futuregenerations112 | Recent Entries

We’ve been talking a lot about the nature of humanity, but this is the first time we’ve met any actual aliens. What did you make of the Ooloi, the three-sexed “gene traders” from outer space, and of Lilith’s encounter with them? What do these imaginary beings suggest about human sex, gender, family, and biology?

Choose a short passage from the novel to discuss in comments, or add your own interpretations and questions to a passage someone else has quoted.

alothian

You have a mismatched pair of genetic characteristics. Either alone would have been useful, would have aided the survival of the species. But the two together are lethal. It was only a matter of time before they destroyed you.
...
Jdhaya made a rustling noise that could have been a sigh, but that did not seem to come from his mouth or throat. 'You are intellligent,' he said. 'That's the newer of the two characteristics, and the one you might have put to work to save yourselves. ... You are hierarchical. That's the older and more entrenched characteristic. We saw it in your closest animal relatives and in your most distant ones. It's a terrestrial characteristic. When human intelligence served it instead of guiding it, when human intelligence did not even acknowledge it as a problem, but took pride in it or did not notice it at all...' The rattling sounded again. 'That was like ignoring cancer. (36-7)

This is one of the strangest and most fascinating ideas in the novel. What do you make of it? What are the effects of Butler putting this claim in the mouths of her aliens? Do you think she wants or expects her readers to agree? Respond to this post with your thoughts, interpretations, and questions.

dcampbell

The first two readings I read were the Spillers and Beloved, and I found some similarities between them. Spillers says that "In effect, under conditions of captivity, the offspring of the female* does not 'belong' to the mother." This parallels how Sethe feels when she says "they took my milk" (17). The others seem concerned about the fact that she was badly beaten, but she focuses on not having milk. What I think Sethe's despair at not having milk means is that it makes her feel replaceable as a mother, like she has nothing unique to offer her child that nobody else can. Losing her ability to provide for her child symbolizes how in captivity she cannot be a full mother, as Spillers says in her essay. Sethe's child does not belong to her because her oppressors have destroyed something that linked the two. By preventing her from becoming a mother the schoolteacher and the "they" the other characters refer to keep her in captivity.

Another thing about the Spillers reading I found interesting was the idea that the family form is vastly different in captive (according to her, African-American and indigenous) culture, that "vertical transfer" is only for the free and freed. What It took this claim to mean is that each new generation of a captives has to start all over again, which makes cultural development difficult, most likely what the free men who are keeping the captives down want. Captivity destroys the family form and gives the power to those in charge of the captives, an idea Spiller touches on with the analysis of a captive female's interactions with her sexual oppressor.

A second quote from Beloved that intrigued me was when Baby Suggs' says "not a house in the country ain't packed to its rafter with some dead Negro's grief" (5). When I read that sentence I would why according to her it was always only a "Negro's" grief and not that of another race. I think it is because they have been "captives," it's only after they die and are free from their oppressors that they can have control over something, and in Morrison's opinion this control manifests itself by having them effect the lives of the living by haunting their houses.

alothian

This week in class, we'll be continuing to think about definitions of the human, but bringing that into the historical context of race and gender in America.

Reading is light, since you've got lots of work to do getting your conference proposals ready. Bloggers and presenters are welcome to focus just one of these texts, or (as always) to make connections to other elements of the course. It's my hope that these short readings will inspire you to connect texts and ideas with different histories, and also that these will provide a backdrop for some varied interpretations of the novel we'll read next, Octavia Butler's Dawn.

Main text: W.E.B. Du Bois, "The Comet." Online text available here.
This is a 1920 short story by the famous African American intellectual.

Additional texts (these will also form some of the basis for discussion of the next novel, Dawn, and they'll be part of the frame of our discussion for the next couple of weeks).

Hortense Spillers, Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book. Handout version downloadable here; optional full text here. (I don't recommend trying to get through the full text; it's very difficult). The handout includes explanatory material from me.

