Ruxandra Teodorescu
Ruxandra Teodorescu
Dissertation Project: The AI Perspective: An Examination of Human and Artificial Co- Existence in North American SF Discourse
Located at the intersection of literary and cultural studies, critical posthumanism, the ethics of artificial intelligence, philosophy of mind, and media studies, the dissertation project examines how literary, public, and scientific discourses depict differentiated understandings of AI. It examines how human and AI coexistence is portrayed in contemporary science fiction literature, and how these representations challenge anthropocentric norms in favour of a more posthumanist approach. This research looks at science fiction novels that depict different forms of AI that challenge anthropocentric notions of knowledge, consciousness, communication, rights and morality, to show how literature can be a medium for debate and a form of exploration of different knowledge-making approaches.
Research Interests
- US-American literature (20th – 21st cent.)
- Posthumanism
- Philosophy of Mind
- Science Fiction
- Morality and Ethics
- Science and Technology Studies
CV
- 10.2022 – today: Research associate in the research training group “Literature and the Public Sphere in Differentiated Contemporary Cultures” (GRK2806), FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
- Since 10.2022: Dissertation Project “The Moral Posthuman: An Examination of Human and Artificial Co-Existence in North American SF Discourse” (Prof. Dr. Kley, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
- 02.2024 – 08.2024: Lecturer, North American Literary and Cultural Studies Department (AIII), University of Mannheim
- 01.04.2024 – 16.06.2024: Visiting Researcher, Science and Technology Studies Department, University of California, Davis, USA
- 09.2021 – 10.2022: Academic Staff – Postgraduate Researcher, North American Literary and Cultural Studies Department (AIII), University of Mannheim
- 09.2018 – 08.2021: Master of Arts, Literature, Media and Culture in the Modern Era, University of Mannheim and King’s College London (sehr gut)
- 02.2020 – 09.2021: Graduate Student Research Assistant, British Literary and Cultural Studies Department (AII), University of Mannheim
- 10.2020 – 07.2021: Tutor in International Cultural Studies (Graduate Teaching Assistant), School of Humanities – Dean’s Office, University of Mannheim
- 09.2015 – 08.2018: Bachelor of Arts, Major: English and American Studies & Minor: Media and Communication Studies, University of Mannheim and the University of Exeter (sehr gut)
- 08.2017 – 01.2018: Student Research Assistant, North American Literary and Cultural Studies Department (AIII), University of Mannheim
- 01.2017 – 01.2018: Student Research Assistant, British Literary and Cultural Studies Department (AII), University of Mannheim
Conference Presentations & Invited Talks
- “Artificial Friend or Foe? Exploring Moral AI in Cargill’s Day Zero and Wilson’s Robopocalypse” at the “121st Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference”, Palm Springs, USA, November 7th-10th, 2024.
- “Technological Bonds: Exploring Human-AI Interaction in Louisa Hall’s Speak”, invited talk for the Inaugural Seminar for the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Experimental Futures, University of California, Davis, USA, November 4th, 2024
- “Ann Leckie’s AI: The Posthuman Mind and Morality in Ancillary Justice” at the “Northeast Modern Language Association Fifty-fifth annual convention”, Boston, USA, March 7th-10th, 2024.
- “Learning from the Nonhuman: The Limits of Anthropocentric Knowledge and Posthuman Revisions of Knowledge Formation in Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea” invited talk at the Research Colloquium of the American Studies Department, University of Mannheim, November 15th, 2023
- “Rethinking Morality in the Era of Apocalyptic AI: Exploring Moral Agency and Patiency in Daniel H. Wilson’s Robopocalypse” at the “AAAA! – AI, Algorithms, Automata, the Virtual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (VICFA) on Art”, Online, November 5th-11th, 2023
- “Posthuman Perspectives: Post-anthropocentric Minds in SF Narratives” at the “Posthuman Narration and Narratology Workshop”, University of Cologne, September 28th-30th, 2023.
- “Imagining the Inner Spaceship: Ann Leckie’s AI and Post-Anthropocentric Cognition” at the conference “Disruptive Imaginations Joint Annual Conference of the SFRA & GFF”, TU Dresden, August 15th-19th, 2023.
- “Beyond Binary – AI, SF, and the Moral Imagination” at the conference “Models, Metaphors and Simulations. Epistemic Transformations in Literature, Science and the Arts”, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, May 18th- 21st, 2023
- “Ancillary Agency: AI Moral Participation in Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice” at the conference “Recent Approaches to the Posthuman: Cultural Reflections on the (Post-)Human Condition”, University of Zaragoza, Spain, May 15th-17th, 2023.
- “AI in Mind and Body: Ancillary Justice and Spaceship Cognitive Ecologies” at the conference “Posthuman Bodies and Embodied Posthumanisms”, University of Warwick, UK and Online, October 12th-14th, 2022
Teaching Experience
Seminars
- “Coexistence: Multispecies Storytelling in Literature and Film” (University of Mannheim, Spring 2024)
- “Non-Human Perspectives in Contemporary US-American Literature and Film” (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Autumn 2023)
- “Surviving the Apocalypse” (University of Mannheim, Spring 2022)
- “Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination” (University of Mannheim, Spring 2022)
- “The Posthuman Future” (University of Mannheim, Autumn 2021)
Tutorials
- “International Cultural Studies” (University of Mannheim, Spring 2021 & Autumn 2020)
Memberships and Networks
- Member of the DFG network “PRANA: Posthumanist Research and Narratology”
- Member of the German Association for American Studies (GAAS/DGfA)
- Member of the Society for Literature, Science & the Arts (SLSA
- Researchgate
- LinkedIn