Schedule
Schedule of Topics & Readings
Downloadable syllabus: Disability in SF syllabus Summer 2024.docx Download Disability in SF syllabus Summer 2024.docx
Weeks 1-2 Module
M June 17 Introductions: Disability Studies & Speculative Fiction
IN-CLASS audio play: "Childfinder" by Octavia E. Butler
- Text: "Childfinder" [short story written in the 1970s but published in 2014] Download Childfinder" [short story written in the 1970s but published in 2014] (pdf)
- Audio only recording of "Childfinder" performed by BookIt Repertory Theater (33 minutes, no transcript so see the pdf above)
READ: Nisi Shawl, "Invisible Inks: On Black SF Authors and Disability"
READ: Simi Linton, “Reassigning Meaning,” Links to an external site. Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity (NYU Press, 1998), pp. 8-17, Disability History Museum (link)
- Class Activity for June 17 (link)
- Instructions: all students write your responses on this discussion board, due Sun June 23
- If you are new to disability studies, please watch before June 24:
- Pre-recorded lecture: "Disability Studies: An Introduction" Links to an external site.(17 minutes, captions, Panopto)
- Short video: "My Body Doesn't Oppress Me, Society Does" Links to an external site. (5 minutes, content includes police violence)
EVERYONE PLEASE WATCH before June 24:
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- Pre-recorded lecture: "Course Introduction" Links to an external site. (Panopto, 20 minutes, auto-captioned - this was recorded last year)
- PPT slides for Course Intro lecture Download PPT slides for Course Intro lecture (ppt)
- Transcript Download Transcript (Word)
W June 19 No class Juneteenth Holiday
M June 24 Disability Reimagined
BEFORE CLASS MEETS PLEASE WATCH:
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- Pre-recorded lecture: "Course Introduction" Links to an external site. (Panopto, 20 minutes, auto-captioned - this was recorded last year)
- PPT slides for Course Intro lecture Download PPT slides for Course Intro lecture (ppt)
- Transcript Download Transcript (Word)
IN CLASS: Interview with Sami Schalk: "Race, Gender and Disability in Speculative Fiction"
Links to an external site.
(YouTube, 38 minutes, captioned)
READ: Sami Schalk, “Introduction” Download Sami Schalk, “Introduction” in Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women's Speculative Fiction
READ: Alison Kafer, “Introduction: Imagined Futures” Download Alison Kafer, “Introduction: Imagined Futures” in Feminist, Queer, Crip
READ: Elsa Sjunneson and Dominick Parisien, “Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Manifesto,” Uncanny Magazine, Issue 24 (2018) https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-disabled-people-destroy-science-fiction-manifesto/ Links to an external site.
W June 26 Cure and Care Futures
READ: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, “Cripping the Apocalypse” Download Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, “Cripping the Apocalypse” in Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice
READ: Eli Clare, “Ideology of Cure” Download Eli Clare, “Ideology of Cure” in Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure
READ: Octavia E. Butler, “The Evening and the Morning and the Night” Download Octavia E. Butler, “The Evening and the Morning and the Night” [short story] [content includes: suicide, self-harm, body horror, sterilization]
Weeks 3-4 Module
M July 1 Parable of the Sower [student facilitation Group A]
READ: Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower – Chapters 1 - 10
- Hard copy on sale at University Bookstore
- Digital copy via UW Libraries. Links to an external site. (login required)
W July 3 Film: FIXED
No class meeting today
Watch on your own: FIXED: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement (1 hour, streaming UW Libraries Links to an external site., login required)
M July 8 Dreaming Disability Justice
