McCall Participates in Philosophy Department Colloquium, Presents at Philosophy Conference

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ELMIRA, NY (11/07/2018) Dr. Corey McCall, associate professor of philosophy, and his collaborator Borna Radnik, a Ph.D. student in philosophy at Kingston University in London, were invited to give a Philosophy Department Colloquium at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan on October 25. The title of their talk was "The Ontology and Politics of Life in Frankenstein and Blade Runner."

McCall and Radnik argue that what makes Frankenstein's monster so horrific and unsettling is that he/it resists ontological and epistemological categorization. The Monster functions both as a reminder and a remainder of the void at the center of being. They then consider how these themes are taken up and transformed by Roy Batty's desire for "more life" in Blade Runner.

This presentation is part of a long-term collaboration in which McCall and Radnik explore the philosophical significance of Frankenstein and related works. The next phase of this project is a chapter in the edited collection Creolizing Frankenstein, which is due to appear in 2019.

In addition, McCall recently delivered a paper entitled "Finding the Right Word: James Baldwin and the Strange Revolution for Civil Rights" as part of a panel on James Baldwin and Black Radical Thought at the the annual Philosophy Born of Struggle Conference held at Hamilton College. Drawing on published and unpublished materials, McCall's paper traces Baldwin's efforts to conceive of the civil rights struggle as a revolutionary struggle. More information about the conference can be found online: https://pbos.com/