Toni Morrison, excerpts from Beloved, handed out in class. Morrison is fictionalizing the history whose continuing impact on the way we think about humanity and gender Spillers explores in her theoretical work. We're reading this mainly to get a better handle on Spillers's theory, but this is a fiction about reproduction too––only it's based on things that actually happened in the past, not on what might happen in the future. What difference does that make to your reading, and what does this text add to your understanding of the overall themes of the course?

Audre Lorde, A Litany For Survival (poem). Ask yourself who the poem's "we" might be––in the context of this week's readings, in the context of everything else we've read in the course, and beyond.

Recommended supplementary reading: Audre Lorde, "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference" . This 1984 work of feminist theory lays out some of the oppositions that underlie our ways of thinking about humanity. It's not academic so it's a fairly quick read, and it sheds some interesting light on Marge Piercy as well as on this week's texts.

maltergott

Crying (but only a little, and with girl scout cookies for company...).

Point of this post: as it turns out, the film version of Never Let Me Go is wonderful. Les recomiendo.

Jusssayin. Have fun out there you crazy kidz!

Current Mood: touched
Current Location: new to the north
Current Music: the rager down the hall

alothian

Here's the last of the theory handouts I've made for the class (I may give more spontaneous readings, but these are all the ones on the syllabus). This is for week 12, but those of you working on gender and reproduction for your seminar papers might want to check it out.

I linked to the full article already, but these selections are most relevant to the course and should be easier to follow without a background in Lacanian theory... He's a very intense, polemical writer whose style can be hilarious in a very highbrow way that I suspect a lot of you will enjoy.

Extracts from Lee Edelman, No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive.

huangtim

So after finishing Never Let Me Go and making a Facebook post about how heavy the book was, I guess it's time to write this blog.

I really liked the second half of the book. Unlike the first half of the book, which was all about good times and the mysteries of Hailsham, the second half of the book tied everything together. It put everything in perspective; in the end, these donors are still just donors. No matter how deep and how complex Kathy’s thoughts are, and how much we learn about her through her memories and thoughts on events in her life, to the public, she is just a sack of organs, waiting to be harvested. Her thoughts and feelings mean nothing, and even she is conditioned to believe that.

Sex for the donors is not as meaningful as it is for the rest of humanity; in the novel it is discussed rather casually. Kathy does not delve into the emotion behind sex; she only talks about her “urges” to have it. Perhaps it is because of their inability to reproduce, but I believe it has more to do with they’re inability to form attachments, and their conditioning that their lives and emotions are somehow unequal to real human emotions.

Even though this book is fictional, it is hard to believe that these donors do not want to escape, and do not want to rebel. Even when I remind myself that the donors do not know to do anything else besides accept their fate, this book still becomes really hard to read. Especially in parts of the novel when the donors are out of the care centers- I catch myself urging them to run away!

Ishiguro’s novel does a great job in making us question what it means to be human. When there is another group of “humans,” that have the same emotions as us, the same thoughts as us, and are almost biologically identical to us, what sets us apart? How do we distinguish between who is the “original” and “right” human, and who isn’t? Never Let Me Go really hits me after some contemplation after finishing the book…

Current Music: Portishead-Roads

maltergott

Soo to break from NLMG a bit, who checked out the new Lady Gaga video? She's a FrEaK and way way out there, but in the best way possible. And that way is Bad Ass. There were definitely some messages about reproduction in the new Born This Way video...and even with the blending of reproduction and production. I mean...she gives birth to a rifle. And there are these weird clone-head things everywhere. And the lyrics changing from "born this way" to "born to survive" seems a little extreme if this song is supposed to be nothing more than just a catchy tune about self confidence. It's been hyped up to be an anthem for equal slash gender rights. I'd like to think there's more meaning to the visuals...that because we AREN'T standardized like those in Brave New World, there is a struggle to fit in and to survive as the world becomes more and more competitive - via social norms, technology, and consumption. Maybe TO has just completely warped the lens with which I view any kind of media lately...I'm always looking for Freudian analysis/alternative family groups/commentary on technology now.

