WFQS 387 - Political Theories for Heated Climates

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as POLI 387) Human, all-too-human, nonhuman, inhuman, posthuman, more-than-human, queer political ecologies are increasingly sites of theoretical and practical contestation in this heated Earth-historical moment. What some have called “societies of control” are shaken by multiple simultaneous ecological catastrophes, inciting us to (re)think the human, and to think beyond it (including to problematize transhumanist fantasies replete with A.I., space colonization and geoengineering). This seminar is inspired by the urgent need to pay attention to the (ecological, digital, hybrid) nonhuman, the inhuman (within and beyond certain economies of power, from neoliberal biopolitical regimes to the rise of eco- and fossil fascisms), as well as embodiment, materialities, and especially, temporalities. We engage some of these questions through selected works from queer, feminist, decolonial, anti- and post-capitalist theories of science and technology studies (STS), critical new materialisms (particularly queer and feminist theory), critical environmental theory, in conversation with the performing arts, street art, science fiction, ecopoetics, and more. Claire Sagan.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS