6533b7d9fe1ef96bd126d538
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Real Humans?: <i>Affective imaginaries of the human and its Others in the Swedish TV series Äkta människor</i>
Sara Elisabeth Sellevold OrningAino-kaisa KoistinenIngvil Førland Hellstrandsubject
Sociology and Political Sciencemedia_common.quotation_subjectGeography Planning and DevelopmentImmigrationMedia studiesPopular cultureDehumanizationFamily lifePoliticsAnthropologyReading (process)Care workSociologyLawCitizenshipDemographymedia_commondescription
According to the Swedish science fiction TV series Akta manniskor (Real Humans, SVT and Matador film 2012-2014), humanoid robots called “hubots” are replacing the human workforce in care work and assembly line industries. Against the backdrop of current debates about immigration and citizenship in the Nordic countries, this article does a close, contextual reading of the series, exploring how the hubots influence work and family life. We are particularly interested in how hubots tie in with the cultural circulation of affect in relation to Otherness and how responses towards the “not-quite” human or dehumanized Other are negotiated in present-day Nordic cultural imaginaries. What kinds of affects are at stake in how Akta manniskor takes up and interacts with debates about immigrant workers and the “not-quite” human? To answer these questions, the article develops the notion of “affective imaginaries” as an analytical tool for understanding the exchange between popular culture and political debate.
year | journal | country | edition | language |
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2019-12-01 | Nordic Journal of Migration Research |