Spring 2021  |  CSCL 3334 Section 001: Monsters, Robots, Cyborgs (49826)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
Completely Online
Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Delivery Mode
Online Course
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
01/19/2021 - 05/03/2021
Mon, Wed 09:45AM - 11:00AM
Off Campus
UMN REMOTE
Enrollment Status:
Open (72 of 125 seats filled)
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Historical/critical reading of figures (e.g., uncanny double, monstrous aberration, technological hybrid) in mythology, literature, and film, from classical epic to sci-fi, cyberpunk, and Web. (previously 3461)
Class Notes:
This course was previously listed as CSCL 3461 under the same title. CSCL 3461 and CSCL 3334 are equivalent.
Class Description:
This course takes as a point of departure the understanding that monstrosity is always and inevitably produced by human imagination and labor. Why do we create monsters? What purpose does the category of the monstrous serve? In part, monster stories tell us something about human fears and insecurities. They also help us map out historical phenomena such as the principles of social order for a particular group - its codes for belonging, its class relations and mode of production, as well as its individual and collective psychological structures. Monstrosity becomes a tool to designate improper human forms or behaviors, or unaccepted forms of life, and therefore becomes a powerful mechanism for social control. Whereas the threat to a recognizable human body, subjectivity, or community at one point was thought to originate from a source in nature, the robot and cyborg suggest that the dominant source of our anxieties arise from new forms of human technology, which not only threaten social order, but also threaten to redefine what we mean by "human" altogether. If the figure of the cyborg jacked-in to the cultural anxieties of the late twentieth century, it has been argued that the zombie is the monster appropriate to our contemporary late capitalist condition. Throughout the semester we will be reading and analyzing novels, plays, and theoretical texts, as well as critically viewing popular cultural films, websites, and images. In all cases, we will attempt to articulate the representations of monsters, robots, cyborgs, and zombies to their particular historical and material conditions in order to understand the important social functions these stories and figures play.
Who Should Take This Class?:
Anyone interested is asking serious questions about the political and cultural relevance of the monster stories we all know and love.
Grading:



Grading will follow CLA guidelines. C work meets the requirements in every way; B and A
are reserved for especially creative, perceptive work that exceeds the course requirements.




Exam Format:
In-class reading and comprehension quizzes
Class Format:
Part lecture, part small/large group discussion, part screening
Workload:
40+ pages of reading per week. 4-6 writing assignments total. Quizzes/exams.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/49826/1213
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
19 April 2019

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2021 Cultural Stdy/Comparative Lit Classes

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