H3SF - Humanities and Social Sciences and Speculative fiction : a North/South Comparison

Membre extérieur au Ceped participant au projet

• Sylvie OCTOBRE, Sociologue, Centre Max Weber et Ministère de la Culture, DEPS

Partenariats

• CIRPaLL, Université d’Angers · https://cirpall.univ-angers.fr/fr/i...

Résumé

Objective :

The H3SF project : Humanities and Social Sciences and Speculative Fictions, aims to understand the heuristic circle between speculative fiction (such as dystopia, utopia, and fantasy) and reality, and more specifically how the most vulnerable populations, particularly young people (aged 18-29), use these fictions as a more or less accurate mirror of reality to interpret contemporary crises, imagine alternative futures, and implement their capacity for action in the face of global threats.

Genesis of the project :

The foundation of our reflective inquiry lies in a more restricted research project, based on a comparison between major modern literary models associated with coming-of-age novels, which refer to Bildung and self-transformation during the transition to adulthood, and contemporary dystopian fictions, which echoes the nagging questions of the crisis of democracy, the advent of unequal and totalitarian societies, class and generational conflicts in post-modern societies and refer to the empowerment.

We began by examining three major American cycles of dystopian fiction for young adults that have achieved international success : The Hunger Games (2008-2010), The Maze Runner (2009-2011), and Divergent (2011-2013). By taking up the major issues of the crisis of authority and transmission, freedom and equality, progress and science, and by rejecting all forms of adultism, these fictional worlds raise the fundamental question—one that is unique to global generations—of intergenerational conflict and the conditions for youth empowerment in contemporary societies that, through fiction, increasingly resemble dystopias.

Studying the heuristic circle of fiction/reality :

Without taking sides in the debate on the blurring of boundaries between fiction and reality (Lavocat, 2016), we cannot ignore the fact that, due to the constant injection of major social issues into the former and the frequent use of themes, narrative patterns, and symbols by the latter, a circular relationship now seems to have been established between the two.
By being fully active in maintaining the (dis)enchanted circle between fact and fiction, dystopias for young adults remind us, by virtue of the strong "dystopian realism" that characterizes the worlds they describe (Lawrence, 2020), how much our societies are confronted with the loss of the ideal of progress and a feeling of great regression (Geiselberger, 2017).
These novels are indeed imbued with this Zeitgeist ; they seduce the reader with their strong apotropaic value, projecting onto the future the fears of regression that seem to have taken hold of Western societies, replacing the hopes for progress that were once so central to the structuring of our imaginations (Bauman, 2017).

Speaking of an “elsewhere” and/or a “tomorrow,” these speculative fictions are indeed sounding boards for contemporary issues in the political, technological, scientific, economic, social, environmental, and cultural spheres. These fictional “possible worlds” (Doležel, 2010) can turn into “potential worlds” for their readers (Moylan, 2020).
An understanding of how these fictional worlds are experienced and imagined by literature “may also tell us something about the way in which we form a mental image of the world we live in, and the way we experience it and see our own lives intersecting with it » (Wolf, 2012, 15). “In creating new forms of ‘common sense’ about politics, YA fiction is also creating ‘self-fulfilling prophecies’ of youth peacebuilding” (McEvoy-Levy, 2018, 6).

In addition to serving as a cathartic outlet, these works of fiction fulfill an axiological and cognitive function, forcing their audience to reflect on the principles underlying contemporary democratic societies by analyzing the workings of their decline.

Research Questions :

It is therefore necessary to study more closely how young people use and appropriate this fiction to criticize the world in which they live today and express their hopes for an enduring peace.

In other words :

• Do these “possible worlds” help audiences to brave the new world by providing them with arguments to defend and improve what is best in their own world ?
• How do these works of fiction depict modern and post-modern human societies in an environment that they themselves have helped to shape ?
• How are individuals and human groups portrayed, and what is their place in these often post-apocalyptic worlds ?

In attempting to answer these questions, we aim to understand the links between fictional worlds and social realities (so-called « actual » or « real world »).

A Comparative and Global Approach :

We aim to give our reflection a comparative dimension by comparing fiction from so-called “Western” countries with that of East Asia, and also to transcend this classic divide (West/East) by exploring the circulation of speculative fiction between the Global North and the Global South. We will focus in particular on the issues addressed in these works of fiction, such as environmental change, power struggles, population displacement, and the challenges and modalities of procreation, as well as their staging and discourse.

Mots-Clés

Utopia, Dystopia, Fictional Worlds, Young Adults Novels, Fantasy, SF.

Zones géographiques

North America, Latin America, East Asia

Calendrier

• Début du projet : September 2025
• Fin du projet : September 2028

Contact

• Courriel : vincenzo.cicchelli chez ceped.org
• Téléphone : +33601941256

Résultats et valorisation

To answer these questions, we plan to set up an interdisciplinary scientific network. Therefore, collaborations with researchers and partnerships with institutions at the local, national, and international levels will be strengthened through conferences cycle and study days.
In parallel, we are conducting a research-creation experiment by setting up a narrative writing workshop and a “ciné-débat” workshop, which will serve as an essential lever for the transfer of knowledge and methods developed within the framework of the H3SF project.

Conferences cycle (available in a hybrid format) :

–  February 12, 2026 : What Novels Do : Literary Agency beyond Symptomatic Reading, keynote by P^r. Jan Vana
–  March 12, 2026 : Dystopia and Social Theory : The Case of Max Weber and Aldous Huxley, keynote by P^r. Sean Seeger
–  April 16, 2026, keynote by P^r. Davison Vecchione
–  May 7, 2026, Keynote by P^r. Adam Stock

Study days (available in a hybrid format) :

–  March 5, 2026 : Journée d’étude - « Temporalités alternatives dans les fictions de l’imaginaire »
–  June 11, 2026

Médias

• ARTE Le Dessous des images
  avec Vincenzo Cicchelli
  Blog

Publications

• An article for Aura Journal as part of the special issue : “Other worlds across literary and media landscape” (https://www.aurarivista.it/avvisi/cfp-the-call-of-other-worlds-across-literary-and-media-landscape/)
• Our proposed abstract entitled "Braving a New World ? Young people facing an adult-shaped universe in The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner and Divergent" has been accepted (article to be submitted by September 15, 2025)
• A monograph entitled “Growing up in a Dystopia : The Empowerment in Young Adult Fictions” (manuscript to be submitted by June 2026)