POSTHUMANISM

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

What does it mean to be human in the 21st century? This question lies at the heart of posthumanism, a fast-growing, transdisciplinary line of research that challenges the patriarchal, colonialist, and anthropocentric paradigms underlying the Western tradition. This course offers an introduction to cutting-edge redefinitions of the human body and self. With course materials spanning from bioscience and ecology to fiction and film, it places posthuman science and fiction in a gritty dialogue. We will grapple with defining the human in an age of increasing interdependencies between man, machine, and the environment, asking how science/fiction helps us develop ethical frameworks for our fast-moving 21st-century ecologies and technologies.