Unofficial WisCon 38 Programming Idea-Generation Fest

[laceblade]

Let’s talk about what we would like to see at WisCon 38 for programming, any topic.

Post any thoughts you have, however semi-formed.
People can comment & try to come up with the best panels possible! Anyone can suggest panel ideas: People who run the convention, authors, attendees, or people who have never attended WisCon and never will. Please feel free to join in!

If the comments go in a direction you dislike, or you don't want to participate in a discussion, you can submit your own panel idea here on WisCon's website.

Here's a link to the Dreamwidth post on which we came up with ideas for WisCon 37, specifically anime/manga programming. It's an example of how this works. Threaded comments FTW.


Things to know:
--Not every panel idea that gets suggested ends up on the schedule. For WisCon 37, programming chairs had to cut about 50% of the panels due to space/time constraints.
--Much closer to WisCon 38, people will be able to vote on WisCon's website for panels they'd like to attend, & also indicate their interest in being a panelist or a moderator. These votes matter.
--Programming minions edit panel titles/descriptions after they've been submitted. Sometimes they combine multiple panels on the same theme into a single panel.

---

Commenting disclaimer: If you're reading this on LiveJournal, I would appreciate it if you could post your comments on the Dreamwidth post, so they're all in one spot. Of course, if you are unable to do so, comment at LJ.

Comments

Reconciliation within SF/F

[laceblade]

N.K. Jemisin's GoH speech at Continuum included a call for a Reconciliation within SF/F. "It is time that we recognized the real history of this genre, and acknowledged the breadth and diversity of its contributors. ...[I]t's time we took steps - some symbolic, some substantive - to try and correct those errors. I do not mean a simple removal of the barriers that currently exist within the genre and its fandom, though doing that's certainly the first step. I mean we must now make an active, conscious effort to establish a literature of the imagination which truly belongs to everyone." What would a Reconciliation look like? How can we start one? How can we grow one?

Re: Reconciliation within SF/F

[kate_nepveu]

Yes!

Re: Reconciliation within SF/F

[jjhunter]

+∞

See deepad's I Didn’t Dream of Dragons; see rushthatspeaks's review of The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects, Renée L. Bergland; and so, so much more.

Re: Reconciliation within SF/F

[j00j]

Fourthed!

[coffeeandink]

Femslash/femslash/uber/f\/f
Is f/f the same thing as lesbian fiction? Is it appropriative when straight women write femslash/femmeslash/uber? What do we like about femslash? (Sexy funtimes = totally valid answer.) What tropes do we love or hate? What trends do we see in f/f? What do we want to see? What's some good stuff we've read lately?

NB: Would prefer NOT to discuss m/m at all. F/f is its own topic & it needs more love.

The Manga of Yuki Kaori
The manga of Yuki Kaori (Angel Sanctuary, The Cain Saga, Fairy Cube) is gorgeous, incoherent, full of genderqueerness, striking women, and misogyny, and contains the occasional armada of zombie cannibal angel embryos sent to destroy the earth. Let's discuss.

The Manga of Hagio Moto
Not enough work by this mangaka is available in English, but her influential Heart of Thomas has finally been published, as well as a career-spanning retrospective of short stories. A few more series are partially available to people who read scanlations. People who are fluent in Japanese also have access to Otherworld Barbara and many other Hagio works that focus explicitly on gender. Let's discuss Hagio's artwork and her recurrent themes, such as abuse and the boundaries of identity.

[Other people should identify more actual themes, I'm blanking.]

Would also be interested in a panel on BOTH Hagio and Takemiya.

The Works of N.K. Jemisin

The Works of Hiromi Goto

(I know it's typical to have panels on GOHs, but I think the generalist book-club type stuff sometimes hasn't been listed? Or I'm oblivious. Also a possibility.)

Kiini Ibura Salaam's Ancient, Ancient and Caitlin Kiernan's The Drowning Girl
Bookclub-like discussion of last year's Tiptree winners

Sofia Samatar's A Stranger in Olondria
Because I think this is going to be a big topic of discussion this year.