Anyways if you haven't seen it, check it outtt. It's trippy and weird but definitely entertaining. Also there is a lot of fluid...but not as much as with Cylon downloading so we're cool.

(Okay just found this...probably the last thing I should be spending my time on right now...

http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2011/03/deconstructing-lady-gagas-born-this-way-video/71924/ )

Back to work...

Current Mood: energetic
Current Location: G.O.A.T. (seriously, what?)
Current Music: Born This Way

orrmatt

So, that's how it ends. With a mysterious certainty. We know what end Kathy will find, but there is some vagueness left to it. This book has a very interesting premise, how people cope. It does bring up many questions as to what it means to be human, which Kathy and Tommy do directly address. That poignant line, "why would we NOT have souls?", is, to me, perhaps the most significant thing Kathy says the whole book. The rest is implied. Everything else develops organically. We just 'get' a feel for Kathy, what she's going through. I have never read something like this, and, as a result, have a hard time processing it. Admittedly, this novel follows a very different form from what we have read so far.

When I started reading, in my mind, I had gotten all these questions worked up. Things like: how can they just take it? why don't they escape, or rebel? why not bat an eyelash? But afterward, I think I understand why. As brought up in class, it's all they know. The deferrals are the one element of fantasy that creeps into their (the clones') minds. Never have they heard of a clone escaping. Never have they thought, "hey- I could do that! I could be free!" Their lives are, in the words of Tennysons' light brigade, "Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die." Resignation? No. Desolation? No. It is prosaic. Their fate is everyday, commonplace. It's the natural course of things.

What I find most interesting after the reading, is how we slowly discover exactly who, and what, Kathy is. We listen, and discover everything that has gone to make what this story is. How she has developed and learned, why her tone is what it is. How her time at Norfolk folds into her life, how finally having sought out Madame she accepts it all, how having Ruth die, more or less, in her arms changes her. This, to me, is what makes it such an interesting novel. It is character development not in the typical sense. But, this mode of character development is exactly what allows this novel to explore what it means to be human. It explores her humanity, by laying out everything. Absolutely everything. And absolutely everything that has made up her life is what makes her human!

Perhaps this is all rambling. But I found this book fascinating in an unorthodox way. Frankly, I did not enjoy reading the book. The pace was agonizing, the plot painfully drawn out. However, upon reflection, it was a good book. Maybe even a great one. It made me think a great deal after I closed the last page; I found it incredibly complex in how it drew out the themes it did, in such a 'meta' way, and I liked it for that; but I did not enjoy it whilst in the midst of it. Perhaps this is the strangest way I have come away from a reading of a novel.

Current Mood: rushed
Current Location: Birnkrant
Current Music: Toto - Hold the Line

alothian

Another pretty horrifying article that shows how the themes of our course are playing out in the real world:

Baby farming: poor women as factories for the production of rich couples' children

alothian

Article about the history of US medical experimentation on disenfranchised and disabled people

alothian

I'll be handing out A3 in class today. It requires you to spend some time with a scholarly article on Battlestar Galactica or Never Let Me Go, and to develop your own argument about one of those texts in conversation with another writer. These are the articles you can choose from (if you know of another you are interested in using, check in with me). To access most of the links, you'll need to be on campus or logged in to the USC Libraries remote access system.

1. George, "Fraking Machines"
The most general of the options, this article looks at Battlestar Galactica in the context of gender and technology. It makes many observations that can fruitfully be unpacked and/or challenged in more detailed close readings.
Read George online here

2. Caeners, "Humanity's Scarred Children."
This essay creates a Freudian reading of the Cylons. If you work on this, remember that you don't have to get profoundly bogged down in the Oedipus complex. The question to consider is how well the analogy of the Cylons as "humanity's children" works; are there characters or events in the parts of the series you have seen that suggest an alternative reading? What does Caeners make of the Harawayan idea of what a cyborg is?
Download Caeners here

