spiral temporality, where cyclical time and linear time intersect and coexist.

SFRA 2027 seeks to create a space for discussing Asia’s role within capitalist temporality and its dystopian historicity. How might we imagine Asian futurisms beyond techno-Orientalist or nationalist and sub-imperial visions of the future? What roles can Asian myths, folklore, philosophies, and indigenous religions play in reimagining science, technology, and futurity? How do Asian speculative traditions invite global scholars to rethink and redefine both the genre of science fiction and the field of SF studies itself? In what ways do Asian gender systems, linguistic structures, and non-gendered languages challenge Western gender binaries and normative assumptions?

As the Science Fiction Research Association convenes in Asia for the first time in its 57-year history, SFRA 2027 invites papers in SF studies related to Asia and beyond, across diverse media forms, including literature, film, television, games, comics, anime, webtoons, and immersive media. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Myth, Religion, Spirituality, and the Fantastic in Speculative Fiction
• Indigenous and Local Cosmologies
• Orientalism, Techno-Orientalism, Speculative Orientalism, and Algorithmic Orientalism
• AI, Posthumanism, and Alternative Modernities
• Ecology, Climate Fiction, and Environmental Futures
• Cyberpunk and Post-Cyberpunk in Asia
• East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Central Asian SF
• Translation, Circulation, and Transnational Media Flows
• Asian Futurisms, Mythic Pasts and Speculative Futures
• Memory, Trauma, and Historical World-Building
• Queer, Feminist, and Disability Futurities
• Race, Empire, and Decolonial Speculation
• Virtual Reality, Games, and Immersive Media
• Folklore, Monsters, and Supernatural Futures
• Anime, Manga, Webtoons, and Digital Storytelling
• Space, Infrastructure, and Urban Futures
• Open Topic: If you have an idea for a paper or panel not listed here, we warmly encourage submissions from all areas of science fiction and fantastic studies.

We invite submissions for individual papers, panel proposals, roundtables, and other innovative formats. Individual paper abstracts should be 250–350 words accompanied by a short bio of approximately 200 words. Panel proposals should include 3–4 papers and a moderator/chair. Please indicate whether you wish to present virtually or in person and include any A/V, accessibility, or accommodation needs.

Submission Guidelines:
Please consider submitting by December 31^st, 2026, either:

• A panel proposal (3–4 papers, including a chair/moderator), or
• An individual paper abstract (250–350 words) with a 200-word bio

Please indicate whether you plan to present in person or virtually. We will make every effort to support participants traveling from abroad by providing the maximum possible number of travel grants, especially for graduate students and part-time employees. The conference will be held on the beautiful campus of Korea University, located in the center of Seoul, South Korea. The campus is easily accessible from Incheon International Airport (ICN) by train, bus, and car, and is approximately 130 minutes from the Airport.

Individual Paper Submission link: https://forms.gle/cZ5r4q8zAPEP194J6

Pre-formed Panel (3-4 papers) Submission link: https://forms.gle/neyvgdKvKjgGBYJWA

For inquiries, please contact: sfra2027korea@gmail.com

Membership and Registration:
All presenters must be members of the Science Fiction Research Association and pay the conference registration fee (membership runs on a calendar-year basis). SFRA membership includes subscriptions to Science Fiction Studies, Extrapolation, and The SFRA Review, with options for discounted subscriptions to additional journals.

Members attending in person are eligible to apply for travel grants of up to $500 (USD). Information about travel grant applications will be included with acceptance notifications.

Application for Travel Grant: https://sfra.org/conference-travel-grant/