Dr. J. Roth
Women’s Studies 2310 – Fall 2014
Aliens and Motherships:
Science Fiction, Gender and Social Change
Classes: Tues / Thurs 10:00 – 11:30, ATAC 2021
Dr. Jenny Roth
Office: RB-2014
ph: 766-7116
Office hours: Tuesdays 12:00 – 1:00, or by appointment (contact Admin Assistant)
Women’s Studies office:
Ms. Melissa Hrabok, Administrative Assistant
Office: RB-2012
Ph: 343-8625
Office Hours: Mon. to Fri. 8:30 – 12:00
WELCOME to Women’s Studies 2310, Aliens & Motherships: Science Fiction, Gender & Social Change. This interdisciplinary examination of inequality through science fiction interrogates short stories, film and television to understand how science fiction as a genre opens up possibilities to theorize equality at particular moments in time and how it resists the gendered, racialized, heteronormative, classist, ableist, etc. hegemony that shapes women’s and men’s lives. Students will develop critical analysis skills and training in identifying, naming and revealing structural violence in order to develop visions for social change. Students will also gain public speaking and writing skills.
TEXTS
The following text is required and is on sale at the Bookstore.
Larbalestier, Justine (ed.). Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2006.
There is also a Desire2Learn site for this course, where you will find Lecture Outlines to help with note-taking, as well as other course-related items.
ASSIGNMENTS & GRADING (details below)
Participation, in class 10%
Exploring Issues, sign-up sheet 30%
Media Analysis OR Short Story, 14 Oct 14 30%
Future Visions, 25 Nov 14 30%
All assignments will be formatted in Times New Roman, 12 pt font, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins. Assignments not meeting these format requirements will have 5% deducted from the grade.
All assignments will be handed in, in hard copy, at the beginning of the class in which they are due. Any assignment not handed in at the start of class will garner a day’s late penalty. Assignments will be deducted 5% for each day late, including Saturdays and Sundays. Assignments over 7 days late will not be accepted without appropriate documentation. Emailed, faxed, or other forms of assignment will not be accepted. Please do not assume that handing your assignment in at the Women’s Studies office means that I have received it. Make sure I have your assignment by the due date and time to avoid late penalties.
Participation 10%
Participation rubric (with thanks to Allegheny College)
l A grade: You regularly initiate discussion. You come to class thoroughly familiar with the required reading(s) and are prepared to raise questions, open discussion, identify topics of interest, and to actively engage other students in the discussion. Obviously, this does not mean monopolizing the discussion, shutting others down when they contribute, or talking for its own sake. You show respect for topic facilitation, your peers, and clear knowledge about the weeks' reading topics.
l B grade: You participate regularly and productively. You come to class having done the readings, and willing to engage. You differ from an A-grade discussant in that the latter do not rely on the instructor's questions to set the agenda for discussion.
l C grade: You participate on a regular basis, though less frequently than a B-grade student. C-grade discussants' participation may indicate that they are not well-prepared for class, or have not given thought to the assigned materials (e.g.: you speak of personal experience without making connections with the weeks' readings).
l D grade: You contribute only infrequently to the discussion. D-grade discussants' contributions indicate that they are not well prepared for class, or have not given thought to the assigned materials.
l F grade: You do not contribute to class discussion OR your participation throughout the term indicates that you have not done the readings or given thought to the topics. Participation is impossible if you are absent. 50% or more absences from the course will mandate an F-grade for participation, inclusive of the written 1-2 paragraph response.
Exploring Issues 30% (15% x 2), sign-up sheet
2 pages each, excluding title page or works cited.
One of science fiction’s greatest strengths, as a genre, is its ability to reveal real-world problems by presenting them in different contexts and settings. For the week’s story, or for the second week of the film Aliens, identify a gender, gender-relations or gender-construction issue that the author explores which interests you. Explain why it interests you, and then analyze how the author presents the issue and how their presentation uses sf to question, critique, rewrite or challenge the problem by doing a close reading of the text / film. Note particular thematic elements, phrasing, word use / repetition, tone, or setting, etc. as you discuss the author’s presentation.