3. Black, "Ishiguro's Inhuman Aesthetics."
Not for the faint hearted, this article grapples with some of the most complex issues in Never Let Me Go: art, humanity, and the extent to which life in the non-science-fictional world already looks like Ishiguro's imagination. The essay looks in detail at the way art works in the novel, including some lengthy discussion on the history of Romantic visions of empathy that (while fascinating) you may want to skip. It has extended sections on Ishiguro's style as well as on the relationship of the novel to capitalist production. Do you agree that the contradictions of Kathy's world, including the fact that the clones are not able to rebel, is enough to make us challenge the underpinnings of our belief in art and in humanity?
Download Black here

4. Carroll, "Imitations of Life."
This essay draws on the Butler we have read in order to make an argument that the clones' difference from 'normal' humanity is not just a question of how and why they were produced, but also of their nonreproductive sexuality. Carroll finds that the clones' relationship to their sexuality demonstrates the contradictory ways we often think about sex and reproduction. The writing can be dense in this fairly short essay as it's participating not only in the scholarly conversation around Ishiguro but also in a wider one about the politics of sexuality. Still, there is much here to engage with in Carroll's interpretations of Ishiguro's writing.
Download Carroll here

And...
Cheat's editions, with important passages highlighted... This is always my first step after I download an article, and since I did it in preparation for teaching, I thought I might as well share. The two BSG articles are not, alas, digitally highlightable. Right/ctrl-click and save as to download.
Black
Carroll

victoriab10

From the get go I noticed that this novel would be a different one-definitely changed my perception of science fiction novels. Ishiguro's frequent use of second person point of view really got me involved in the novel, particularly in chapter 4, when Kathy describes Madame's reaction to the students that surround her. She described the feeling as "like walking past a mirror you've walked past every day of your life, and suddenly it shows you something else, something troubling and strange" (36). As this the last sentence of the chapter I paused to ponder this passage for a while. At first I didn't understand why Madame's frightened reaction would have been so chilling for Kathy, Ruth and their friends, but I then understood they were being treated like aliens almost, and for a reason they were completely unaware of-The use of "you" here really made me feel as if I were Kathy herself, at Hailsham. This incident really increased my suspense drastically, making me want to know exactly what the secret of Hailsham that Miss Lucy and others keep getting at-what the students aren't being told about their school. Clearly people from "outside" are fearful of these creators who are on lockdown. Ishiguru's intentional depiction of the lack of privacy at Hailsham was extremely notable-as the students scarcely had any place in which their conversations were not audible by other people-Timmy and Kathy have to go near a pond just to speak alone and even then they are visible by people through windows-so there are definitely several indicators that this was NOT a normal boarding school. I think the image of windows are definitely a symbol that I'll explore further later on.

Another thing I connected to was Timmy's character at the novel's beginning. As soon as the pressure for him to create was lifted from his shoulders, he was able to function normally with the other students. Good message I think. It was interesting that at Hailsham creativity creates this stress for students whereas I think for most people today it may seem that hard academics are the only thing that can make people stress out-not necessarily creating artwork or poetry.

Overall,I'm really enjoying my read of Never Let Me Go. Cant' wait to see what else unfolds in the second half! I've heard great things!

Current Location: newnorth
Current Music: A Hard Day's Night- Beatles

yuliana_13

When I first began reading this book, I was reminded of The Golden Compass--a girl telling her story of a grand place she once lived in. The entire time, however, I could feel that something was wrong about their society.

The first thing that troubled me was the lack of parents. There were only guardians and strict rules to never leave the premises. There were no family units, so I was very puzzled at how the children seemed to interact much like the children in grade school who have parents. I know I may sound old school, but I was always under the impression that children learned how to act from their family unit...so if there is no family unit, would they not act differently?

The emphasis on creativity was also puzzling. I realize Tommy had a theory that their art was used to determine if the student was honest when applying for deferment. But honestly, who wouldn't want to put off major surgery? I could not imagine being created for the sole purpose of having my organs harvested, one by one, for an identical counterpart.