Epic Fantasy by Women from the 50s to the Present Day
C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry stories, Joanna Russ's Alyx stories, Elizabeth Lynn, Mary Gentle, Kate Elliott, N.K. Jemisin, Judith Tarr, Patricia McKillip, more stuff listed here and here. What is epic fantasy? Why is it so often defined to exclude works by women? What are features common to epic fantasies by women? Also let's recommend books to each other, because that is always cool.

What is Science in Feminist SF?
Not sure exactly where to go with this, but I feel like a lot of the arguments about "Women write more fantasy than sf!" are assuming a particular definition of science that should be questioned. And also are applying gender bias to the "hardness" of sf by men and women.

Current Tropes in Feminist SF/F
In the 70s and 80s, the predominant tropes of feminist sff were aliens (usually as metaphors for women, but sometimes as contrasts to assumed human ideas about gender), utopias, and dystopias. Are these tropes still used today? What else is used? What distinguishes today's feminist dystopias from their forebears? What does the increase in near-future settings mean? How do we identify feminist sff?

[kiki_miserychic]

Sign me up for Femslash/femslash/uber/f\/f

[oyceter]

+++ Yuki Kaori and Hagio Moto and Takemiya Keiko!

[emceeaich]

+1 the Sofia Samatar's A Stranger in Olondria panel

[oracne]

Found Families in Speculative Fiction
A lot of fans find a home/family in fandom. Found families are also a common theme in specfic, both written and in tv shows such as Farscape and Star Trek. What narrative and thematic purposes can found families serve? How does this trope resonate with other themes present in speculative fiction?

Bring on the MPREG
Male pregnancy is a common theme in fanfiction, and a great deal of it (perhaps most of it) is written by women. How is pregnancy and its outcome portrayed for men, through a female lens? How does this sub-genre comment on gender relations and reproductive issues within our society? Are issues raised that would not be discussed in relation to female pregnancy? Is some of the genre simply inspired by a wish to see a man suffering through morning sickness and labor? Aside from the tv version of "Alien Nation," are there examples of MPREG in mainstream fiction?

Omegaverse Slash Fanfiction and Feminism
An entire sub-genre of fanfiction involves a world in which reproductive behavior is biologically directed and very hierarchical. How might this type of fiction be related to current debates about feminism and reproductive rights in the United States? Or is it just a kink that some people enjoy reading about? There is some omegaverse femslash - how does it differ (or not) from male/male omegaverse slash? http://fanlore.org/wiki/Alpha/Beta/Omega

I Want My Animal Companion - Or Do I?
Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, etc. - soul-bonding to an animal companion can be a powerful element in speculative fiction. How can this type of animal companion be compared and contrasted thematically with human-linked animals in Philip Pullman's THE GOLDEN COMPASS and Lauren Beukes' ZOO CITY?

[oyceter]

Would love manga examples of found families too! Ex. Naruto (at least the earlier part? am not caught up), Fruits Basket, Nana, probably a lot more that my brain is blanking on....

[sasha_feather]

I Want My Animal Companion - Or Do I?

A Companion to Wolves is a really great example of a book exploring this trope.

[kate_nepveu]

The Omegaverse one might also be a way to talk about dubcon in fic, which is something that apparently didn't quite happen this year.

[likeadeuce]

I had to miss the 'Female Soldier in Sci Fi & Fantasy' panel, due to travel delays, and I'd really like to propose a panel on a related topic/subtopic next year, but I haven't hit on how to frame it.

Would love suggestions on potential offshoots of this topic. . .

[julieandrews]

Maybe focus on boot camp/military academy. Or actually part of the panel was talking about veterans and the lack of female ones in sf/f. So.. veterans. :) Maybe female commanders compare/contrast with female troops? (If I have those terms right.)

Or specifically future soldiers, space soldiers, fantasy soldiers, steampunk soldiers.

Be Firm, Be Pithy, Be Gone

[jesse_the_k]

(in the spirit of the well-loved Imposter Syndrome Panel, and the lively discussion on my journal last week.)

