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Departments >> Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology >> Department Anglistik/Amerikanistik und Romanistik >> Department of English and American Studies >> Lehrstuhl für Amerikanistik, insbesondere Literaturwissenschaft (Prof. Dr. Kley) >>
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Post/Human Futures: Science, Technology, and the Cultural Imagination- Lecturer
- Dr. Karin Höpker
- Details
- Proseminar
Magister, Master, Bachelor, Sprache Englisch
Time and place: Tue 14:15 - 15:45, C 303
- Prerequisites / Organisational information
- Das PS Literature kann wie folgt verwendet werden:
L-UF Englisch (neu): "Zwischenmodul Literature" (Zulassungsvoraussetzung: Elementarmodul Literature) L-GYM Englisch (neu): "Zwischenmodul Literature" (Zulassungsvoraussetzung: Basismodul Literature)
BA English and American Studies (neu): "Zwischenmodul II Literature" (Zulassungsvoraussetzung: Zwischenmodul I: Thematisches Kombinationsseminar) BA American Studies: "Zwischenmodul II Economics, Linguistics, History, Geography, Literature/Culture - Veranstaltung mit Nordamerika-Bezug"
Das PS Culture kann wie folgt verwendet werden:
BA English and American Studies (neu): "Zwischenmodul II Culture" (Zulassungsvoraussetzung: Zwischenmodul I: Thematisches Kombinationsseminar) BA American Studies: "Zwischenmodul II Economics, Linguistics, History, Geography, Literature/Culture - Veranstaltung mit Nordamerika-Bezug"
- Contents
- In our 21st century, the boundary between science fictional fantasy and reality seems to be increasingly blurred. On an everyday level, we are surrounded by an “internet of things” and intelligent virtual assistants, “augmented reality” and remote steering technology, which enables minimally invasive surgery and drone warfare alike. We witness progress in stem cell technology, DNA-editing and -replication, and discuss whether smart cars may make decisions that kill people. Prosthetic limbs, medical implants, and pharmaceutical augmentation revolutionize how we think of the limits and possibilities of the human body, while climatological studies of the Anthropocene model disconcerting trajectories on the future of planetary ecosphere. Fiction provides a space for imagining such futures, both utopian and dystopian, and invites its audiences to negotiate individual and collective hopes and fears.
The aim of this course is to investigate into the ‘human question’ by studying a number of philosophical and literary texts as well as films and TV-productions that engage in defining and problematizing humanness. What makes us human? What separates us from non-human others such as animals or intelligent machines, and what ethical implications follow for contemporary humanism, once the boundaries of human exceptionalism are drawn into question? And what function may fictional narrative across media and genre conventions have, in coming to terms with such issues?
The class will read and discusses samples of public discourse, fiction, and theoretical texts, and will recur to the theoretical contexts and analytical skills students have acquired in the basic modules of literary and cultural studies. Throughout the semester, students will practice to work on joint projects for presentations and finish with a final scholarly paper.
- Recommended literature
- Please purchase and read in advance: William Gibson Neuromancer (Ace), Margaret Atwood Oryx and Crake (Virago), Richard Powers Generosity (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Once enrollment has closed on Cassy, please make sure to sign up for the class on StudOn right away, where you will find the syllabus and specifications of course requirements.
- Additional information
- Maximale Teilnehmerzahl: 30
Registration is required for this lecture.
Die Registration via: CASSY Erlangen
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