Julia Gatermann as Invited Guest and German Academic Liaison at the Inaugural SFAM Conference in Los Angeles, California | October 17-19, 2024

Speculative Fiction Across Media
“Queens of the Future: A Century of Women in Speculative Fiction Media”
October 17-19, 2024
Los Angeles, California

Julia Gatermann, research associate at the chair of North American Literature and Critical Future Studies participated as an invited guest and in the function of liaison between German, Swiss and North American academia at the inaugural conference of the Speculative Fiction Across Media (SFAM) organization, held in Los Angeles from October 17–19.

Organized by Prof. Sherryl Vint, UC Riverside, Prof. Patrick Sharp, California State University, Prof. Jeri Zulli, State University of New York, and PD Dr. Simon Spiegel, UZH, Zurich, the conference is set to become a landmark event in the field, establishing SFAM as a key annual conference, fostering ongoing international collaboration in speculative fiction studies. With the conference’s unique proximity to the US film industry, it benefits from networking opportunities with industry professionals, fostering a rare exchange between academic and creative worlds. This setting underscores the conference's commitment to a holistic exploration of speculative fiction, not just as a genre but as a cultural formation bridging academia, media, and industry.

SFAM’s inaugural conference, “Queens of the Future: A Century of Women in Speculative Fiction Media,” is more than a gathering of academics. It represents a pivotal shift in the recognition of women’s roles in speculative media. This conference highlights and amplifies these contributions, creating an academic platform that has been sorely needed. Organizers have designed a program that explores women’s contributions to genres like science fiction, fantasy, and horror, as creators, characters, and catalysts for genre innovation. The conference seeks to fill a crucial void in scholarly discourse by providing a dedicated platform for women’s achievements in speculative fiction, which have long been overlooked. By amplifying these voices, SFAM aims to encourage more inclusive narratives within the genre, challenging the norms of speculative fiction while celebrating its rich history and cultural impact.

Julia Gatermann’s participation, in collaboration with the Zurich Science Fiction Research Network at University of Zurich and ETH Zurich and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, exemplifies the event’s commitment to transatlantic scholarly exchange and collaboration. In her role as an academic liaison, Gatermann facilitates collaboration and knowledge-sharing among researchers from German-speaking Europe and North America. This bridging effort is timely and strategic, fostering an exchange of diverse perspectives and methodologies within speculative fiction studies

By uniting scholars, writers, and media industry experts, the SFAM conference aims to create an impactful discourse that merges academic and creative perspectives. Gatermann’s work, focusing on feminist speculative fiction, aligns with the conference’s themes, and her participation underscores the event’s vision for an international forum on speculative media. At the conference, Gatermann presented her research on feminist speculative fiction, with a particular focus on marginalized voices. In her work, Gatermann highlights speculative fiction’s capacity to challenge and expand the boundaries of representation, especially for queer and non-normative identities. Her research bridges literary analysis with critical theory, making her paper a critical contribution to discussions on intersectional feminism within speculative fiction. The broader implications of her work underscore the transformative potential of speculative genres to subvert dominant ideologies and foster a more inclusive understanding of human and posthuman identities.