UNST 300-0001: CONCEPTUALIZING THE ARTIFICIAL IN FACT AND FICTION
TUES/THURS 9:35-10:50am | Darcus Johnson Hall G004 | Professor: Dr. Michael J. Klein and Dr. Philip Frana
This course will examine the artificial in literature, media, and science & technology. In conceptualizing artificial things as the “other,” we can see how they are something we can have dominion over. Or they can become a deus ex machina for overcoming human problems. Topics will include the examination of the artificial in popular culture (fiction, films, and other media), adoption into industry and the workplace, and integration in everyday life. Class activities and assignments will include a mix of in-class discussions that incorporate critical thinking, especially assessments of media coverage, and written projects. We are adopting a very interdisciplinary approach drawing upon concepts found in history, STS, technical communication, ethics, and the sciences of the artificial (computing, robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, complex systems)., (cryptozoology, UFOs).
This section is cross-listed with HON 300-0011.
UNST 300-0002: NAVIGATING THE ATTENTION ECONOMY
TUES/THURS 12:45-2:00pm | Darcus Johnson Hall G004 | Professors: Jared Featherstone and Dr. Philip Frana
The term “attention economy” depicts human attention as a limited resource in a world of ever-increasing connectivity and information overload. The class will take a critical look at the modern cultural situation of individual consumer attention being seen as a commodity that corporations and influencers are competing for. The course will examine both ends of this phenomenon, the efforts of marketing and programmers attempting to control the attention of consumers, as well as the struggle of consumers to maintain agency and even clarity of thought under these conditions.
This section is cross-listed with HON 300-0005.
UNST 300-0003: SCIENCE, CULTURE, AND SCIENCE FICTION
MON/WED 9:35-10:50am | Darcus Johnson Hall 1006 | Professors: Dr. Jennifer Mangan and Matthew Chamberlain
This course will use an interdisciplinary, module-based approach to examine imagined worlds of science fiction and the cultures that evolved on them, introducing students to scientific and social-scientific theoretical frameworks and methods of analysis. We will investigate a number of planets and their physical parameters, including but not limited to the type of stars they orbit, the climates of the planet, their locations in space, and how they are similar to or different from Earth, and draw on a range of perspectives in the humanities and social sciences to make sense of the various human and alien species that populate these imagined worlds, including their relationship to and adaptation within particular environments. Using the fictional constructions of sentient beings and their behavior and interaction as metaphors for crucial issues in our own present-day human society, we will address questions of cultural evolution, personhood, knowledge, race and gender, power, conflict, and the nature of civilization.
This section is cross-listed with HON 300-0008.
UNST 300-0004: URBAN AMERICA: DETROIT as “Motor City”
TUES/THURS 12:45-2:00pm | Darcus Johnson Hall G009 | Professor: Dr. Jonathan Walker
The focus of this seminar will be to understand the city of Detroit, Michigan through spatial dynamism and cultural place-making in what became America’s “Motor City”. The goal of the course is to develop an inclusive perspective of the people and powers that shaped Detroit with emphasis on equity/inequity and the development and perpetuation of diverse and “undiverse” landscapes. Students will develop a critical eye toward issues of gender, race, and power and understand its spatial manifestation.
UNST 300-0005: THE UNFINISHED JOURNEY OF PEOPLE OF COLOR IN THE UNITED STATES
Online | Professor: Dr. Howard Gelfand
This course is an interdisciplinary in-depth study of People of Color in Contemporary America, with a focus on the antecedents and factors that have led to our current circumstances, utilizing studies and works from a number academic disciplines. We will examine the experiences of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinx Americans, Native Alaskans, Native Hawaiians, and people of other identities through the lenses of art, cultural revival, culture, economics, ethnicity, historic preservation, memory, place, politics, and sexuality, particularly as pertains to social and cultural activism. We will utilize a broad variety of sources and tools, and we will work together to figure out paths forward toward making life in this country more equitable, understanding, inquisitive, and celebratory. This course has the format of a classical college seminar in which each member of the course will, together as a team, study, discuss, and contemplate the readings during course meetings.
This course is cross-listed with HON 300-0006.
UNST 300-0006: THE PHYSICS OF SCIENCE FICTION
MON/WED 1:50-3:05pm | Holland Yates Hall 1053 | Professor: Dr. Harold Butner
What impact does changing the sky have on a society? What would happen to your world if energy was hard to produce, or if it was inexhaustible? What would life be like if space travel was inexpensive? These changes often are the underlying backdrop for stories in science fiction.
In this class, we will look for key “background” changes in the world of selected stories, and identify what constraints these physical changes placed on the story. Each section of the course will draw on multiple examples of how a specific topic in science was explored by various authors, such gravity, or the interaction of man and machine, or genetic engineering, or even changing the sky, in the context of particular stories. To facilitate covering a range of examples, readings will focus on short stories or excerpts from longer novels, rather than reading every example in full. While our focus will be on science fiction, stories from movies, anime, and manga will also be included. Along the way, we will research what current science says, and what would have to change to produce the new world view for that story. Ideally, you should have had an introduction to the scientific method via an earlier Natural World (formerly Cluster Three) course such as Physics.
You will have an opportunity to select some dramatic change in an area of science that interests you. After researching the science during the semester, at the end of the course, you will present to the class how you think your life would be impacted by the proposed change compared to the way things are now.
UNST 300-0007: COMMUNICATION & SOCIAL MEDIA
TUES 3:55-6:25pm | Online | Professor: Dr. Kathryn Hobson
Communication is an ever-changing process in which we construct and respond to messages that are consistent with a communication purpose, audience, and context. With media having such a large presence in our lives, how could different mediums and platforms affect your verbal and nonverbal communication skills? How does the media platform alter the way you both portray yourself and others online? Are there consequences for different portrayals? If so, what are they? How do different types of media affect how you negotiate relationships with others? What communication barriers might arise as you negotiate those relationships? Come study how messages are shaped and altered by media platforms and messaging.
UNST 300-0008: EXPLORING IDENTITIES IN THE AMERICAS
TUES/THURS 12:45-2:00pm | Wilson Hall 1001 | Professor: Dr. Kristen McCleary
How are identities in the Americas (the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean) changing? Do the Americas share more commonalities than differences? How has your own education positioned the United States¿ history in relationship to Latin America? This class explores these questions by focusing on cultural expressions, physical space, and change over time, from the era of European ¿conquest¿ to the present day. In an election year with an outsized focus on immigration and the US-Mexican border, this class strives to historicize and contextualize the history of the Americas through an exploration of the history and culture of Latin America, the Caribbean and Latinx peoples in the US. Drawing from academic disciplines such as history, art history, sociology, anthropology, and Latin American Studies, we integrate the study and celebration of rituals of the Fall Semester (Columbus Day, Día de los Muertos [DDLM]/ Day of the Dead, Day of the Día de la Virgen / Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Hispanic Heritage Month) into our class in order to embrace alternative ways of understanding the past and present.
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