Cyborgs, Robots, & Cylons

I have been on a bit of a dystopia kick in my teaching as of late: The Walking Dead (both the graphic narratives and the AMC series) has been the focus for my Research Paper class, and I’ll be teaching dystopian/apocalyptic lit in my ENG 102 (Writing Through Literature) class in the spring. Merging both this dystopian strand and the many authors (and participants) exploring the idea of robots and human relationships, I would like to devise an LIB 200 syllabus that uses the re-imagined version of Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) to explore the capstone themes of Humanism, Science, & Technology. This continuing fascination in sci-fi with robots that threaten humanity (and, in the case of BSG, are “skin jobs” who can “pass” as human – at least for a while) masks a host of cultural preoccupations and anxieties. I think many of the readings we’ve encountered thus far will be good lead-in texts before viewing.

2 comments

  1. Sounds like a great LIB200 theme idea! Which of the readings do you think you might use for this class (not necessarily ones we’ve read — there have been many suggested readings we haven’t discussed). As you prepare to make suggestions for readings in the Spring, do feel free to suggest texts that you might want to teach with, as discussing them in this forum may provide some different perspectives..?

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