Paper 1
How is otherness configured in contact? What kinds of exchanges occur? How are “others” imagined and represented? Using readings through week 3, compare and contrast ethnographic versus fictional representations of encounters. You must use some of the theoretical tools offered in our readings so far to analyze your case. Provide a bibliography, formatted in the way you see sources cited here in the syllabus. 7 pages.
Paper 2
For this paper, examine how authors reshuffle or otherwise toy with “time” and “space” to explore questions of race, embodiment, and history. You must use some of the theoretical tools offered in our readings so far to analyze your case. Provide a bibliography, formatted in the way you see sources cited here in the syllabus. 7 pages.
Paper 3
Recent scholarship on science fiction fan communities has suggested that many fans actively re-interpret and rewrite the meanings of science fiction narratives. For a summary of how this is so, look to:
Jenkins, Henry, and John Tulloch. “Beyond the Star Trek Phenomenon: Reconceptualizing the Science Fiction Audience.” In Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Star Trek and Doctor Who. New York, NY: Routledge, 1995, pp. 3-24. ISBN: 9780415061414.
Using this piece along with our readings for this class, write a short science fiction story (you might also return to Ursula Le Guin’s “Do-It-Yourself Cosmology.”) Provide a bibliography, formatted in the way you see sources cited here in the syllabus. Be prepared to deliver a ten-minute presentation to the class about your paper. 7 pages.
