Graduate student Diana Kasem has received a 2024 Romantan International Fieldwork Grant.
Using “khayal ilmi” —Arab science fiction (ASF)— as a case study, her dissertation project explores the unique features of imaginary worlds in science fiction (SF) films and their relation to reality while filling gaps in existing ASF film discourses. It aims to examine how their narrative and SF techniques produce alternative representations and speculative perspectives on issues pertaining to colonization, exile, diaspora, collective traumas, hunger, environmental pollution, immigration, and communication. Kasem’s research explores the issues contextualizing imaginary worlds and examines what they are capable of theoretically and practically. This includes the intentions of filmmakers to shape past, present, and future narratives via the production of speculative visions and alternative representations that inspire resilient, positive outcomes or social change.
Developing this topic at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Diana Kasem has published two peer-reviewed articles on Arab science fiction and resilient communication in addition to a paper about twentieth century Arab science fantasy that will be translated into French and featured in the Arabofuturs exhibition in the Institut du Monde Arabe, France in April 2024. During summer 2024, she plans to visit the Arabofuturs exhibition in Paris to collect data from its museum’s collections of archives, books, and artworks, as well as conduct interviews with Arabic SF artists and filmmakers.