Syllabus

Updated: 2.20.23

NOTE: All of the information on this site is included in the syllabus and vice versa. The syllabus may be adjusted slightly throughout the term. The version uploaded and shown on this page will always be the most updated and Nell or Alexis will let you know if there are changes and what they are. Lecture slides will be uploaded below after class each week.

Week & Date

Readings & Assignments due

1 | 1.8 | Introduction to Science Fiction

PHE 510 Lecture 1 Slides Winter 2024.pdf

Note: NO CLASS NEXT WEEK, use this time to catch up on all the readings

Due today: no assignments other than readings

Butler, O. (1998). “Devil Girl From Mars”: Why I Write Science Fiction. MIT Black History. (8)

Jemisin, N. K. (2015). The Fifth Season. Orbit. [Chapters 1-3] (~60)

Rieder, J. (2013). Colonialism and the Emergence of Science Fiction. Wesleyan University Press. [Pages 1-3] (3)

Ursula K. Le Guin. (2011, June). It Doesn’t Have To Be the Way It Is. Ursula K. Le Guin. (5)

2 | 1.22 | Imagination and vision for public health

PHE 510 Lecture 2 Slides Winter 2024 1-18-2024.pdf

Due today: Week 1 Reflection

Haiven, M. (2011). Are your children old enough to learn about May ’68? Recalling the radical event, refracting utopia, and commoning memory. Cultural Critique, 78, 60–87. (29)

Jemisin, N. K. (2015). The Fifth Season. Orbit. [Chapters 4-6] (~60)

Seeger, S., & Davison-Vecchione, D. (2019). Dystopian literature and the sociological imagination. Thesis Eleven, 155(1), 45–63. (19)

Optional:

Milkoreit, M. (2017). Imaginary politics: Climate change and making the future. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 5, 62. (18)

3 | 1.29 | Applying science fiction to public health pt. 1: Public health uses for science fiction

PHE 510 Lecture 3 Slides Winter 1-30-2024 2024.pdf

Due today: Week 2 Reflection

Jemisin, N. K. (2015). The Fifth Season. Orbit. [Chapters 7-9] (~60)

Rong, M. (2023). Climate Fiction: A Promising Way of Communicating Climate Change with the General Public. Studies in Social Science & Humanities, 2(2), 21–27. (7)

Thorne, S. (2021). Through Critique and Beyond: Speculative Fiction as a Tool of Critical Pedagogy. Master's Projects and Capstones. 1288. [Pages 1-21] (21)

4 | 2.5 | Applying science fiction to public health pt. 2: “Doing” science fiction for public health

PHE 510 Lecture 4 Slides Winter 2024 2-5-2024.pdf

Due today: Problem Set 1: 'Using' Sci-fi

Butler, O. E. (2011). Speech Sounds. In Bloodchild and other stories. Seven Stories Press. (19)

Jemisin, N. K. (2015). The Fifth Season. Orbit. [Chapters 10-12] (~60 pages)

Petteway, R. J. (2022). What you should know about RACISM-20 in the U.S.: A fact sheet in the time of COVID-19. Critical Public Health, 32(5), 765–769. (4)

The Laura Flanders Show (Director). (2015, April 21). Walidah Imarisha & adrienne maree brown & Mumia Abu-Jamal: Decolonizing the Mind. (26 minutes)

Choose 1 or 2 examples to engage with (depending on length, aim to read 20 total pages, note: the CDC reading is mostly graphics):

Riebling, J. R., & Schmitz, A. (2016). ZombieApocalypse: Modeling the social dynamics of infection and rejection. Methodological Innovations, 9, (12).

