SFF and STS: Teaching Science, Technology, and Society via Pop Culture

• In Event: STS as Critical Pedagogy: Experiments in Undergraduate Teaching and Learning - I

Abstract

Science Fiction and Fantasy have a long history of providing problematizing examples of the intersections of technoscience and society, and using philosophical, sociological, and historical methods to challenge Western preconceptions of the place of science and technology in culture. In this presentation I will look at several different examples of pulled from television, film, books and comics, unpacking what different kinds of questions and problems within STS they each allow us to examine. From the television series FARSCAPE and STAR TREK, to the original 1995 GHOST IN THE SHELL film, to NK Jemisin's BROKEN EARTH Trilogy, and many more, educators may easily find interesting and robust tools through which to discuss tricky and dense topics in a way that students at many different levels will find engaging.

Author

• Damien Patrick Williams