Heroism in Historical Fiction
25.01.2025
University of Silesia
Faculty of Humanities
Institute of Literary Studies
H/Story Research Group
For decades, we have been fed scientific and popcultural stories of the “we use only 10% of our brain capacity” sort. Recently, a set of new truths has been granted to us. For instance, in his 2014 popscience book Hirnrissig [Harebrained], the neurobiologist Henning Beck debunks 20 of the most widespread neuromyths, including the ubiquitous misconception that our brains work like superfast computers with limitless capacity and the idea that you can train your brain as if it were a muscle. Although these revelations of his are not new to people whose data consumption revolves around topics of trivia, anecdotes and scientific myths, others may appear indeed surprising. Bearing in mind the popularity of the theory that mirror neurons govern our behaviour, it is rather surprising to read that the scientists involved have merely put forward some preliminary observations on the basis of experiments conducted on monkey brains; and that it is far too early to create parallels and explain complex human behaviours through mirror neurons theories.
Having this in mind, we invite scholars of various fields to present their take on the heroism in contemporary historical fiction Among the specific themes that might be covered in twnety-minute long presentations are the following (the list is by no means exhaustive):
- popcultural representations of science and scientists
We welcome scholars from various academic fields to submit their proposals by 9 November 2024. Abstracts (no more than 150 words) in English should be emailed to hstory.seminar@gmail.com. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by 12 November 2024. The seminar is free of charge and takes place online.
Find us on: hstory.us.edu.pl/seminar and facebook.com/Hstory-437485846310918/ Contact us at: hstory.seminar@gmail.com
Best regards,
Alicja Bemben