Strengthen (or discover) our ability to maintain boundaries around our identity.

Begin with two or three people speaking bitterness on egregious examples of public aggression -- such as the stranger who demands to know "where you're really from?!?" or "what race are you?" or "why can't you walk?" or "so are you a girl or a boy, really?" or "want some sugar honey, I got it for you"

One panelist explains strategic use of language to stop the aggression while not harming ourselves.

Break into threes and practice: one is the aggressor, one is the boundary maintainer, and one observes & comments.

Re: Be Firm, Be Pithy, Be Gone

[jjhunter]

Strengthen (or discover) our ability to maintain boundaries around our identity.

Oooooo, I would be very interested in this!

[oyceter]

From chat brainstorming:

(troisroyaumes, please feel free to add more!!)

Populism and class aspirations in kdramas

The present and the past: fusion sageuk
How do fusion sageuk place present day concerns into historical settings? What are the benefits and drawbacks?

QUILTBAG visibility in kdramas
The higher visibility of trans people in Korean media, as opposed to LGB? The move (or parallel development?) of canonically queer characters compared or contrasted to Wacky Gender Hijinks?

Trans women in anime and manga
Cribbing from jiawen's suggestion for last Wiscon. Emphasis on Hourou Musuko and F.Compo? Hopefully having this here early means I will be able to read stuff before Wiscon 38!

Dystopia and Post-Apocalyptic Anime and Manga
7 Seeds, Nausicaa, X, Attack of the Titans, 20th Century Boys.

Dystopia and Post-Apocalyptic Traditions
(Possibly merge-able! This brought on by my current reading of 7 Seeds) I'm curious about different trends and traditions in dystopic and post-apocalyptic fiction. Drowned worlds overtaken by plants vs. barren desert wastelands. The popular YA "X is banned and the government controls Y" format. The destruction of Tokyo anime/manga trope and anxiety about nuclear bombs. Environmental dystopias vs. other types?

Mecha tropes and subversions thereof
What are our favorite and least favorite mecha tropes? And what are series that take on these tropes, either with full enthusiasm or with interesting twists?

[inkstone]

Dystopia and Post-Apocalyptic Anime and Manga

King of Thorn, Basara, Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star!

badass women and identity pr0n all the way

[jjhunter]

Barring unanticipated personal apocalypse, next year will be my first Wiscon! I would be especially interested in helping run and/or attending panels along the following lines:

The Once and Future Badass
Historical women who inspire, challenge and unsettle us
From 'Badass Women in History RPF' as a Yuletide fandom to tumblrs like historicalheroines and the Reconstructionists project, fans have a hunger for (re)discovering and celebrating women who go to extremes to Get Shit Done. Who are our favorite Badass Women in history, past or present? How do they conform to or subvert (or perhaps blatantly blast to smithereens) current tropes about 'strong' women in fiction and the news?

Ghosts in the Machine
Anonymity, Autonymity and Social Construction of (Internet) Reality
It's easier to notice online that how we perceive each other is something we collectively create. What are the pleasures and pitfalls in having so much freedom to construct our online identities? Is the internet version of reality actually all that different from what we construct in meatspace? And what's in a name, anyway, when services like Google+ try to enforce which names are 'real'?

ETA: feedback / suggestions / tweaks very much welcome & appreciated before I submit some variation of these as panel suggestions.

Re: badass women and identity pr0n all the way

[laceblade]

(edit as much as you'd like - after a year of co-chairing and seeing LITERALLY EVERY WISCON EMAIL EVER, I am immune to inbox spam. It's my new super power XD)

Women of Fullerverse

[aphrodite_mine]

I have a lot of half-formed ideas, but one that I know I want to participate in/attend/lead is a celebration and deconstruction of the women and gender roles of Bryan Fuller's work. For the purposes of this panel, that would include: Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies, and Hannibal. I could also be persuaded to include Heroes if it wouldn't overshadow the others. A few sub-topics:

- How do the shows intersect, and what roles to women play in those intersections?
- What do successful deadbeats like Georgia and Jaye tell us about Gen "Why" and women?
- Pushing Daisies intersects many genres. How does it function differently as a romance than as fantasy or even horror?
- What does the changing of Dr. Alan Bloom --> Dr. Alana Bloom and Freddie Lounds (M) --> Freddie Lounds (F) add or take away from the Hannibal series?

