Speculative Fiction and/as Political Praxis 4219-RS276
This course interrogates the intersections between speculative fiction and activism, concluding with a look at recent scholarship that describes sf as a mode as much as a genre. We begin by examining debates contemporary to the emergence of the genre as a community of enthusiasts as well as a literary style, looking at early struggles that split sf fandom between those advocating a strict relationship to scientific plausibility and those who understood the genre as a tool for questioning given social orders. From its origins, then, sf has had a doubled identity, able to naturalize the values of an increasingly hegemonic sociotechnical modernity in the work of some practitioners, but also at the heart of aesthetics that estrange us from this order and offer alternative visions in the work of others. This course explores both sides of sf as a cultural form as we explore histories through which sf has been embraced as a technique of political commentary, with the aim of understanding how the genre has come to be so central to public imaginaries today.
We will read scholarship about sf, fiction, and works of public commentary by fans critics and other public intellectuals, and part of our discussions will consider how ideas move among these communities of practice. In this way, we will use the example of sf to engage in a larger conversation about exchanges between the academy and knowledge production in other venues, and to consider how public humanities might build on this tradition of independent scholarship within sf communities.
We will conclude by examining the influence of sf histories on sociotechnical projects such as the private space race for Mars, the virtual reality ambitions of Meta, and similar tech projects, seeking to understand how the line between sf and reality has blurred in the twenty-first century and what ideological assumptions underpin the sf-inspired projects of tech billionaires.
Course coordinators
Type of course
General: elective courses proseminars | Term 2024Z: Master's seminars |
Mode
Learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE
o Be able to name and describe a range of political projects that draw on sf aesthetics across ideologies
o Understand contemporary sf studies as an interdisciplinary field and articulate connections between sf imaginaries and contemporary American cultural ideals
o Know how and when sf texts have had a central impact on US public cultures and be able to analyze recent examples of this phenomenon
SKILLS
o Be able to formulate a range of critical arguments about American science fiction and its entanglements with sociotechnical cultures
o Be able to analyze how popular culture plays a role in the formation of American norms and cultural discourses
o Be able to draw on a range of methodological tools that are used across disciplines to construct arguments for distinct visions of desire political futures
SOCIAL COMPETENCES
o Be aware of the distinct way that science fiction operates as a discourse in American public cultures in ways that exceed the influence of other popular genres
o Have an understanding of how economics, politics, public mythmaking and sociotechnological futurity are entangled in the operations of American culture today
o Grasp the historical contingencies that have shaped aspects of American cultures of futurity and be able to articulate how their global hegemony has an influence on popular culture beyond the US
Assessment criteria
Seminar presentation 15%
Research paper proposal 20%
Annotated research bibliography 25%
Fifteen-page research paper 40%
Bibliography
The readings for the course will include, among others,
- William Gibson, “The Gernsback Continuum”
- Joanna Russ, The Female Man
- Samuel R. Delany, Empire Star
- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest
- Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
- Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
- selected chapters from Kalindi Vora and Nada Atanasoski, Surrogate Humanity
- selected chapters from Trebor Scholtz, Uberworked
- Ted Chiang, The Lifecycle of Software Objects
- Octavia Butler, Wild Seed
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: