DEIB Discussion at SFRA 22

Dear colleagues,

As we head to our first truly hybrid conference, in Oslo and online this summer, it is my pleasure to facilitate a follow-up discussion on diversity and inclusion for our Science Fiction Research Association membership.

In response to feedback on the 2021 conference program, especially by long-time members, last year’s Executive Committee started to discuss how our association can perform social justice in its institutional practice—in addition to appreciating it in textual analyses. We hope, in other words, to grow towards becoming an organization that puts the “Co” in “CoFuturisms”!

Such conversations have been already transpiring in our modest field of speculative/fantastic studies. Ongoing changes are being made within the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts by its leadership and the BIPOC Caucus, for example. Among other changes, IAFA’s ICFA conference now offers a physical Counter Space and a conversational Brave Space as part of its event programming. WisCon, the feminist SF and fantasy conference, has grappled with these issues for many years, with the results of those productive conversations evident in its now-standard conference Spaces and Policies.

Another illustration of diversity/inclusion efforts in a related academic discipline: in the mid-2010s, the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (or the SCMS), one of the largest media studies organizations, advanced a free trial 2-year membership for Indigenous scholars, as a way to signal a welcoming space for Native, Aboriginal, First Nations, and similar researchers.

For many BIPOC scholars, paying for an SFRA membership might come secondarily after joining a key association in one’s discipline (e.g., the MLA)—or one’s main inter-discipline (e.g., in the field of Native studies, the North American Indigenous Studies Association; in Asian American studies, the Association for Asian American Studies; or in film/media studies, the SCMS). Giving potential long-term members a free trial run and taste of our organization’s unique intellectual community would be a hospitable gesture and go far in encouraging minority and global scholars to become members of a 2nd or 3rd academic organization.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) issues are not exclusive of other discussions we have been holding among the SFRA EC—for instance,

  • How to widen our scope of country representatives so as to include more participants who are not from the Global North
  • How to conduct better outreach to members of non-traditional class-, gender-, sexuality-, age-, ability-, and other thriving communities of intellectuals, educators, and artists who love our family of genres
  • How to support our rich breadth of scholars through more extensive networking and mentorship activities as well as improved travel and research funds.
  • And so on.

So at SFRA Oslo this summer, there will be a “DEIB” themed discussion panel that invites you to share suggestions and proposals for widening the reach of our organization, for making it more safe and encouraging to join for diverse thinkers and creatives in SF studies, and for reflecting conscientiously on the outcomes of such efforts as we move together into the future.

It will be held both online (I will host virtually) and in Auditorium 2, on Wed. June 29, from 10:15-11:15 a.m. (Central European Time).

Especially but not only for non-tenure-track researchers and adjuncts; for BIPOC and first-generation college-graduate scholars; for global and diasporic lovers of our family of genres; and for LGBTQIA faculty and storytellers—who may be working under varied socio-economic and embodied conditions—we want to hear ideas of how do we facilitate a rich, diverse, inclusive membership? And a broader range of research topics and methods reflecting the sheer scope of global SF communities?

  • Come with your concrete suggestions for practice, policy, evaluation, finance, organizing
  • Come with your experiences with, and knowledge of, other associations’ (or programs’/ institutions’) imaginative, effective DEIB changes
  • If you wish to share writing, reduce it to ONE page or less—outline, paragraph summary, bulleted list—to display onscreen, online and in our Oslo meeting room with fellow attendees.
  • [We only have an hour, so try to be succinct as possible; I will take notes of this session for the EC’s and our membership’s further discussion.]

And come with your curiosity for the future,

Ida Yoshinaga

SFRA VP

ida@hawaii.edu

Film and science fiction studies

Georgia Institute of Technology

Overview

The Executive Committee of the Science Fiction Research Association invites travel grant proposals to attend and present at the annual conference of the Science Fiction Research Association. Maximum awards of $500 may be given. (In the past the SFRA has considered distance traveled primarily in terms of domestic vs. international travel. Starting with travel awards for the 2019 conference, the geographic criterion has been based on the estimated cost of travel, as one factor among many.)

While you do not need to be a current member of the organization to apply for this grant, please remember that you must be a member of SFRA to present at the conference. Grant checks will be presented to awardees during the conference funded by the grant.

Deadline for this year's grants: March 31st (notifications of awards will be sent around April 30th)

 

Please organize your proposal as follows:

  1. A cover page that gives the name of the applicant (please do not identify yourself or your institution in the rest of the proposal), mailing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, distance from the conference; please note your willingness to accept partial funding. Submit your cover page as a separate document from the remainder of your proposal.
  2. The abstract for your paper (as submitted to the conference director).
  3. A grant proposal of no more than 300 words in which you explain:
    • the financial difficulty you face in attempting to attend the annual SFRA conference and
    • the professional growth you intend to receive by attending the conference.
  4. A realistic, detailed budget for your conference attendance. Be sure to list alternative funding resources you have already applied for and/or received money from.

 

Criteria for Selection

You may find the following criteria useful in preparing your proposal. The Executive Committee will use these to conduct reviews of all proposals.

  1. Need: The proposal demonstrates a significant need.
  2. Distance: The proposal demonstrates that the applicant will have to travel far distances to attend the conference.
  3. Contribution: The project being presented makes an original contribution to scholarship in the field.
  4. Professional Growth: The proposal articulates clear objectives for professional growth.
  5. Cost: Budget expenditures are reasonable and the applicant has also sought funding elsewhere.
  6. Dollars Available: The organization will attempt to award as many travel grants as possible while remaining fiscally responsible.

 

Restrictions

No individual or organization may submit more than one proposal for SFRA funding per calendar year (conference travel, research travel, or other grants); this does not prohibit an individual applying for conference travel funding from preparing a small grant application on behalf of a collective to which he or she belongs. The first consideration will go to those who have not received an award in the last three years.

 

Expectations of Award Recipients

Grant recipients will be expected to do the following:

  • Present at the SFRA Conference they are being funded to attend.
  • Submit a final written report of 1 to 2 pages to the secretary of the SFRA Executive Committee by September 30 of the calendar year in which they attend and present at the SFRA conference.

Questions should be directed to SFRA Secretary Sarah Lohmann.

Proposals should be submitted to the same, as Rich Text File or Portable Document Format attachments.

Join fellow scholars, educators, librarians, editors, authors, publishers, archivists, and artists from across the globe in the SFRA.