Automatons! From Ovid to AI
Unmaking People: The Politics of Negation from
Frankenstein to Westworld
Drawing on the novel and film versions of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and contemporary science fiction such as Ex Machina and Westworld, this talk explores the idea and treatment of the artificial person in a human world. In particular, Dr. Despina Kakoudaki will look at how mechanical or constructed people are often set up as foils to humans as a way of examining our emotions, traumas, rights and identities.
Dr. Kakoudaki is a Professor of Literature, American University, Washington DC and the author of Anatomy of a Robot: Literature, Cinema, and the Cultural Work of Artificial People. You can learn more about her interest in robots in film and literature on her website.
“Unmaking People: The Politics of Negation from Frankenstein to Westworld” is part of the University of King’s College 2018 Public Lecture Series Automatons! From Ovid to AI.
The 2018 Lecture Series is made possible with assistance from the University of King’s College (Contemporary Studies Program, Early Modern Studies Program and History of Science and Technology Program), Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University.ary’s University.
