July 3 – 5, 2018
This interdisciplinary conference will mark the bicentennial of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by bringing together leading biologists, anthropologists, theologians, and lawyers along with some of the world’s experts on Frankenstein in literature, theater, film, and political theory. It will enable multiple dialogues (secular and religious) on profound questions concerning the ethics and politics of the artificial creation of (human) life. The conference will present two new adaptations of Frankenstein to film and stage as points of departure for discussion of the enduring meanings of Shelley’s myth for modern science, religion, and politics. The conference will answer its guiding question—Why does Frankenstein Matter at 200?—by showing how Shelley’s story not only lives on in new artistic forms, but also in new interpretations of its relevance to twenty-first century issues ranging from the ethics and politics of genetic engineering and artificial intelligence, to the scope and content of human rights.
Originally published at international.nd.edu.