Here is the transcript of my talk for the virtual seminar series “What (is) Medieval”, designed to provoke thoughts on the Middle Ages and all its associated definitions and connotations, run by Emma Wells & Claire Kennan.
Last year, I jokingly wrote this (alter) ego-inserting fanfic, placing my PhD topic in the story world of Netflix’ The Last Kingdom. It was published on different fora, but lacked a stable place online. So, I decided to republish it here. Enjoy!
Another original piece of fan fiction on this blog. 🙂 Clonroise from Tumblr account @underneathoursouls wrote a Chobits fan fiction about the cyborg mermaid, with many Irish influences. The use of different fonts refers to inner monologue in this piece and the use of Irish will be translated at the end of the work and is written in italics.
The Cyborg Mermaid – or: how technè can help the misfits fit in and stand out! In feminist studies, the figure of the mermaid has long been regarded as flawed, disabled and less-than-human. Her theoretical counterpart in that respect would be the cyborg, an image used to show that with the help of robotics, humankind could be larger than life. So, what would happen if we could combine those two images and apply them to create “super love” more-than-human relationships? In my PhD, I am exploring the possibilities of technology for “mermaids”, people who normally fall outside the norm, to satisfy human desires in a new way. Publications in English (selection): Mussies, Martine, and Emiel Maliepaard. “The Cyborg Mermaid (or: How Technè Can Help the Misfits Fit …
My name is Martine Mussies (pronunciation) and I am an artistic researcher & autistic academic. The drawing above is one of my avatars (which I do not resemble much, although it was partly based on this video) Welcome / Välkommen / Witaj / Добро пожаловать / ようこそ ! As a PhD student at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, I am writing my thesis about the Cyborg Mermaid, or to be more concrete: about the way modern media empower people to create new stories based on mermaid mythology. What fascinates me most about the study of fantastic beings is that the way in which we shape them tells us so much about what it means to be human. Besides my research, I am a musician, I do …
As long as I remember, I have been fantasizing about an Ideal Home to realize my Ideal-I. Currently, I am working on practical applications of technology to improve the lives of autistic people (for a Special Issue of Applied Sciences). This blog is a collage of free writings that explore the overlap between those two. With a soundtrack! 😉