Re: Women of Fullerverse

[sasha_feather]

For Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me: both explore the boundaries between life and death. Grouping Wonderfalls in, all are Magical Realism. I would be interested in this panel! (Except Hannibal, but maybe I could even handle that at a panel.)

[sasha_feather]

Another Radical Queer Politics Panel

Let's talk some more about a radical queer agenda. Topics may include: How to be sex-positive in a sex-negative society, sex ed, immigration, work place issues, visibility for our identities, and more.

[jinian]

How NOT to get gay-married.

[miintikwa]

My half-formed idea involves prejudices against people of non-Christian faiths. I have recently had a dear friend up in Montana lose her son because she's a pagan, and I've been thinking about that and about my own reluctance to admit to my faith a lot. I'd love to hear other people's experiences.

[starlady]

Anime in Literature, Literature in Anime

The works of writers such as N.K. Jemisin and Alaya Dawn Johnson show a strong influence from anime, and anime such as Haibane Renmei have showed the influence of writers such as Haruki Murakami, while Studio Ghibli made a very famous, and very controversial, adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle. Let's talk about SFF and anime, and how each is changing the other. What aspects of anime could SFF learn from?

[julieandrews]

Like! I think people who aren't into anime or maybe those who are and just don't know Nora's background in it can completely miss the bits in her work that seem clearly (to me) inspired by anime.

[sbrackett]

I would like to see a panel on the trope of characters who are tomboys in childhood and who are portrayed as feminine to show maturity. Examples of characters who /do/ get to stay tomboys would be welcome as well, and also discussion of stories where being a tomboy is shown as something one grows out of.

[julieandrews]

This so much!

[oyceter]

The Tomb Raider Reboot

The rebooted Tomb Raider has drawn a lot of controversy from the executive producer's remarks about an attempted rape in Lara's new backstory. Let's talk about the lack of sexual assault and sexualized insults in the game itself, as well as what might have influenced various marketing messages prior to the game's release. Do players feel like they have to protect Lara, or are they playing the game as Lara? Also, given the multiple POC side characters and the Japanese setting, how does game handle race?

[meretia]

I have a half-formed idea that started as a question I was going to ask at the "Hobbies Are Awesome" panel but ran out of time or something. The question had been along the lines of "what's your experience with people trying to insert your hobby into their narrative?", like how it seems like we get at least one person a week coming up to our knitting group to talk about the two guys in the group who craft, or to tell us about how they tried to knit once or things like that.

But I suppose more in general, something about the genderization of hobbies--men "don't" do fiber arts, women "don't" write SF/F--and how one deals with that, and/or how much of a responsibility one has to the curious strangers who stop you so you can explain your hobby to them?

Reimagining an Anti-Oppressive SF/F

[laceblade]

Inspired by this roundtable at Strange Horizons & the resulting discussion on Twitter (storify that?!) - as Daniel Jose Older asks, "[I]magine in both practical and fantastical ways what the SF and fantasy community would look like if it was actively anti-oppressive."

[sasha_feather]

Psionics in Sf/F
Telepaths and Empaths in Sf/F have features of disabled people: they sometimes have impairments such as headaches and sensitivities to crowds, and need accommodations and training. They are also subject to societal stigma and fear. Let's talk about psionics! Examples include Professor X, Sookie Stackhouse, Reese in Malinda Lo's "Adaptation", and ....

The Hunger Games

esp. Marketing ploys like Subway, Cover Girl
also white washing in the casting and racism in reaction to the movies
Peeta as a not-typically masculine hero
How the movies erase disability narratives from the books
Lots to talk about here.

[gabbysilang]

Definitely into both of these. And not only because I want to dream up Actually Hunger Games-Inspired Makeup.