This fall I'm teaching two courses, "Global Climate Fiction," and "What is the Role of Science in Science Fiction?" The second course is a "Big Questions" seminar for first year students, co-taught with Lisa Fredin of the Chemistry department.
1. Global Climate Fiction (Grad Course)
Brief Course Description:
Nations in the Global South are on the front lines of climate change, especially with respect to access to food and clean water, exposure to dangerous storms and flooding, and the threat of associated civil unrest. As climate change continues to advance, existing inequities between rich and poor countries are likely to exacerbate the damage produced by climate change in ways that are only just beginning to be understood. To unpack these issues, we'll explore a range of works of fiction from different regions of the world, by writers like Arundhati Roy, Octavia Butler, Helon Habila, Caoilinn Hughes, Amitav Ghosh, and others. We’ll also consider indigenous responses to climate change, by writers like Anuj Lugun, Jacinta Kerketta, and Linda Hogan. And we’ll read a broad range of criticism and theory by Amitav Ghosh, Elizabeth DeLoughery, Rob Nixon, and others. Along the way, we'll engage in a fair amount of intellectual scaffolding; this course is designed to serve as an introduction to key concepts and terms in Postcolonial/Decolonial Theory and as well as Ecocriticism.
Required Books:
Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement
Amitav Ghosh, Gun Island
Helon Habila, Oil on Water
Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower
Caoilinn Hughes, The Alternatives
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments
In a Bit More Depth
It's no secret that nations in the Global South are on the front lines of climate change, especially with respect to issues relating to access to food and clean water, exposure to dangerous storms and flooding, and the threat of associated civil unrest. Existing inequities between rich and poor countries are likely to exacerbate the damage produced by climate change in ways that are only just beginning to be understood. Millions, if not billions of people are in the Global South live in low-lying areas that are likely to face the brunt of rising waters. Millions are also in regions facing increased likelihood of catastrophic droughts, heat waves, and tropical cyclones. And yet, powerful countries, even those that joined the Paris Climate Accord, have been extremely slow to take action: is apathy towards climate change an example of ‘first-world’ privilege? What are the historical conditions that led us to this point? And what might be some viable solutions to the current impasse? While we cannot and will not solve the problem of climate change in the real world from this seminar room, the humanities -- and works of literature in particular -- might play an important role in imagining the true implications and communicating the urgency of the problem – and through that, in changing minds and galvanizing the social resolve to effect change and move towards global environmental justice.
These topics are being discussed by a growing range of critics, some described as postcolonial critics and theorists, others primarily associated with ecocriticism, including Amitav Ghosh, Elizabeth DeLoughrey, Rob Nixon, and others. We’ll read a selection of their work to get oriented and develop a conceptual toolkit as well as a working vocabulary, including familiarity with the following terms: Colonialism, Imperialism, Postcolonial (as historical period and as method), Postcolonialism, Ecocriticism, Ecofiction, Climate Fiction, Anthropocene, Greenwashing, Petrofiction, among others. This course is designed to serve as an introduction to key concepts and terms in both Postcolonial Theory and Ecocriticism, as well as the prospects for bringing these two fields together to develop a global and inclusive way of thinking about environmental justice. We’ll start (on Thursday 8/27) by posing the two fields separately and attempt to get a sense of foundational concepts as well as the various ways each field might be seen as a little slippery and porous. (In literary theory, everything is and can be contested -- even fundamental concepts!)
Course Design
Unit I. Keywords: Colonialism, Postcolonialism, Global Extractivism, Petrofiction
Primary Texts
E.M. Forster, Howards End
Helon Habila, Oil on Water
Writing assignment: Close engagement with one of the primary texts, using one or more keywords from the first three weeks (5 pages)
Unit II. Amitav Ghosh. Realism, Magic Realism, and Climate Change. Role of Science and Data
Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement
Amitav Ghosh, Gun Island
Writing assignment: Pick an actual climate event / disruption from the past few years that interests you. Create a 3-5 page script (i.e., as if it were going to be a short form video to be shared online) where you explain the science of the problem and describe pathways towards a solution. If you can invoke Amitav Ghosh along the way, that is great, though this paper need not entail a sustained close reading of Ghosh’s work.
Unit III. Subaltern and Indigenous voices / Decoloniality
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
Mahashweta Devi, “Pterodactyl…”
Writings by South Asian Adivasi (Indigenous) writers on displacement, development, resource extraction
Anuj Lugun, Jacinta Kerketta, others
Writing assignments: Choice 1: Many of the writers in this unit are what Rob Nixon
calls “writer activists” – and they write prolific nonfiction essays alongside their
more conventional literary works. Do a detailed profile of an author based on
what you’re able to find of their works in English, including both literary and
journalistic / activist writings. How does this author’s background appear to shape
their thinking? What are their primary social justice and environmental justice
priorities, and how do they advocate for those in their works? Choice 2: Pick an indigenous writer-activist from another part of the world (including North America, Latin America, Australia, or New Zealand/Aotearoa), and do a profile of them along the lines of Choice #1 above.
Unit IV. Speculative Fictions and Philosophical Exit Plans
Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower
Caoilinn Hughes, The Alternatives
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments
Big Questions Seminars focus on complex questions that have no simple or obvious answers. In this course we are focusing on whether and how it matters if the science is accurate in science fiction stories. We will be approaching this topic from both scientific and literary perspectives. We are interested, in general, in seeing the relationship between science and science fiction as a two-way conversation, and we invite you as students to join us in studying the dynamics of that dialogue.
Science fiction could not be possible without the natural sciences, but authors and filmmakers sometimes take liberties with scientific concepts and theories and imagine future technologies that are implausible or even impossible. And yet readers and audiences often do not seem to mind, and even narratives with flawed science can sometimes communicate important scientific ideas to the public. When does ‘bad’ science get in the way of storytelling – leading to narratives that are confused or even impossible to enjoy? Alternatively, to what extent might science fiction be helpful in communicating basic scientific concepts and ideas?
Required Books and Readings:
Isaac Asimov, “Robbie,” “Someday” & “Feminine Intuition” (on Coursesite)
Essays by Kathryn Cramer and Gregory Benford from The Ascent of Wonder: The evolution of hard Science Fiction (1994) (on Coursesite)
Martha Wells, Murderbot: All Systems Red
Martha Wells, Murderbot : Artificial Condition
Poul Anderson, Tau Zero