May not be taken in addition to WS 405

May not be taken in addition to WS 401

Course Description 

In this class we will examine gender and science fiction through a feminist lens within historical and contemporary contexts, focusing primarily on American authors. We will investigate the dynamic between female- and male-identifying writers and their characters throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, as well as explore transhuman, posthuman, and alien interpretations of gender. This course will also include more recent texts from nonbinary writers. Some questions we will explore include: how does an author’s identity or culture influence the way they write gender into their stories? What would a “single gender” society look like? How does gender intersect with reproduction in a science fictional setting? Why do authors sometimes veer towards utopia or dystopia when reimagining present-day gender dynamics? This course is designed to build on modern theories of gender and prepare students for advanced scholarship in the fields of literature, media studies, popular culture, and the digital humanities. To facilitate this, we will be studying a variety of written and visual texts using an interdisciplinary framework from genres such as cyberpunk, afrofuturism, indigenous futurism, and others.

Disability Justice

Course Description: While about 1 in 4 people are disabled, people with disabilities [PWD] continue to be largely invisible and marginalized in all sectors of society. This course will be an introduction to the vibrant field of Disability Studies with an emphasis on intersectional feminist approaches to disability justice. The course will explore societal conceptualizations of physical, sensory, intellectual, developmental, environmental and psychiatric disabilities and chronic illnesses in U.S. culture as well as cover key definitions, cri[p]tiques and controversies that have emerged in current research and scholarship in the field. Through readings, lectures, films, guest speakers, written assignments, group presentations and discussions, students will learn about diverse and timely topics such as: the disability rights movement and disability history; the intersection of disability with race, class, and gender; crip theory; LGBTQ+ disabled communities; representations of disabled people in the media and popular culture; systemic ableism and impoverishment of PWD; and the medicalization of disability. Students will gain familiarity with critical disability studies approaches to analyze ableist cultural attitudes and practices and envision forms of activism that center people with disabilities in the larger quest for social justice.