- CC 115 Texts and Contexts IICC 201 EV - Christ College SymposiumCC 215 - The Christian TraditionCC 255 - Interpretation: Self, Culture & SocietyCC 300 AX - Speculative Fiction: Race, Ethnicity, DifferenceCC 300 BX - Martin LutherCC 300 CX - Race and Class in the American SouthCC 300 DX - American IdentitiesCC 300 EX - Traditions of Giving and Serving in AmericaCC 300 FX - Global Humanitarianism ExaminedCC 300 GX - Faith and HealingCC 325 A - The Devil and the Problem of EvilCC 325 B - Peace and Conflict ResolutionCC 325 DX - Liberation TheologyCC 325 E - Museum History and CultureCC 499 - Senior Colloquium
- CC 300 AX - Speculative Fiction: Race, Ethnicity, Difference
3 Credits
TR 11:50-1:05 pm - Professor Miller
Cross-listed with ENGL 390AX and ENGL 590 AX
Fulfills diversity requirement.
Orcs. Elves. Klingons. Vulcans. Ewoks. Daleks. Time Lords. Dothraki. A wide variety of people and races is one of the hallmarks of many works of science fiction and fantasy (which come together under the term “speculative fiction”). And yet many of these representations of race are quite problematic; Tolkien’s dwarves, for example, resemble stereotypes of Jewish people. Concerns about racial representation in speculative fiction, however, extend past such allegories and touch on a wide variety of problems including the historical exclusion of non-white authors from fantasy and science fiction, the static understanding of racial identity promoted in many of these works, and the appropriation of cultural myths and stories.
This class will examine texts in which these problems appear, as well as texts that challenge expected portrayals of race and difference. We will explore these issues in several focused units, including “Native American Portrayals,” “Epic fantasy, slavery, and the fantastic,” and “Images of Africa and the Middle East.” We will also be reading selections from an anthology of postcolonial science fiction and fantasy entitled So Long Been Dreaming. To aid us in our understanding of these texts, we will supplement our reading with several theoretical and contextual approaches, including W.E.B. Du Bois’s discussion of double-consciousness, Tzvetan Todorov’s theory of the fantastic, and Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark. Over the course of the semester, students will write several short papers, with a final 10-15 page paper examining racial representation in a text of their own choosing.
Texts include:
- The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks; Yearling; ISBN: 0375847537; paperback edition 2010
- Svaha by Charles de Lint; Tor; ISBN: 0812534093; mass market paperback 1994 Flight by Sherman Alexie; Grove; ISBN: 0802170374; “first edition” edition (2007)
- So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan; Arsenal Pulp Press; ISBN: 155152158X; 2004
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin; Orbit; ISBN: 0316043923; mass market paperback reprint edition 2010
- Beloved by Toni Morrison; Vintage; ISBN: 1400033411; paperback edition 2004
- Kindred by Octavia Butler; Beacon; ISBN: 0807083690; 25th anniversary edition 2004
- Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison; Vintage; ISBN: 0807083690; reprint edition 1993
- Selected handouts
Students will also be asked to watch three movies during Monday’s Christ College cinema.