READ: Mia Mingus, “Hollow” Download Mia Mingus, “Hollow” [short story] - to prepare for class today, please also skim: 10_Principles_of_DJ-2ndEd.pdf Download 10_Principles_of_DJ-2ndEd.pdf
READ: Mia Mingus, “Changing the Framework: Disability Justice,” Links to an external site. Leaving Evidence blog, February 2011 (link)
READ: Nisi Shawl, “Invisible Inks: On Black SF Authors and Disability”
READ: Nisi Shawl, “The Deep End Links to an external site.” - link
READ: Tananarive Due, “The Only Lasting Truth: The Theme of Change in the Works of Octavia E. Butler” Download Tananarive Due, “The Only Lasting Truth: The Theme of Change in the Works of Octavia E. Butler” [content includes: rape]
W July 10 Parable of the Sower [student facilitation Group B]
READ: Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower – Chapter 11 to end
READ: Sami Schalk, "The Future of Bodyminds, Bodyminds of the Future," Download Sami Schalk, "The Future of Bodyminds, Bodyminds of the Future," in Bodyminds Reimagined (pdf)
READ: Jess Whatcott, "Crip Collectivity Beyond Neoliberalism in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower" Download Jess Whatcott, "Crip Collectivity Beyond Neoliberalism in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower" (pdf)
Weeks 5-6 Module
M July 15 Watch film during class today: Never Let Me Go (2010)
W July 17 Ableism and Racism [student facilitation Group A]
READ: Will Kanyusik, “Eugenic Nostalgia: Self-Narration and Internalized Ableism in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go” Download Will Kanyusik, “Eugenic Nostalgia: Self-Narration and Internalized Ableism in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go” (pdf)
Second half of class today:
WATCH: Patrick Cokley, "We Have Always Resisted: Black Disability Activism History" (webinar)
READ: Moya Bailey and Izetta Autumn Mobley, “Work at the Intersections: A Black Feminist Disability Framework” Download Moya Bailey and Izetta Autumn Mobley, “Work at the Intersections: A Black Feminist Disability Framework” (pdf)
READ: Corinne Duyvis, “Happy Endings and Overcoming Autism” [essay by the originator of #ownvoices] https://disabilityinkidlit.com/2015/04/26/happy-endings-and-overcoming-autism/ Links to an external site.
M July 22 An Unkindness of Ghosts [student facilitation Group B]
READ: Rivers Solomon, An Unkindness of Ghosts - Part 1
- Digital copy (unlimited downloads) from UW Library Links to an external site. (permalink - login required)
READ: Rivers Solomon, "Black Girl Going Mad: Mental health, race, and trauma in the city of Good Christian Bitches" Links to an external site. (link) [content warnings: suicide, trauma, racism]
W July 24 Feminist, Queer, Crip SF
IN-CLASS TV show: "San Junipero" episode of Black Mirror (Netflix)
READ: Alison Kafer, “Debating Feminist Futures” Download Alison Kafer, “Debating Feminist Futures” (pdf)
Weeks 7-9 Module
M July 29 Film: GATTACA (1997)
No class meeting today
Watch on your own: GATTACA (1 hour, 40 min., streaming UW Libraries Links to an external site., login required)
W July 31 An Unkindness of Ghosts [student facilitation Group A]
READ: Rivers Solomon, An Unkindness of Ghosts - Part 2 to end
M August 5 Watch film in class: How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
W August 7 Cripping the Cyborg [student facilitation Group B]
READ: Leigha McReynolds, “Animal and Alien Bodies as Prostheses: Reframing Disability in Avatar and How to Train Your Dragon” Download Leigha McReynolds, “Animal and Alien Bodies as Prostheses: Reframing Disability in Avatar and How to Train Your Dragon” (pdf)
READ: Alison Kafer, "The Cyborg and the Crip" Download Alison Kafer, "The Cyborg and the Crip" (pdf)
Second half of class of class today: TBD
M August 12 Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction
IN-CLASS LISTEN: Samuel R. Delany, "Driftglass" [short story] - we will listen to a dramatic reading by Lavar Burton.
- Uncanny Magazine: Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Links to an external site. (cover and table of contents)
W August 14
TBD