Literature in Focus: Environmental Science Fiction (2024/2025: periode 4)

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Cursusdoel

After completing the course, students are able to
  • gain an overview of the current trend in popular culture towards environmental themes and aesthetics
  • learn how to analyze literary and cinematic science fiction from different disciplinary angles
  • use science fiction narratives to reflect on the notion of the human in relation to environmental change


Relation learning goals to assessments
tba

Vakinhoudelijk

The course offers a thematic case study, that changes every year. This offers students the chance to get acquainted with classical and canonical works more in depth, learning how to do close reading as well as placing the text in its historical context. Students also explore different forms of critical receptions and evaluation through time, disciplinary contexts and scholarly traditions.

Summer 2025 topic: Environmental Science Fiction
In this course we will discuss works of literary and cinematic science fiction that explore the constructive, mutual relationship between humans and their changing environments. Whereas science fiction has mostly focused on technology, in an age of climate change we are witnessing the emergence of different, environmental science fiction narratives. These narratives show that we are human not just by virtue of being part of culture, but also in relation to the biological and physical bodies that compose our environments on all scales (notably, the human body is itself an environment for microbial life). In such stories, the environment is not merely a “background” to human action; rather, it is constitutive of the human. As scholars in environmental studies have argued, environmental fiction is important in making the often abstract complexity of environmental change imaginable—a prerequisite for moving toward more sustainable societies.
Alongside science fiction, we will read key theoretical texts from across the disciplines that discuss the topic of human-environment entanglement (e.g. theories of science fiction, posthumanism, symbiosis). Participants from any discipline will be encouraged to develop their own perspectives on the intersection of humanity, culture, and the environment in the twenty-first century, and to do so in a creative format.


Format tbc
Instructional formats include short lectures, class discussions, presentations, and a short and a long essay.

Contact hours tbc
Tuesdays: 11AM - 3PM
Wednesdays: 11AM - 3PM
Fridays: 11AM - 3PM

Werkvormen

UCU HUM 2 course

Toetsing

participation

Verplicht | Weging 10% | ECTS 0,75

short paper

Verplicht | Weging 20% | ECTS 1,5

final paper

Verplicht | Weging 40% | ECTS 3

Essay plan

Verplicht | Weging 10% | ECTS 0,75

Presentation

Verplicht | Weging 20% | ECTS 1,5

Ingangseisen en voorkennis

Ingangseisen

Er is geen informatie over verplichte ingangseisen bekend.

Voorkennis

Recommended courses: [UCHUMLIT11] Introduction to Literature or [UCHUMMES11] Intro to Comparative Media Studies.

Voertalen

  • Engels

Competenties

  • Academisch schrijven
  • Interdisciplinariteit
  • Kritisch lezen
  • Onderzoeksvaardigheden
  • Presenteren

Cursusmomenten

Gerelateerde studies

Tentamens

Er is geen tentamenrooster beschikbaar voor deze cursus

Verplicht materiaal

Er is geen informatie over de verplichte literatuur bekend


Aanbevolen materiaal

  • DIVERSE
    Secondary articles about the primary and theoretical texts

Opmerkingen

Topic of course changes every few years

Coördinator

dr. S.P. van Bommel s.p.vanBommel@uu.nl

Docenten

dr. M. Tabur m.tabur@uu.nl

Inschrijving

Let op: deze cursus is niet toegankelijk voor studenten van andere faculteiten, bijvakkers mogen zich dus niet inschrijven.

Naar OSIRIS-inschrijvingen
Permanente link naar de cursuspagina
Laat in de Cursus-Catalogus zien