Ecology and posthumanism in literature, main themes of the new PhD dissertation defended at the Instituto Franklin-UAH
On Monday, January 15th, 2024, Alejandro Rivero Vadillo defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Ecologies Of Light: Posthumanism And Techno-Optimism In Contemporary Solarpunk Short Fiction”, directed by Dr. Carmen Flys Junquera and co-directed by Dr. Juan Fernando Galván Reula, Professor at the Universidad de Alcalá. This research is part of the interdisciplinary PhD program in North American Studies of the Instituto Franklin-UAH.
The examining board was formed by Dr. Juan Ignacio Oliva, Professor at the Universidad de La Laguna, as president; Dr. Irene Sanz Alonso, Assistant Professor at the Universidad de Alcalá and researcher at the Instituto Franklin-UAH, as secretary; and Dr. Axel Goodbody, Emeritus Professor at the University of Bath, as member.
The thesis “Ecologies Of Light: Posthumanism And Techno-Optimism In Contemporary Solarpunk Short Fiction” analyzes the environmental discourses inherent in solarpunk short fiction from the mid-2010s to the early 2020s, with particular attention to posthuman, techno-optimist and degrowth synergies and disjunctions within the literary genre. The study establishes a literary-theoretical connection to themes around ecological and social anxieties already present in earlier genres, such as cyberpunk, steampunk, salvagepunk, and climate fiction, and which influenced later iterations of solarpunk narratives. This thesis presents a collection of texts written from 2018 to 2023 in which aspects pertinent to these elements are addressed in detail, focusing on political and philosophical visions on the development of such futures.
Alejandro Rivero Vadillo holds a degree in Modern Languages and Translation and English Studies from the Universidad de Alcalá. He is a doctoral student in the American Studies program at the Instituto Franklin (UAH). Assistant editor of the journal Ecozon@ and MEC-FPU Fellow. His research addresses post-humanist philosophy, and the thinking around ecology and technology reflected in literature, music and film. He has also translated thinkers such as Holly Jean Buck and Joni Adamson.