Building on the previous two Honors seminars, Honors Seminar III requires students to further develop their ability to locate and assess primary and secondary research materials, to present effective verbal and written presentations that display more sophisticated research and presentational sensibilities, and to engage in discussion that is rooted in close reading of assigned and unassigned material. The seminar will emphasize student participation in focused class discussion and will foster further development of research, critical thinking, and oral and written communication abilities.
Frederic Jameson explores otherness, alien life, and alien worlds, along with the works of renowned science fiction writers to grasp the relationship between utopia and science fiction in Archaeologies of the Future. This class will build upon Jameson’s concept of interdisciplinary components in works of science fiction that help us better understand our present world through an exploration of possible future worlds. Students will conduct research in their own chosen academic discipline related to themes described in science fiction literature and film and create webpages to display their research that will be indexed on a main class website. Students will learn HTML and web design, along with advanced research methods in a variety of disciplines. The class includes guest lectures from faculty in different academic disciplines on the veracity of the science behind the science fiction.
Submissions from 2020
Frankenbook, David H. Guston, Ed Finn, and Jason Scott Robert
The Machine Stops, E. M. Forster
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
The Martian, Andy Weir
BLOODCHILD, Octavia Butler
