Monsters, Heroes, and Others: Unpacking Power in Media and Politics through Race or Species
Additional Occurrences:
- March 2, 2025, 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
The symposium "Monsters, Heroes, and Others: Unpacking Power in Media and Politics through Race or Species" explores how media constructs and reinforces hierarchies of power through portrayals of race and species, highlighting the deep connections between racism and speciesism. Despite ethical advancements in media representation, challenges persist as prejudices continue to shape narratives in politics, environmental movements, and digital spaces.
Over two days, scholars and experts will engage in discussions on how mediated communication influences social structures, examining the intersections of anti-racism and anti-speciesism in an era of digitization and media convergence. Featuring eight panels, 32 presentations, a roundtable, and a live podcast recording, the event will foster dialogue on ethical media practices and strategies to combat misinformation, hate speech, and exclusionary ideologies in the Anthropocene.
Parking is available in the Visitor Area 1 lot on North Avenue.
Sponsored by the Georgia Tech School of Modern Languages, the Atlanta Global Studies Center, the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
Schedule
Saturday, March 1
8:30 – 9 a.m. Breakfast
9 – 9:10 a.m. Opening Remarks
- John Lyon, School Chair, Charles Smithgall Jr. Institute Chair, and Professor of German, School of Modern Languages
9:10 – 10:25 a.m. Panel 1: “Racial & Species Politics in Entertainment Industry Awards”
- Natalie Khazaal (GT: ML), Ellen Gorsevski (BGSU), Tobias Linné (Lund), “Oscars So AnthropoScenic: Racism & Speciesism in Oscar Nominated Animation, 2016 - 2024”
- Keung Yoon Bae (GT: ML), “Award-winning Past Lives: Changes in Asian American cinema and the impact of Korean media in the US”
- Qi Wang (GT: LMC), “Ghostly Peregrination and Diasporic Vision in the Cinema of Korean-Chinese Filmmaker Zhang Lu”
10:25 – 11:15 a.m. Panel 2: “Racial and Species Violence in Gaming & Social Media”
- Michael Rübsamen & Magnus Johansson (Lund), "Monsters, Heroes, and Moral Choices: Exploring Race and Species in Gaming"
- Osvaldo Cleger (ML), “Overseers, Slaves, and Heroes: The Politics of Race and History in Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry”
11:30 – 11:45 a.m. Coffee Break
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Panel 3: “Species, Race & Ethnicity in Material Culture & Language: Part I”
- Amanda Weiss (GT: ML), "The Politics of Species as Nation: Global Media and the Representation of Japanese Identity through Animal Cafes”
- Lu Liu (GT: ML), “From Locust Legions to Cocky Crickets: Internalized Yellow Peril in Sinophone Digital Culture”
- Yixin Gu & Kyoko Masuda (GT: ML), “Foreigners in Manga: The Linguistic Shaping of Power, Stereotypes, and Identity in Midnight Diner and Detective Conan”
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 – 2:45 p.m. Panel 4: “Flesh, Whiteness, & Politics”
- Marek Muller (Texas State), David Rooney (UT Austin), Cecilia Cerja (UGA), “Monsters, Meat, and Masculinity: Primal Rhetoric and Identity Politics in Right-Wing Carnivorism”
- Lauren Corman (Brock), “‘Pageantry of Aggression’: QAnon, Animality, and the Violent Pursuit of Whiteness”
- J. Chris Ippolito (GT: ML), “On the Modern Origins of Monsters: New Species in Romantic Satanism”
2:45 – 4 p.m. Panel 5: “Justice Beyond Speciesism”
- Emily Major (U Canterbury’s NZCHAS), “Slayers, Rippers, and Blitzes: Dark Humor and the Justification of Cruelty to Possums in Online Media in New Zealand”
- Debra Merskin (U Oregon), “Heroes or Villains? Power, Identity, and the Rural-Urban Divide in Wildlife Politics”
- Carrie Freeman (GSU), “Humans and/as Animals: Inclusive Terminology to Reference Ourselves and Fellow Animals”
4 – 4:15 p.m. Coffee Break
4:15 – 5:15 p.m. "Animals, Media, and Power: Lessons from The Animal Turn"
- Claudia Hirtenfelder
Sunday, March 2
8:30 – 9 p.m. Breakfast
9 – 10:15 a.m. Panel 6: “Species, Race & Gender in Pop Horror”
- Annika Orich (GT: ML), “Monsters, Maidens, and a Century of Power Struggle: Unmasking Gender Resistance in Nosferatu (1922 – 2024)”
- Ankita Rathour (GT: LMC, Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow), “Bollywood's Inter-Species Horror Films: A Critique of Capitalism, Patriarchy, and the Racialization of Northeast India”
- Britta Kalin (GT: ML), “Gender, Race, and Species, in the Young Adult Fairy Tale Fantasy Reckless: The Petrified Flesh by Cornelia Funke
10:15 – 11:05 a.m. Panel 7: “Species, Race & Ethnicity in Culture & Language: Part II”
- Abhipsa Chakraborty (GT: LMC), “Reimagining Raja Rao's Kanthapura: Colonialism, Race and the Politics of Trans-Media Adaptation”
- Ida Yoshinaga & Kenrick Kamiya-Yoshida (GT: LMC), “Indigenous Okinawan Adaptation of Japanese Kaiju in Monster TV, Film, and Fiction”
11:05 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Panel 9 Roundtable “Rethink Race and Species in Culture”
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 – 2:45 p.m. Panel 8 “Species, Race & Ethnicity in Culture & Language: Part II”
- Rachel Dean-Ruzicka (GT: LMC), “From Weirdness to Whiteness: The Evolving Monsters of Stranger Things”
- Christopher Eubanks (apexadvocacy.org), “The Significance of Animal Rights in Collective Liberation”
- Juan Carlos Rodriguez (GT: ML), “Representation of Race and Different Species in Dominican Documentaries about Water”
