SPEC STUDIES IN LIT (Reproductive Speculation) | Weinbaum | TTh 1:30-3:20 | 13734 |
This course explores the representation of human reproduction in contemporary fiction, theory and film. It begins from the premise that research on the human genome, the rapid development of reproductive technologies, and the rise of what some critics have called “biocapitalism” have together transformed contemporary reproductive experience, practice, and, too, the creative imagination. How are changes in human reproduction reflected and refracted in the visual and literary texts that we produce and consume? How has the engineering of life itself been taken up in various genres of writing (science fiction, speculative fiction, philosophical and other non-fiction prose)? How do the array of cultural productions that examine the changing reproductive landscape shape our understandings of human life and its reproduction in the present, and, too, in a future yet to come? Some prior exposure to literary and/or feminist theory will be extremely useful, but is not required as a prerequisite for this course. This will be a reading and writing intensive course that can serve as a senior capstone.