Description
It is well-established that popular culture has real implications for the ways in which international relations are understood and practiced. Yet the extent to which popular culture shapes our expectations and imaginaries of IR futures warrants further inquiry. To aid in this effort, this roundtable brings researchers together to debate what the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries – drawn from the field of Science and Technology Studies – can teach us about how, why and when certain ‘popular’ visions of the future come to be embedded discursively and materially across societies, and the extent to which these become a resource for policymakers. More concretely, we are specifically interested in the role that science fiction plays in the creation of sociotechnical imaginaries of future war, and their potential to shape real world policy decisions. Our roundtable marks the start of what we hope is an ongoing discussion, providing a route for initiating a new dialogue amongst scholars interested in how the study of science fiction, sociotechnical imaginaries and future war intersects, with a view to developing propositions for novel areas of future research.
