Josh Grant-Young

Thesis Project:  Epistemic Injustice, Phenomenology & Cultural Representations of Mental Health in Horror (Adv. - Dr. Patricia Sheridan)

A Bit About Me:

As someone who enjoys film, comic books and literature, it isn't surprising that I mine these for philosophically interesting themes and questions. In the department, I run a film watching/discussion series, Philosophy in the Dark, where students get together (to take a break from studies) to discuss horror film through philosophical lenses. In the past, I've co-organized a brief reading group on A.N. Whitehead and Ludwig Wittgenstein. This fall/winter 's Philosophy in the Dark: [Crypt]ic Media, A.I. & Networked Horror should prove to be an exciting final session. Chances are, if you're interested in doing a reading group, I'm already signed up!

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ACADEMIC WORK

Publications:

Articles

" 'Mentally Ill Monsters': Cultural Imaginaries and Mental Health in Horror" (Forthcoming, 2020)

" 'To Look at Oneself and All the While See Nothing': Perception, Haunting and the Gothic Eye in I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House" (Forthcoming, 2020)

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Book Chapters

Grant-Young, Josh. "Family, Fear and the Failure of Relations in It Comes at Night" in The Horror of Relations. (Forthcoming)

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Book Reviews

Review of Intelligence and Spirit. Interconnections: Journal of Posthuman (Forthcoming)

Review of Levitation: The Science, Myth, and Magic of Suspension. Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft 13, no.1 (2018).

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Blog Posts

(TITLE PENDING) - Written as part of my International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation Emerging Scholar position for the 2019 Guelph Jazz Festival  (Link: )

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Article Reviewer

I've acted as a reviewer for the following journals:

* tba: Journal of Art, Media & Visual Culture

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Conference Organization

Philosophy of Horror: [Crypt]ic Media, A.I. and Networked Horror (2020) - Guelph - Organizer

Philosophy of Horror: Occulted, Estranged and Inhuman Knowledges (2019) - Guelph - Organizer - LINK: https://www.uoguelph.ca/arts/philosphy/philofhorror19

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Select Conference Presentations & Public Speaking Events

Towards A Cosmic Blackening: A Provocation - Philosophy of Horror: Occulted, Estranged and Inhuman Knowledges ( Guelph, April 2019)

- This presentation was the explication of an on-going creative theory-fiction work, as a means to close the conference.

"And the seeds will be planted again..." : Love, Ecological Partnerships, and Atomic Posthumanisms - Posthuman Network (Arizona State University, Feb 2019) ***

- A paper that explores various ethical, ecological and posthuman implications of the 1950's science-fiction comic "Harvest".

Philosophy in the Dark: On Philosophy and Horror - "College of Arts: Night at the Museum" (Art Gallery of Guelph, Jan 2019)

- A public talk on various connections between horror and the philosophical canon.

Realizing Transphysical Spaces: Psychogeography, Sensing Urbanisms and Posthuman Ecologies (Workshop) - Posthuman Network (Arizona State University, Feb 2018)

- A presentation weaving aspects of new materialism, media theory, psychogeography, mental health together into an exploration of urban ecologies

Narrative as Contagion: Lovecraft, Posthumanism and Infected Ecologies - Society for Literature, Science and the Arts (Arizona State University, Nov 2017)

- An exploration of Alan Moore's Providence series. Discussed the idea of narrative as infecting contagion, aspects of Felix Guattari's Three Ecologies, and questions about whether certain texts, even when re-worked to challenge the problematics of their source material (the texts of H.P. Lovecraft), remain 'infected' landscapes for thought.

"It was a plant that thought it was Alec Holland..." : Exploring Identity and Ecology Through Swamp Thing - Canadian Society for the Study of Comics (Toronto Meeting, May 2016)

- A discussion of ecological, queer and activist politics found within Alan Moore's incarnation of the comic series Swamp Thing.

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*** Presented under other names at Artificial Lives (University of Sussex, Dec 2017) and Canadian Society for the Study of Comics (Toronto Meeting, May 2017)