Media Analysis OR Short Story (30%)
Due October 14, 2014, in class
Media Analysis (not Aliens or Fiend Without a Face)
1300-1500 words (4-5 pages)
Watch your favourite or most-hated SF, or one that you’ve always wanted or dreaded to see. If you choose a television program (e.g. Dr. Who, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, etc.) analyze only one episode of that program for the purposes of this paper. I will expect to see between 3-5 academic sources used to support your arguments.
Explore the film or television episode using the recurring course theme that women and other marginalized groups are always-already alien/machine/not-human. Consider in your analysis how human-ness, gender, sex, sexuality, and ‘Otherness’ are represented. Does the film or television program support or critique the status quo, or do both? And, in conclusion, so what: Why might it be important to notice how popular media represents ‘Otherness’, gender, sex, sexuality, and why might SF offer opportunities that other genres do not to explore these social categories?
Short Story
1300-1500 words (4-5 pages), including explanation page
Write your own (very) short feminist sci fi story. You may engage with whichever current social issues you wish, so long as you do so from a feminist perspective in the science fiction genre. Along with your story, include a one-page, academic write-up to explain how your story falls within the themes of the course. I will expect to see between 3-5 academic sources referenced in your explanation. The explanation page is included in the overall word count.
Future Visions (30%)
Due by November 25, 2014, in Class
1300-1500 words (4-5 pages)
“What good is science fiction’s thinking about the present, the future, and the past? What good is its tendency to warn or to consider alternative ways of thinking and doing? What good is its examination of the possible effects of science and technology, or social organization and political direction?”
- Octavia Butler
Bearing Butler’s quote in mind, of all the future visions we have seen and read this term, which one made the most impact on you and why? How do you see your choice connecting with the issues facing people and/or the world today (with careful thought to how ‘humanity’ is to be defined)? What solutions or outcomes does the reading or film present that you find to be particularly hopeful, or enticingly/frighteningly apocalyptic? How do you think the world might get to that future? How might that future be thwarted? Are we already there in some ways?
Notes on Plagiarism / Academic Dishonesty
Keep a printout or photocopy of all your work, as well as any research notes and drafts that produce assignments.
“Plagiarism” includes:
- Plagiarism of ideas occurs where an idea of an author or speaker is incorporated into the body of an assignment as though it were the writer's own idea, no credit is given the person through citation.
- Plagiarism of words occurs when phrases, sentences, tables or illustrations of an author or speaker are incorporated without citation.
- Plagiarism of ideas and words occurs where words and an idea(s) of an author or speaker are incorporated into the body of a written assignment as though they were the writers' own words and ideas without citation.
The following rules shall govern the treatment of candidates who have been found guilty of attempting to obtain academic credit dishonestly.
(a) The minimum penalty for a candidate found guilty of plagiarism, or of cheating on any part of a course will be a zero for the work concerned.
(b) A candidate found guilty of cheating on a formal examination or a test, or of serious or repeated plagiarism, or of unofficially obtaining a copy of the examination paper before the examination is scheduled to be written, will receive zero for the course and may be expelled from the University.
A copy of the “Code of Student Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures” including sections on plagiarism and other forms of misconduct may be obtained from the University's website, or from the Office of the Registrar.
Learning Needs
If you have needs regarding the format or the due dates for the readings or assignments, you must make sure that I am informed. The appropriate form can be obtained from the Student Success Centre.
Class Expectations, alongside the Student Code of Conduct
You can expect from me that:
l I will provide you with feedback on rough drafts that I receive one week prior to the due date, if you want to provide them;
l I will stick to the course outline;
l I will encourage your learning, and support you in an inclusive and intellectually dynamic environment;
l I will hand back assignments two weeks after their due date;
l I will provide you with a mid-term participation estimate when I hand back your short story or media analysis based on your work to that point in the course;
l I will be available during my posted office hours to discuss any aspect of the course, and to answer more general questions you may have about the university system or your program;
l I will check my work email during regular work hours (8:30 am – 4:30 pm), and will respond to your email as soon as I can during those times;
l I will do my best to give you enough information to succeed in this course.
