This introduction to cultural studies enlists science fiction and cultural critique in an examination of new information and bio technologies and the larger networks within which they are embedded. The latter include governmental institutions, capitalism, and culture. Four questions will direct our study: 1. how are these technologies, their access and use shaped by the networks within which they exist; 2. what new forms of being in the world have these technologies introduced; 3. what opportunities for domination and resistance do they open up; 4. what futures do they portend. Students are expected to participate actively in class discussions, generate short critical responses to assigned readings, contribute to a group project, and produce a final (7-8 page) cultural studies essay.

Required Texts: Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake; Octavia Butler, Clay’s Ark; William Gibson, Neuromancer; Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash; a course packet and two science fiction films. (We will start with Bladerunner, which I recommend viewing before class begins.)