The Challenges of the Uncanny as (Un)concept in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Century

Masschelein outlines the curious conceptualization of the uncanny between various disciplines, a concept that only very gradually managed to move to the centre of what is called ‘theory’ and that has always remained in close contact with the margin of this field on the one hand and with the realm of creative production on the other hand. The concept of the uncanny is marked by hybridity and by a certain fleetingness. Although the uncanny sometimes seems omnipresent, the concept is perpetually being questioned in theory. In particular she will zoom in on the evolution from the uncanny’s relation to animism at the end of the 19th century to the realm of robotics, virtual reality and animation in the 21st century.

Anneleen Masschelein is a lecturer at the University of Leuven in Belgium, in the department of literary theory and cultural studies. She is also a postdoctoral research fellow at the Flanders research fund. Currently, she is finalizing her book on the conceptualization of the uncanny in 20th century theory, which is due to appear with SUNY University Press by the end of this year. She has also just finished a book on cultural studies in Dutch, that discusses contemporary cultural ‘myths’ ranging from google books to surveillance and tattoos.