As Veronica Hollinger observes, "feminist theory contests the hegemonic representations of a patriarchal culture that does not recognize its ‘others.' Like other critical discourses, it works to create a critical distance between observer and observed, to defamiliarize certain taken-for-granted aspects of ordinary human reality, ‘denaturalizing’ situations of historical inequity and/or oppression that otherwise may appear inevitable to us, if indeed we notice them at all. The concept of defamiliarization–of making strange–has also, of course, long been associated with [science fiction]" (The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction 129). This course examines the relationship between feminist theories of gender and science fiction literature, film, and graphica. We will consider feminist critiques of imagined futures that reify contemporary inequities of gender, race, sexuality, and class. We will also read science fiction works that denaturalize--and thus encourage u!
s to critically analyze--social systems of power and notions of identity.

English 367 satisfies the university's VLPA and DIV requirements.