ANTH 210   Otherworldly Selves in Science Fiction and Anthropology

Anthropology and science fiction often evoke thoughts of strangers in a strange land, but what does each actually consider “strange”? What are the problems and possibilities that differentiation or assimilation present? Fusing ethnography, theory, film, and literature, this course enhances students’ ability to think critically about questions of (non)human difference, including race, gender, culture, species, time, and space. Themes include the boundaries of self and other, real and imaginary, past/present/future, (post)apocalypse, human and machine, the body and its parts, and familiar and strange, while also challenging these distinctions. Provides opportunities for creative expression, empowers students to utilize literary works and media as interpretive tools for social scientific research, and encourages thinking across the disciplinary divides of science, social studies, and humanities.