Michael Godhe

Michael Godhe is a Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor at Linköping University, affiliated with the Department of Culture and Society (IKOS) and the Department of Culture, Society, Design and Media (KSFM) within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. His academic work focuses on the intersection of technology and culture, with special emphasis on robots, androids, and AI from a cultural and media historical perspective, as well as critical future studies.

Godhe's research centers on representations of future images, exploring how anticipated futures are anticipated, written forward, and staged in speculative fiction (utopias, dystopias, science fiction, etc.) as well as in the public sphere. His work is characterized by four key concepts: expectations, anticipations, projections, and stagings. Together with Luke Goode from the University of Auckland, Godhe co-founded the interdisciplinary research field of Critical Future Studies (CFS), publishing the program text "Beyond Capitalist Realism – Why We Need Critical Future Studies" in Culture Unbound: Journal for Current Cultural Research. He also co-founded The Journal of Social and Cultural Possibilities with William Bridges IV and Luke Goode in 2022, focusing on humanities approaches to future studies.

His publications span cultural representations of the future across science fiction, media history, and public discourse, with particular attention to how future visions manifest in utopian/dystopian narratives, space exploration, and technological development. His recent work examines Swedish science fiction, time conceptions in speculative fiction, and apocalyptic representations from biblical times to contemporary media.

• PhD in Theme Technology and Social Change, Linköping University (2003)
• Master's Degree in Intellectual and Cultural History, Uppsala University (1997)

Research Networks and Leadership

Godhe initiated the Swedish research network "Science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction" with approximately 50 affiliated researchers. He is also involved with Linköping Space Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (LSSH), which conducts interdisciplinary investigations of future visions within all aspects of space research and industry, and the LiU hub for apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic representations. His teaching in the Bachelor's program in Communication, Society, and Media Production (KSM) ranges from media history to special courses within the Futures Lab theme, where he uses methods from Critical Future Studies to engage students with future issues in light of technological development and contemporary crises.