About the Course
An introduction to science fiction from the nineteenth century to the present, examining the influence of other literary forms (utopian, folklore, medieval, etc.), as well as scientific, historical, social, political, and religious trends on the genre.
- Introduce science fiction as a genre and discuss who gets to persist into the future and who decides.
- Discuss how systems of power create narratives about what is possible.
- Discuss narratives about the future that may delimit our imagination in the classroom, the laboratory, and in government chambers.
- Discuss how queer people, people of color, and disabled people write themselves into narratives about the future that traditionally they have been left out of.
- Analyze the rich history of science fiction written by marginalized authors that insists on a future in which we are central to its construction rather than an afterthought.