Semester:
Offered:
Instructor: Ellen Song
Meeting time: Thursday, 9:45 - 11:45
Speculative fiction, especially science fiction, is known to be a predominantly white genre; data from one source, the sci-fi trade journal Locus, indicates that less than 5% of SF and fantasy books published are by writers of color. This course examines in an intentionally multi-ethnic framework speculative fiction written by African American, Asian American, and white authors alike in the 20th and 21st centuries, which opens us up to the diversity of themes, concepts, and settings to be found ? should we be interested in looking for it. From the early Afro-futurism of W.E.B Du Bois's "The Comet", to the techno-orientalism of Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, to the environmental critique of Karen Tei Yamashita's Through the Arc of the Rainforest, contemporary speculative fiction asks us to imagine a world completely alien to us and works to uncover the hidden operations, institutions, and power structures of our own, often, though not always, at the same time. Yet, some of the authors examined in this course also reveal that their writings are not necessarily dictated or primarily influenced by their identity markers. Ultimately, in this course, we will gain a nuanced appreciation for the breadth of conceptual concerns covered in contemporary speculative fiction. We will also learn to read both with and against the grain of our expectations as readers, and to use this fluidity to reflect on the ethical dimensions of reading and writing.