Fayetteville and Dystopia

On April 5th and 6th, the University of Arkansas held its Graduate Students in Interdisciplinary Conference, with the theme "Approaching Dystopia." The topic urged students to write an academic or creative paper tying the dystopian genre to the world we are living in today. At the end of the conference, awards were given out for Best Graduate Paper, Best Creative Work, and Best in Show.

Saturday started as the most eventful day with both academic and creative presentations. These presentations include:

• Slavery and Its Afterlives

• Feminist and Indigenous Experience

• Dystopic Video Games 1: Institutions of Controls

• Creative Writing 1: Flash Fictions and Ten Minute Plays

• Dystopic Video Games 2: Themes of Dehumanization

• French Topics and Language Effects

• Dystopia and Pop Culture: Horror, Surveillance, and the Socio-political

• Creative Writing 2: Short Fiction Pieces

• The Contemporary Native American Novel

• Dystopian Horror: Roundtable

• Young Adult Dystopias: Understanding and Applying Sanctuary

Each of these had three to four presenters giving unique and thought-provoking speeches. They would either be based on dystopian themes or dystopian books. The University also took the liberty of supplying the students with both breakfast and lunch throughout the day.

On Sunday, the day was shorter but was no less entertaining. The topics included:

• Theater and Poetics

• Industrialization, Transportation, and AI Technology

• Dystopia in Popular Culture

• Queering Dystopia

• Speculative Fiction

• Dystopia and Pop Culture 2: Blade Runner

Again, the students were given free breakfast and lunch before attending the wonderful keynote speech by Dr. Maggie Fernandes. Dr. Fernandes gave a wonderful speech called The Ethics of Expediency, GenAI Refusal, and the Urgency of Critical Imagination in the Face of Dystopia. She warned about the dangers of using AI in the classroom and in writing. She also gave tips on what to do in order to help fight against the AI takeover in the literary world.

Shortly after the conference, the University of Arkansas announced its next conference happening November 14-15. The conference is the Arkansas Philological Association Conference with the theme "Confinement and Freedom." The deadline for submissions will be June 1st.