Index to Courses in Feminist SF

Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona)

• Thelma Shinn Richard, "Women & Literature", ENG 461. This course is designed as an overview of women's sf and fantasy. TEXTS: Bradley, The Shattered Chain, Norton, Lavender Green Magic, McCaffrey, Dragonsong, Kidd, ed. Millenial Women, Jackson, The Sundial, Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness, Wilhelm, Juniper Time, Russ, The Female Man, Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time, Lessing, The Marriages between Zones Three, Four, and Five.—Thelma Shinn Richard, PO Box 870302, Dept. of English, Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ 85287.

Harvey Mudd College (Claremont, California)

• J'nan Morse Sellery, Interdisciplinary 26. Introduction to Women's Studies. Gender, culture, and interdisciplinary approaches. Humanities 2. The Creative Imagination. 20th century culture, gender, literature, and film. TEXTS: Le Guin, Russ, Asimov, Lessing.—J'nan Morse Sellery, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Harvey Mudd College, 301 E. Twelfth St., Claremont, CA 91711-5990, "jsellery@hmcvax.ac.hmc.edu".

Humboldt State University (California)

• "Feminist Science Fiction", WS 305 (Women's Studies Dept.)

Ohio State University

• Sharon Collingwood, "Women in Science Fiction", Eng592. "In this course you will come across aliens, amazons, cyborgs and avatars. You will visit fantastic planets, witness frightening visions of the future, and study bizarre societies. It's all good fun, but underlying the fantasy is a serious unease about our own world, and an anxiety about what is to come in the future. The texts for this course are primarily written by women, and they deal with issues of gender, race and sexual orientation, as well as with the moral difficulties women face in an increasingly technological society. Many of these writers are also concerned over the threat that technology poses to the natural world, and they point out the ties between the destruction of nature and the oppression of women. Other writers put forward the idea of technology as the ultimate liberator of women, and still others see the possibilities of the "metaverse," an alternate cyberspace existence, where identity and gender can be cast off like an old coat. In her groundbreaking essay "A Cyborg Manifesto," Donna Haraway says she would rather be a cyborg than a goddess. She argues that we can be responsible for machines and not allow them undue power over us, choosing instead to use them to enhance our social connectivity and to live better lives. But what is lost in becoming a cyborg? This is the ultimate question brought forward by this course, one that demands a personal response from each student."

Portland State University (Oregon)

• Women Warriors

Ramapo College of New Jersey

• Kathleen Fowler. Feminist Science Fiction / Kathleen Fowler (2002)
• Kathleen Fowler. Feminist Science Fiction / Kathleen Fowler (2004)

Rollins College (Winter Park, Florida)

• Twila Yates Papay, "Gender Images in Science Fiction", E/WS 241. Like speculative fiction itself, this course is a wedding of many ideas: how we define ourselves as women and men; how the genders interact; how we make our decisions and choose and apply our values as individuals, as a nation, as a world; how we learn to celebrate and love the alien, the diverse, the spark of individual fire we see in each other though we seldom comprehend it fully. We will study literature, the finest use of language, to examine the incomprehensible and define the delicate tendrils of connectedness we must all seek out and nurture in our lives. In speculative fiction, we will find new metaphors to help us analyze the complexities of our values, our gender definitions, our treatment of each other, and our proposed solutions to the complex problems which confront us all as individuals and as an earth whose life is imperiled. TEXTS: Asimov, Foundation and Empire, Ellison, ed. Dangerous Visions, Heinlein, Glory Road, Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness, McCaffrey, The Ship Who Sang, Russ, The Two of Them, Sturgeon, Godbody, Tiptree, Brightness Falls from the Air, Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, Vonnegut, "Miss Temptation."—Twila Yates Papay, Box 2655, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL 32789.

Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville, Illinois)

• ENG 309. Popular Literature: Feminist sf. Contrary to popular assumption, sf is not—or is no longer—a genre only for adolescent males. While much of the phallocentric/chest-beating/anal compulsive residue of Western white culture may still be found, it is increasingly the case that sf's fuller possibilities are being realized by female writers who are discovering in sf's extrapolative, imaginative, and narrative freedoms the means of giving voice and life to alternative visions of social and personal being-in-the-world. We begin with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (published in 1818) and end with contemporary works; most of our reading, of necessity, will be in post-1960 texts. TEXTS: Science Fiction: The SFRA Anthology, ed. Warrick, et al; The Norton Book of Science Fiction, ed. Le Guin & Attebery; Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale; Gilman, Herland; Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness; Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time; Joanna Russ, Extra(Ordinary) People, Sargent, The Shore of Women; Shelley, Frankenstein.—Voller.

Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

• Women's Studies W128. Theme/Genres in Women's Literature. A variable-content course. The topic has sometimes been "Women's Worlds in Science Fiction and Utopian Literature." (These reports obtained with the assistance of Thomas N. Whitehead, Special Collections, Temple University Library, Philadelphia, PA 19122)

University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada)

• English 453. Topics in Twentieth Century American Fiction: American Women's Speculative Fiction. A study of utopian and dystopian novels that portray a spectrum of alternative societies. Texts range from fantasy to science fiction and present a variety of perspectives on gender and society. TEXTS: Gilman, Herland, Bryant, The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You, Le Guin, The Dispossessed, Russ, The Female Man, Gearhart, The Wanderground, Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time, Slonczewski, A Door into Ocean, Tepper, The Gate to Women's Country.—Stone-Blackburn.

University of California, Riverside

• Marguerite Waller, "Studies in Literary Genres: Feminist Science/Fiction", ENGL 14ONN. This course will include readings in feminist science fiction, feminist theory, and the philosophy and history of science. The objective of the course is to investigate the ways in which gender construction, scientific knowledge, and various kinds of speculative fiction are mutually implicated and mutually illuminating. Particular attention will be paid to feminist critiques of science and the work of women scientists, the intersection of popular science fiction and contemporary gender theory, and the implications for subject construction (including race, class, and gender) of new digital technologies. Some time will be spent collaborating with Dance 170 G students in their investigation of the body and interactivity. TEXTS: Butler, Dawn; Shelley. Frankenstein; Wittig, Les Guérillères; Russ, The Female Man; Stephenson, The Diamond Age; selected stories; essays by Donna Haraway, Constance Penley, Evelyn Fox Keller, Ruth Hubbard, Carole-Anne Tyler, Allucquere Rosanne Stone, Sue-Ellen Case, Elizbeth Potter, Sherry Turkle, Elizabeth Grosz; and episodes of Star Trek.—Marguerite Waller, Chair, Women's Studies, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521.

University of Missouri-Columbia

• Marta Boswell & Rachel Sage, "Babes in Space: Women in Science Fiction as Authors and Objects", ENG 16-1 (Fall 2000)

University of Pennsylvania

• Nina Auerbach, "Feminist Gothic", English 255 (Spring 1996)
• Nina Auerbach, "Haunting Women", English 290 (Fall 1997)

University of Rhode Island

• Brett Rutherford, "Women in Science Fiction". WMS 350 Section 0204, (ONLINE) "A woman founded the vital genre of science fiction, with the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1818, but when science fiction exploded into print in early 20th century pulp novels, comics and films, women were largely excluded from the “boy’s club” of authors, critics and publishers. This course includes landmark science fiction stories written by women (sometimes under male pseudonyms), many of which deal with gender, race and sexual orientation in provocative ways. The course also examines clips from sci-fi film and television. Sci-fi films of the 1950s reinforced traditional gender roles, showing women as weak, subservient, and prone to be carried off by monsters; by the feminist 1970s, women became protagonists, culminating with the gritty feminist monster-fighter Ripley in the /Alien/ film series. By examining sci-fi texts by women and studying the representation of women in the genre, as authors, actors, critics and fans, students will gain an appreciation for the role of imaginative literature in challenging and changing the values of a society."

University of Southern Colorado (Pueblo, Colorado)

• English 391. Special Topics in Women Writers of Sf. Harlan Ellison once said that the best science fiction being written today is by women. The purpose of this course is to exemplify the truth of this evaluation. This class may both complement and supplement English 234. Although works by women are included in English 234, when the same authors appear on both reading lists, either the novels differ or the literary form differs. For example, in English 234, the work by Mary Shelley, the mother of science fiction, is Frankenstein; in English 391, it is The Last Man. Rather than reading another novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, either a short story or selected poetry will be read. Part of the Women's Studies minor. TEXTS: Donawerth and Kolmerten, eds. Utopia and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference, Shelley, The Last Man, Lessing, The Fifth Child, Russ, The Female Man, Tepper, The Gate to Women's Country, Butler, Parable of the Sower, Wilhelm, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Cherryh, Downbelow Station, Hoffman, Practical Magic, Sargent, ed. Women of Wonder: The Classic Years, Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years.—Senatore.