ENGL 203 - They Blinded us with Science: Social Issues in Dystopian Sci-Fi

Why teach social issues through science fiction? As Menadue and Cheer states in their quote,  science fiction can be a portal in which we look at possible futures the world is heading toward, especially in the sense of how our technology evolves. If left unchecked, the evolution of technology can send the world spiraling to a dystopian society (think Terminator and Skynet). Science fiction, as a literary genre, is one of the “most legitimate genre for academic study, placing it above all other forms of literature for its analytical potential,” as stated by Carl Freedman (qtd. in Menadue and Cheer 1).  Dr. Helen Klus also agrees that “science fiction can be used to explore our place in the universe and consider fundamental philosophical questions about the nature of reality and the mind” (Klus). Although science fiction can show positives of a future when technology takes on an important role, there are the “dark sides” of science fiction – when technology or society goes awry – which often takes the form of dystopian science fiction.

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Exploring dystopian science fiction can help us, as a society, consider warnings and to be cautious of checking the evolution of advanced technology and society. Professor of English Studies, Raffaella Baccolini, notes that “it is important to engage with the critical dystopias of recent decades, as they are the product of our dark times. By looking at the formal and political features of science fiction, we can see how these works point us toward change” (521). Thus, this course will take into consideration the way scholars and professors discuss why studying science fiction and dystopia is important to understanding the way society has been, the way society is, and the way society will be.

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In exploring social issues and understanding why dystopian science fiction helps understand the world, students will be engaged in a variety of weekly discussions, metacognitive writing exercises, and composition projects. The units and projects are sequenced in a way to help scaffold composition skills. The first unit introduces topics and delves into a compare/contrast assignment, which is a comfortable genre for many students. The second unit builds off the skills of essay writing from the compare/contrast and goes into inquiry, pulling in goals and skills from KU’s ENGL 102. This also helps students craft research questions and incorporate outside sources into their writing. The third unit scaffolds composition skills to go into creation – having students apply the knowledge they have analyzed and researched to then create their own stories that reflect the readings they do in class. The fourth unit is portfolio building and incorporating presenting skills for students to be effective communicators, building off goals and skills from KU’s ENGL 101. Multimodal elements are prevalent in each unit and project because, as Arlene Archer argues, “we can no longer confine literacy pedagogy to the realm of language alone,” and that to help promote 21st century literacy, students and instructors should be able to use multimodality in composing processes (10).

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Through the scaffolding of discussions and projects, students will be able to correlate making social changes through the power of dystopian science fiction – whether that be through analysis, evaluation, or creation – this course will provide space for students to become critical thinkers.