Fall 2018 - FASS 101W D006
STT - FASSFirst Special Topics Seminar (3)
Class Number: 9754
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Sep 4 – Dec 3, 2018: Tue, Thu, 2:30–4:20 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Aaron Windel
awindel@sfu.ca
1 778 782-9605
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
Students choose one of 10 FASSFirst Special Topics seminars open only to first-year FASS students by invitation from the Dean’s Office. Top ranked professors from across the Faculty work with students to discover the surprising, profound and interdisciplinary reach of the arts and social sciences. Students will learn to draw connections between values, ideas and evidence while developing core academic skills, from reading to research, writing and dialogue. Students with credit for FASS 101 may not take this course for further credit. Writing.
COURSE DETAILS:
Dystopias (Greek for “bad place”) are among the most popular settings for films, television, video games and literature today. These imagined worlds sometimes seem post-apocalyptic. Or they often are social nightmares where science, technologies, and political institutions are turned against people to make their lives miserable and hopeless (think of The Hunger Games). Such stories are compelling because they dwell on the contradictions of modern life. They reveal a dark meaning in a message that dominated culture in many places for most of the modern era that said that “Man” was on a steady path toward progress. In this course we will explore dystopian imaginaries and reflect on the historical contexts that inspired them and on the historical significance of their rise as a critical cultural form. We also will examine our own experiences of “modernity” today through the dystopian lens.
Grading
NOTES:
Weekly short-form writing: 30% Each week we will read texts and write about them in addition to discussing them in seminar. This component is split evenly in two: Pre-seminar CANVAS posts (100-150 word reflections): 15% In-class writing and worksheets: 15%
All That is Solid Melts into Air essay [7-8 double-spaced pages]: 30% This reflection essay on the concept of modernity asks students to put a key course reading, a chapter from Marshall Berman’s All That is Solid Melts into Air: the Experience of Modernity, into conversation with today’s headlines:
Step 1: 500-word summary of Berman’s argument: 5%
Step 2: Draft: 7.5%
Step 3: Final: 17.5%
“My anti-dystopian manifesto” [7-8 double-spaced pages]: 30% In this persuasive research essay students are asked to describe how they imagine a plausible future dystopia, argue (based on research) how elements of the recent past and present could lead to it, and argue what political interventions could stop it:
Step 1: Annotated Research Bibliography: 5%
Step 2: Draft: 7.5%
Step 3: Final: 17.5%
“Great dystopian works” PechaKucha presentation: 5% Students are invited to search across a variety of media to discover a dystopian story that they find compelling and then in a seminar presentation discuss the historical contexts of the time in which it was created that likely shaped the work’s concerns. The six-minute, auto-advancing “PechaKucha” slide format allows us plenty of time to discuss.
Reading/Film guides (for We and The Children of Men and Blade Runner/Blade Runner 2049): 5%
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Yevgeny Zamyatin, We (Modern Library, 2006) isbn: 978-0812974621
P.D. James, The Children of Men (Vintage Canada, 2005) isbn: 978-0676977691
Other editions of these novels are fine to use. All other course readings will be available through our CANVAS page.
Registrar Notes:
SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS