Thijs van den Berg
PhD Candidate
My main research interests lie in the relationship between science fiction and cultures of science. I hold that science fiction is a form of literature which is to a significant extent engendered in scientific and technological changes and that the study of its patterns, structures and developments may reveal valuable insights into their epistemological effects. I am interested in how new technologies are received and which new ideas are formed as the result of scientific discovery. By paying close attention to the limits of the genre’s imagination, I suggest that science fiction may serve as the historical documentation of scientific and technological change.
My PhD project is tentatively entitled A History of Our Connected Future: Communication Networks in Dystopian Science Fiction and focusses on one specific instance of science fiction’s encodement of techno-scientific change. By closely analyzing the structures of dystopian science fiction which employs telecommunication networks as a motif, my dissertation aims at addressing both the frequency with which dystopia and telecommunication technology co-occur, and the epistemological changes that this might indicate. My project is supervised by the thesis director, Dr. J. Goggin (http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/j.goggin) and the official promotor, Prof. C.P. Lindner (http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/c.p.lindner).
Education
Research Master Literary Studies (cum laude), University of Amsterdam, 2006-2007
Master English Language and Culture (cum laude), Free University Amsterdam, 2005-2006 Bachelor English Language and Culture (cum laude), Free University Amsterdam, 2002-2005Research Interests
- Science Fiction
- Relationship between cultures of science and (science) fiction
- Cultural identity construction and fan subculture
- Computer games and narrative
- Fan fiction
- Serialization
Teaching
This year (2010 - 2011) I am teaching Literature in Theory, Onderzoeksvaardigheden and British and American Culture II.