We developed this website as part of a summer 2020 graduate seminar on science fiction at Villanova University. Our goal is to assist instructors seeking to help students better appreciate science fiction as a genre and posthumanism as both a theme and source for politics and critical thought. We’ve compiled short stories, a novel, critical essays, and resources into a manageable six-week unit of study for the post-secondary level.

The unit begins with an introduction into science fiction as a genre and the posthuman as a conceptual theme. It them moves thematically through a diverse array of short stories — linking posthumanism to conversations students are likely already engaging about gender, race, and class — and ends with a novel in the final two weeks. The expectation is that students will come away with greater insight into the genre, as well as an increased understanding of concepts such as cognition, estrangement, and what it means to exist in a universe where what counts as the human is taking to be constantly under change.

We hope you find this resource useful!

Samantha Dugan, Joshua Hsu, Greg LaLuna, Alicia Sakers, and Hannah Wright