Please join us (in-person or online) for this Gender/Sexuality/Culture Interdisciplinary Research Seminar, hosted by the Gender Studies programme at the University of Melbourne.

The Problem with Pod Man

Date: Wednesday 16th October 2024, 3PM AEDT Melbourne time
HYBRID Event
On-campus, In-person: Arts West Building (North Wing), University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC
Online: Via Zoom
(Details will be distributed after registration)

Abstract: Pod Man is the rational, individual and hyper-masculine transport consumer entrenched in industry narratives focused on automated vehicle technologies and infrastructures. In this paper I interrogate how these narratives are constituted, the futures they imagine, predict and promote, and how people and households are presented within these futures. While there is an emerging body of research engaging with the gendered and racialised dimensions of future automated mobilities, previous studies have for the most part focused on conceptual and promotional visualisations of automated vehicles. Building on this existing work, I argue that equal attention needs to be paid to the ideologies and agendas embedded in industry reports. Taken together, the visual representations and industry reports contribute to large scale anticipatory narratives about possible futures. To better understand and critique the values and logics of these narratives, I discuss how the Pod Man persona underlies visions of automated vehicles and its potential consequences for shaping potential future trajectories.

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Emma Quilty is trained in anthropology and works in the field of feminist science and technology studies. Based at Monash University, she is currently a research fellow in the Centre for Excellence for The Elimination of Violence Against Women working in the technology-facilitated violence and harnessing technology to prevent violence against women workstream, and is an Affiliate of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. Her research focuses on the gendered and racialised aspects of technology design, development and deployment. Emma’s writing explores technology, power and gender and has been published in AI & Society, Mobilities, and Senses & Society. She co-produced the collaborative short film She’s Not Alone (2020) about the everyday stories of ride-sharing, gender-based violence and automated technologies and is the author of two forthcoming books under contract: Witchy Feminism (Polity) and Can We Trust Technology (co-authored with Sarah Pink).

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This event will take place in-person at the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus, which is on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung people. The venue is wheelchair accessible; please get in touch with the convenors if we can assist with other accessibility concerns.

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This is a hybrid event, with set capacity for both in-person and online attendance. Please indicate whether you plan on attending online or in-person when registering. Specific room details and Zoom links will be distributed on the morning of the event to registered attendees, but we hope you can join us on campus if possible.

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The Gender Studies programme at the University of Melbourne is committed to providing a welcoming, inclusive, diverse and rigorous scholarly environment for all of our students and staff. Our work critically and ethically addresses contemporary formations of gender, feminism, transgender studies, and sexuality studies. We strive to ensure that the pedagogic and scholarly spaces in which we engage – from the subjects we teach in our undergraduate Major, to our research, and to this seminar series – are pro-actively affirming and inclusive of the diversity in our academic community.

Contact the host of G/S/C Seminar: 'The Problem with Pod Man' (Dr Emma Quilty)

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