I will expect from you that:
l You will conduct yourself professionally;
l You will speak to me during office hours when you have questions about the course, the materials, your assignments, or your program;
l You will be in the classroom, ready to begin at 10:00;
l You will respect social and cultural differences. All participants have the right to hold, defend, and promote their opinion, but this right exists alongside regulations that protect all individuals' right to education without discrimination or harassment on the basis of gender, race, religion, class, sexual orientation, ability, age, place of origin, etc.
Use of tech for purposes other than note-taking
Please feel free to use your technology as you will, so long as it doesn’t disturb those around you. If your use of technology disturbs the classroom environment in any way, including distracting me or your peers (i.e.: I notice you texting or other), you are in breach of the Student Code of Conduct, and will lose all tech privileges in the classroom for the duration of the course – no exceptions.
Weekly Topics & Readings
Wk. 1 Sept. 9/11: Introduction to the Course
Readings: None this week, welcome!
Goals:
· Define “science fiction/sf” and genre
· Define “feminist science fiction/fsf” and its importance
· Understand some of the different movements in sf and fsf
· Understand how writing and FSF produce resistance to the world order
Part I. Storming the Gates: Early-C20
Wk. 2 Sept. 16/18: Gender and Ethnicity in the Inter-Galactic Era
Readings: Leslie Stone, “The Conquest of Gola”, 1931. 36-49
Some Reading and Note-Making Strategies:
· How does Stone explore the ideologies of gender, capitalism, militarism, colonialism/Othering, and scientific rationalism?
· Does she challenge or collude with dominant ideologies?
· Did you sympathize with the narrator/Golans [Venuvians] or not? why?
· What devices or tactics does Stone use in order to make her political arguments?
· Why do you think the title doesn’t accurately describe the story?
· How does Stone use the ‘science’ of science fiction to support her arguments?
Part II. The personal is political: Mid-C20
Wk. 3 Sept. 23/25: Home Sweet Home
Readings: Alice Eleanor Jones, “Created He Them,” 1955. 67-75
Some Reading and Note-Making Strategies:
· What is mutated by the war?
· What are the effects of science on the future?
· What are the effects of on women, children, and men?
Wk. 4 Sept. 30 / Oct. 2: “horrifying” others
Film: Fiend Without a Face. Dir. Arthur Crabtree. Perf. Marshall Thompson, Terry Kilburn, Kynaston Reeves. Producers Associates, Amalgamated Productions, 1958.
Some Viewing Strategies:
· How does Reynolds Long represent the Military-Industrial Complex
· How does the representation of Barbara fit with some of the course themes?
· How is mind/body dualism represented? What do you think Reynolds Long is trying to convey with her representation?
Wk. 5 Oct. 7 / 9: snips & snails & puppy dogs’ tails
Reading: Kate Wilhelm, “No Light in the Window,” 1963. 97-106
Some Reading and Note-Making Strategies:
· How does Wilhelm represent femininity and masculinity?
· In what ways does she challenge biological determinism (the ideology that men and women ‘are’ a particular way because of our biologies)?
· In what ways does she reveal that gender is constructed?
· What, for you, were the effects of the plot twist in this story?
Part III. The New Movement: Civil Rights, Feminism, and Social Change
Wk. 6 Oct. 14/16: Colonization & Gender
***MEDIA ANALYSIS OR SHORT STORY ASSIGNMENT DUE on the 14th***
Reading: James Tiptree Jr., “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill Side,” 1972. 160-167.
Some Reading and Note-Making Strategies:
· How does Tiptree describe Earth’s interstellar role / position? How is the political/economic connected to the personal?
· In what ways do Earthlings become dehumanized / commodified in the new order?
· Where do humans stand in the new system? What power structures do they internalize / reproduce in the new system? What clashes are evident between the ‘old’ Earth systems of power and the new interstellar systems? How does Tiptree thus explore the processes of colonization?