Bates, L. (2020). Albina Zone. In Black Freedom Beyond Borders: Memories of Abolition Day. (23)

Capers, I. B. (2019). Afrofuturism, critical race theory, and policing in the year 2044. NYUL Rev., 94, 1. [page 30-61] (31)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.), Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. (2011). Preparedness 101; zombie pandemic (cdc:6023). (42)

Optional:

Example of Amazon employees “doing” science fiction: Worker as Futurist

The World Meteorological Organization created a series of realistic TV weather broadcasts for the year 2050 and beyond in major global cities

5 | 2.12 | Public health topics in sci-fi pt. 1: Contagion, disease, and climate

PHE 510 Lecture 5 Slides Winter 2024 2-12-2024.pdf

Due today: Problem Set 2: 'Doing' Sci-fi

Jemisin, N. K. (2015). The Fifth Season. Orbit. [Chapters 13-15] (~60)

Choose an example to read and annotate. At the minimum read one selection (selections are separated by semicolons if we offered multiple selections) but feel very free to read more:

Grievers, adrienne maree brown

Selection: Chapters 11 and 12

Oyrx and Crake, Margaret Atwood

Selection: Chapters titled BlyssPluss and MaddAddam; Hypothetical and Extinctathon

The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson

Selection: any of chapter 1; chapters 4 & 27; chapters 16, 17 & 20; chapter 22

6 | 2.19 | Public health topics in sci-fi pt. 2: Policy, social determinants of health and societal transformation

PHE 510 Lecture 6 Slides Winter 2024 2-19-2024.pdf

Due today: Week 5 Reading Reflection

Jemisin, N. K. (2015). The Fifth Season. Orbit. [Chapters 16-18] (~60)

Marieke Nijkamp. (2018, October 13). The Future Is (Not) Disabled. Uncanny Magazine. (6)

Choose an example to read and annotate. At the minimum read one selection (selections are separated by semicolons if we offered multiple selections) but feel very free to read more:

Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler

Selection: Chapter 16

Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman

Selection: "Changes"

Too Like the Lightning, Ada Palmer

Selection: Chapter 5, Chapter 8, Chapter 21

The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin

Selection: Chapter 2

7 | 2.26 | Decolonization, Afrofuturism, and multicultural science fictions

PHE 510 Lecture 7 Slides Winter 2024 2-26-2024.pdf

Due today: Week 6 Reading Reflection

Capers, I. B. (2019). Afrofuturism, critical race theory, and policing in the year 2044. NYUL Rev., 94, 1. [Page 6-20] (14)

Dillon, G. L. (2012). Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction. [Introduction] (12)

Jemisin, N. K. (2015). The Fifth Season. Orbit. [Chapters 19-21] (~60)

Choose an example to read and annotate. At the minimum read one selection (selections are separated by semicolons if we offered multiple selections) but feel very free to read more:

Iraq + 100 (2017), edited by Hassan Blasim

Selection: Selection: "The Gardens of Babylon" by Hassan Blasim, or "Baghdad Syndrome" by Zhraa Alhaboby

Midnight Robber, Nalo Hopkinson

Selection: read as featured in Walking the Clouds’ chapter titled “Nalo Hopkinson, from Midnight Robber”, read Dillon’s introduction as well

Flight, Sherman Alexie

Selection: Selection: skim Chapter 3 for context, read Chapters 9 and 10, also feel free to read the introduction by Dillon in Walking the Clouds

Optional:

Dery, M. (1994). Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose. In Flame wars (pp. 179–222). Duke University Press.

Harjo, L. (2021). Indigenous Planning: Constellating with Kin and Urban Futurity. PLANNING THEORY & PRACTICE, 22(4), 615–620.

Jemisin, N. K. (2013, September 30). How Long ’til Black Future Month? Epiphany 2.0.

Explore: https://www.searchablemuseum.com/afrofuturism

8 | 3.4 | Multimedia science fiction: film, TV, gaming, art, music, etc.

Due today: Week 7 Reading Reflection and Multimedia Show & Tell

Hally, E. (2022). Zombie Federalism: Using Experiential Learning Pedagogy in State and Local Politics. Journal of Political Science Education, 18(1), 52–63. (13)

Petteway, R. J. (2021). Poetry as Praxis + “Illumination”: Toward an Epistemically Just Health Promotion for Resistance, Healing, and (Re)Imagination. Health Promotion Practice, 22, 20S-26S. (7)

9 | 3.11 | Culminating book discussion and work session

PHE 510 Lecture 9 Slides Winter 2024 3-11-2024.pdf

Due today: Discussion question (emailed to us before class)

Jemisin, N. K. (2015). The Fifth Season. Orbit. [Chapters 22-23] (~60 pages)

10 | 3.18 *3:30-5:20*| Student workshops

Due today: Class workshops