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I don't just READ SF....
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Saturday, March 9, 2013
What's coming up! Think FemCriticon!
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The theme is "Media Ecologies." Our class' expertise is in "Design Fiction."
Explore what these mean as you consider what to do.
=Johnson is your best resource for our approach to media ecologies, so be sure you are caught up with having read the whole book. Merrick is also all about media ecologies with a feminist SF focus.
=When you think of design fiction, think of all the ways we have been approaching and thinking and talking about our readings, and the interactions among the extraterrestrial relativities of multiple ways of exploring "sf." Look at the website carefully, as well as Helmreich's essay. Both are your best resource for understanding the multiple realities of designing fictions. Fictions = makings.
=How does the NearFuture Laboratory share thinking? How would you do this same kind of analysis yourself? (Some clues are in the Media tab of the website too.)
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Tuesday, 12 March – Cyborg Complexity
• read 1/3 Merrick: Pref, Ack, 6, 7, 8
• getting going on femcriticon!
Thursday, 14 March – Positive Obsessions!
• Butler stories and essays: Postive & Furor + Kin & Speech
• getting going on femcriticon!
If it is not a dystopia or utopia, what is it instead???
The generic masculine and sexist language: a study on imaging men: Gastil 1990: here.
If it is not a dystopia or utopia, what is it instead???
The generic masculine and sexist language: a study on imaging men: Gastil 1990: here.
Tuesday, 19 March – SPRING BREAK
Thursday, 21 March – SPRING BREAK
Tuesday, 26 March – FEMCRITICON
Thursday, 28 March – FEMCRITICON
Tuesday, 2 April – Marked and Unmarked: female man
• read at least 1 /2 of The Female Man (published in 70s, but probably written in 60s, and with references to life in the 50s too)
REMEMBER THIS STUDY COVERS USAGE IN THE 1980s:
From Gastil 1990: 640: "An interesting question that this study raises is which alternative pronouns function most effectively as generics. If he must go, which pronouns might replace it? Recall that for the college student population studied herein, they appears the most generic of the three pronouns listed above. Using they as a generic, however, does not solve the problem of males producing very few female images under any pronoun condition. Future research might compare the effects of he/she and they with more promising alternatives. Reversing he/she, writing it as she/he, might cause males to imagine more women. (A preliminary investigation, using a method similar to this study's sug- gests that she/he does evoke significantly more images of women than he, he/she, and they for both female and male European-American, Midwestern undergraduates.) One might use she to refer to some individuals and he in refer- ence to others. Or one might simply use she as a generic, counterbalancing the persistence of male bias. Even Strunk and White (1979), read literally, endorse this final suggestion: "If you think she is a handy substitute for he, try it and see what happens" (p. 61)."
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REMEMBER THIS STUDY COVERS USAGE IN THE 1980s:
From Gastil 1990: 640: "An interesting question that this study raises is which alternative pronouns function most effectively as generics. If he must go, which pronouns might replace it? Recall that for the college student population studied herein, they appears the most generic of the three pronouns listed above. Using they as a generic, however, does not solve the problem of males producing very few female images under any pronoun condition. Future research might compare the effects of he/she and they with more promising alternatives. Reversing he/she, writing it as she/he, might cause males to imagine more women. (A preliminary investigation, using a method similar to this study's sug- gests that she/he does evoke significantly more images of women than he, he/she, and they for both female and male European-American, Midwestern undergraduates.) One might use she to refer to some individuals and he in refer- ence to others. Or one might simply use she as a generic, counterbalancing the persistence of male bias. Even Strunk and White (1979), read literally, endorse this final suggestion: "If you think she is a handy substitute for he, try it and see what happens" (p. 61)."
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Thursday, March 7, 2013
Get a life!
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How does the slogan "I don't read Science Fiction, I live it" work? What does it actually mean today? What associations does it make possible? How does it work with ideas of design fiction and media ecologies? What role can this slogan play in your work for FemCritiCon?
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William Shatner takes a look at Trekkies in ‘Get a Life!’
The iconic actor behind James T. Kirk boldly explores the obsession many fans have with his landmark sci-fi TV series
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2012, 6:00 AM
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/william-shatner-takes-trekkies-life-article-1.1122367#ixzz2MrqcNFXt
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Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Weather?
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Whether we meet or not Tuesday or Thursday will depend on the state of the campus. Info will be located here: http://www.umd.edu/emergencypreparedness/weather_emer/
But even if we do not meet YOU NEED TO KEEP UP, DO THE READING, KNOW THE WEBSITE BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS!
If we are all snowed in, READ READ READ!
If the campus is open, we will meet in class (if there are any circumstances that alter this I will email you on our listserv).
THE WEBSITE HAS WORK ON IT FOR YOU TO DO!
And personally I hope the worst bypasses us.
See you!
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Saturday, March 2, 2013
Normal?
DEBRIEF FROM COMPLEXITY CONFERENCE!
=What connections did you make between our class and what you experienced there?
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Tuesday, 5 March – What is a normal life anyway?
• read 1/3 of Phillips: 1-15
• getting going on femcriticon!
Thursday, 7 March – Whose bodies are these?
• STORIES: Hopkinson: Part I
• getting going on femcriticon!
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| Click pic for info on the Award |
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You should begin the biography of James Tiptree Jr by Phillips and start thinking about colonialisms, feminisms, and their twentieth century histories as offered through the life of Alice Sheldon. Colonialisms and feminisms are intwined with science fiction throughout the twentieth century and the materials we read today are both a reaction to this and a continuation of it in complicated ways. James Tiptree as a figure helps us understand this. And it is a fascinating biography just in itself! So just keep reading if you find yourself caught up in the story!
For Tuesday read Chs 1-15 (these are very very short chapters).
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Thursday, 7 March – Whose bodies are these?
Thursday, 7 March – Whose bodies are these?
• add then Hopkinson: section I: the body -- put the bio & stories together: how can you use Johnson's terms (below) to do so?
• 2011 Tiptree Award went to Andrea Hairston for Redwood and Wildfire; she was one of the guests of honor last year at WisCon -- her story in Hopkinson I: Body: "Griots of the Galaxy"
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