Lecture by Sherryl Vint in the frame of the conference ”Forgotten, Misplaced, Marginalized: Speculations We Don’t See”

We invite you to the lecture by professor Sherryl Vint (University of California, Riverside) on the shifts in contemporary speculative fiction, including literature, cinema and art. The event is part of the conference ”Forgotten, Misplaced, Marginalized: Speculations We Don’t See” organized by American Studies Center, University of Warsaw. The conference is accompanied by a showcase of non-western science-fiction films entitled “Other Futures: Unknown Science Fiction Cinemas” at KINOMUZEUM.

The ”Forgotten, Misplaced, Marginalized: Speculations We Don’t See” conference explores the global scope of speculative and fantastic storytelling across cultures, languages, and media, responding to the growing—but uneven—visibility of these forms in both academic and popular discourse. While speculative fiction now circulates more freely than ever thanks to digital tools, critical attention remains concentrated on a narrow range of authors, languages, and media, often reproducing old geopolitical hierarchies. To address this lack of balance, the conference keynotes and presentations engage overlooked, marginalized, or understudied texts, creators, and practices. Structured around six thematic streams—offered as flexible points of orientation—the event aims to broaden the scope of speculative research and foster more inclusive conversations about the fantastic.

Sherryl Vint is Professor of Media and Cultural Studies and of English at the University of California, Riverside, where she founded the Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science program. She has published widely on science fiction, including, most recently, Biopolitical Futures in Twenty-First Century Speculative Fiction (2021), Science Fiction: The Essential Knowledge (2021), and Programming the Future: Speculative Television and the End of Democracy (2022, co-authored with Jonathan Alexander). She was a founding editor of Science Fiction Film and Television and is the Managing Editor of Science Fiction Studies and editor of the book series Science in Popular Culture.  In the academic year 2024/2025, Professor Vint is the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Humanities and Social Sciences at the American Studies Center, University of Warsaw. 

Organizer of the conference: American Studies Center, University of Warsaw 

Conference website