Julien Wacquez: Research & CV

The Horizon of Planetary Possibilities. Dynamics and Shifting Boundaries between Science and Science Fiction.

Research Area 1 – Displacements, “Dépaysements” and Discrepancies: People, Knowledge and Practices

Julien Wacquez is a sociologist currently affiliated with the Labex les passés dans le présent at Paris Nanterre University in France, as a postdoctoral researcher. His work focuses on the epistemic values of science fiction literature, speculative writing, futurology, and the scientific uses of science fiction through history. He defended his PhD dissertation, entitled The Horizon of Planetary Possibilities: Dynamic and Shifting Boundaries between Science and Science Fiction at the EHESS in 2020. He published several articles which appeared in journals of sociology (Socio), anthropology of arts (Gradhiva), and comparative literature (Modern Language Notes). Since 2014, he is the editor-in-chief of the online magazine Angle Mort, which has been honoured as the ‘Best European Science Fiction Magazine’ by the Eurocon Award 2018.

CV

Education

2012-19: PhD studies in Sociology at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris) under the supervision of Jean-Louis Fabiani. Thesis title: La Grammaire de la Vraisemblance : l’attachement à la réalité des praticiens de la science-fiction. Disciplines: Sociology of knowledge, sociology of sciences, sociology of writing, sociology of literature, ethnomethodology

2011: Master Research in Sociology at EHESS under the supervision of Sylvie Tissot. Thesis title: Faire la mixité sociale dans le grand ensemble de Meaux : la constitution d’un problème public

Research

2020-21: Post-graduate researcher, Labex les passés dans le présent, Université Paris Nanterre. Under the direction of professor Emmanuel Grimaud.

2018-19: Phd fellow, CEFRES, French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

2017-18: Phd fellow, CEFRES, French Research Center in Humanities and Social Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

2015-16: Visiting Scholar, Harvard University, Department of Sociology, Massachusetts, United States

2014-15: Bourse d’Immersion, Musée du quai Branly, Département de Recherche et d’Enseignement & Labex Créations, Arts et Patrimoine, Paris, France. Intitulé du rapport : Faire dire aux objets. Images de l’activité connaissante et mise en scène dialogique du savoir par le service de médiation du musée du quai Branly.

Conference & Seminars

2019 (June): “The Scientific Existence of the Dyson Sphere,” International Conference Paradise on Fire, organized by the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), University of California, Davis.
2019 (June): “How Does Science Fiction Literature Shape Scientific Imagination?” International Conference Anthropology Off Earth, organized by Périg Pitrou (CNRS – LAS), Régis Ferrière (ENS – University of Arizona), Istvan Praet (University of Roehampton, London), Joffrey Becker (PSL) & Elsa De Smet (PSL), Collège de France & Observatoire de Paris, Paris, France.
2019 (April): “Is ‘Hard Science Fiction’ a Limit to the Concept of Literary Field?” Epistemological Seminar, CEFRES, Prague, Czech Republic.
2018 (May): “The Ways of Science Fiction in the Study of the Anthropocene,” Workshop Debating the Norms of Scientific Writing, FLU, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
2016: “Elements for a Sociology of Credibility: How to Use Knowledge in Science Fiction Stories?” – Culture and Social Analysis Workshop, Department of Sociology, Harvard University
2015: “Faire dire aux objets. Images de l’activité connaissante et mise en scène dialogique du savoir par le service de la médiation culturelle du musée du quai Branly” – Workshop Art et performance – Musée du quai Branly (Paris, France)

Organisation of Scientific Events

2020-21 Co-organisation and co-animation of the Labex Les passés dans le présent entitled « Futurologie : atelier de narration spéculative » avec le professeur Emmanuel Grimaud. Description : http://passes-present.eu/fr/futurologies-latelier-de-narration-speculative-1ere-seance-44401
2018 (mai) “Debating the Norms of Scientific Writing” Partenaires : CEFRES (Prague, République Tchèque), EHESS (Paris, France) et la Faculté de Philosophie de l’Académie des Sciences Tchèque. Keynotes speakers: Jan Balon (FLU, Czech Academy of Sciences); Jean-Louis Fabiani (EHESS, CEU); John Holmwood (University of Nottingham).

Teaching Experience

In English (252 hours)

2017-2020: The Fiction is already there. The writer’s task is to invent the reality, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Science Fiction Literature, Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology, Prague, Czech Republic.
Digital Sociology. In collaboration with Dino Numerato. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Prague, Czech Republic.
2017-2018: Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, course: Knowledge Trouble. Introduction to the sociology of science and the sociology of intellectuals, in cooperation with Dan Cirjan (PhD at CEU)

In French (108 hours)

2019-2020: Lycée Français de Prague, course: Sciences Économiques et Sociales:
2014-2017: Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle University, course: The Sociology of Writing.
2013-2014: Paris 12 University, course: Introduction to Sociology.
2012-2013: Paris 13 University & Institut Régional du Travail Social, course: Introduction to Sociology.

Prizes & Awards

2018: Recipient of the Fellowship of 8/9 of the EHESS Endowment Fund (topic: writing).
2018: Recipient of the best science-fiction of European Science Fiction Convention for review Angle mort.
2014: Recipient of the PhD Fellowship (Région Île-de-France Mobi’Doc).

Publications

Edition

2019: Review Socio, number 13, topic: “Science et Science-Fiction”, in cooperation with Stéphane Dufoix (SciencePo, Paris)

Scientific Articles

2021: « Re-searching Fiction: Interspecies Assemblages between Science and Fiction in the Anthropocene », submitted to Configurations (05/02/2021), Johns Hopkins University Press.
2020, « Le Dire des choses : de l’entaille à la surface. Parcours de lecture à propos du livre de Romain Bertrand ‘Le Détail du monde’ », Carnet de Recherches du CEFRES, available online: https://cefres.hypotheses.org/1766
2020: « La Défamiliarisation du monde : trois exemples de ‘fiction climatique’ française », Modern Language Notes, Johns Hopkins University Press (with Chiara Mengozzi, Charles University).2019 (November), « ‘Welcome to the real world:’ Champ libre à la science-fiction », Socio, issue 13.
2020, « Le Dire des choses : de l’entaille à la surface. Parcours de lecture à propos du livre de Romain Bertrand ‘Le Détail du monde’ », Carnet de Recherches du CEFRES, available online: https://cefres.hypotheses.org/1766
2019 (November): « Les Réalismes de L’Anneau-Monde », Socio, issue 13.
2019 (May): « La ‘Faillite de l’imagination’. De l’existence scientifique de la sphère de Dyson », Gradhiva, issue 29.
2019 (March): « La Sphère de Dyson : objet de fiction et de science », Revue de la BNF, issue 58.

Other Activities

2016: Founder and editor-in-chief of the bilingual magazine Blind Spot – Angle Mort.