Call For Papers Special Issue: Haunted Technologies

Guest Editors: Associate Professor David Devanny (Falmouth University) and Professor Bas Groes (University of Wolverhampton)

This special issue will bring together a broad range of cross-disciplinary research on haunted technologies and the hauntology of machines and media. From the early days of mechanisation and the contemporaneous cultural discourse of the ghost in the machine, through science fiction and sci-fi horror, to VR defamiliarization, AI hallucination and the stories we tell about emergent digital technologies, this issue will bring together explorations of the encounters, fears, spectral and otherworldly qualities of technologies in society. Authors might consider haunted media, the spectrality of technologies in any stage of development, the remnants, revenants and revisitations of technologies, and representations of haunted technology in creative works (for instance in film, literature, art and digital games). The issue would also particularly encourage creative-critical responses and research-led creative practice, alongside more traditional articles.

For this issue, we invite articles, creative pieces, and reviews that address any manifestation of haunted technologies in art, culture, history, media and publishing studies. Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Analysis of representations of Haunted technologies in Literature/Film/TV/Games/Art/Music
  • Haunted machines and the spectral qualities of technologies
  • The hauntology of emergent media and technologies including AI, VR, autonomous vehicles etc.
  • Uncanny robots, androids and cyborgs
  • Contemporary takes on cyberpunk and new sci-fi tech genres
  • Mechanisation in Haunted Modernities
  • Dark economies, narratives of automation and labour, and the role of spooky technologies in late capitalism
  • Dark Ecologies, technology and its relationship with the environmental crisis
  • Haunted technologies as they intersect with politics, philosophy or cultural theory
  • Creative practice-based research that is thematically focused on haunted technologies

Format and Technical Information:

  • For articles and creative pieces (such as poetry, short stories, flash fiction, videos, comics, games, artwork, digital media, and music) please send a 350-word abstract and a short biography to [email protected] and [email protected] by September 15th 2025
  • Reviews of books, films, games, events, and art related to haunted technologies will be considered (800-1,000 words in length). Please send full details of the title and medium you would like to review as soon as possible.
  • If your abstract is accepted, the full article (maximum 7000 words, including Harvard referencing) and the full creative piece (maximum 5000 words if a written piece) will be due by December 16th 2025