Once it was revealed that the children were bred to be donors to their "original" counterparts, all I could think of was The Island. There too, identical twins were manufactured for the sole purpose of donating organs should the need arise.

Why were these donor twins not considered people? I see them as no different from a set of identical twins born to a mother. It is absolutely dehumanizing and wrong to treat one human as some organ farm, but give the other the civil rights all people are entitled to.

Somewhere in my mind, I want to tie this back to Battlestar Gallactica. Although the Cylons were not originally people being mistreated, they did evolve into more human like creatures. However, the Cylons' enslavement is hardly comparable to being a living farm.

alothian

We're changing gear again as we move on to Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. I encourage you to watch the recent film, too, as it's very good––I'll be showing some clips in class.

The 'twist' to this text is pretty well known, but I won't spoil you; it's probably best if you read the assigned sections of the novel (go ahead and finish it if you like!) before you turn to the extracts from Butler, though. We reach a climax that will help Butler make a lot more sense right at the end of the assigned sections (chapters 1-15).

As you read, think about the style and tone Ishiguro has chosen and how it relates to your expectations about 'science fiction.' What associations do you have with the kind of novel this seems to be, and how does Ishiguro subvert them? As always, it will be interesting to connect themes and tropes to our other readings.

This is probably the most character-driven text we have read so far: be conscious of your responses to the characters and think about how that conditions your reaction to the speculative narrative.

alothian

Here are the two fan videos I showed in class.

Unnatural Selection (Crossover with Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles and Darwin's Origin of Species)

And Sons and Daughters (SPOILERS if you watch to the end!)

alothian

Back in early 2008, when I first started watching Battlestar: Galactica, I posted about it on my academic blog.

I thought the class might enjoy my reactions.

This covers many of the points I will be raising in class tomorrow, and indeed the themes of the semester...

bracker

The Haraway essay's overarching portrayal of cyborgs can interestingly be applied to the Cylons. The essay itself is so deeply embedded in academia that a more casual reader can easily get lost, because it assumes so much prior knowledge of literary theory. A more approachable way to understand this is slightly convoluted, but it reduces her arguments through analogy.
"The medium is the message," a phrase coined by famous scholar/media theorist Marshall McLuhan, has a similar premise. The "medium" refers to anything that is used for communication. It traditionally refers to physical things. For example, when you talk, the medium is your mouth and the vocal folds and the actual neurons firing in your brain. When you text, it is your fingers, your phone, all the components of your phone, the cell phone network, the waves carrying the information and the phone of the text receiver. The "message" is whatever is communicated -- the intangible aspect of communication. This relies on knowing that language is intangible, even though it refers to both the tangible and the intangible. Thus, the medium is an extension of the message. Saying that the medium is the message then refers to how an extension of something then becomes that thing.
To simplify, Haraway uses the term cyborg as a diving board to discuss how people have trouble separating culture from what is "natural." Although culture is an extension of the natural in that it exists, there is something implicitly about it that feels like it is opposes nature. This is her definition of a cyborg.
How does this apply to Battlestar Gallactica?
The cylons are an extension of man because man created them. Theologically, they view men and man's reign as a creator and initial world that they must overthrow. This conceit motivates their violence. Looking through the lens of reproduction as a primary theme makes one focus on how the original cylons were literally produced by humans. In this sense, cylons (like culture) are an extension of humans that then integrate themselves into society (by mimicking humans), making Battlestar act out Haraway's theory in a more literal way. The richer themes regarding religion, violence and power -- especially the power of knowledge -- addressed in Battlestar as a conflict between cylons and humans then just show humans' inability to cope with the intangibility (and ambiguity) their culture.

huangtim

Battlestar Galactica this week was a nice break from the reading that we’ve been doing for the last few weeks! Here’s what I thought about it:

The show makes an extremely compelling statement about reproduction and speculation. First, it examines the concept of reproduction itself. Biologically, humans reproduce in order to ensure the survival of our species. What happens then, when humans try to (re)produce objects, simply to help them in their everyday lives? And what happens when these objects rebel against what they were produced to do? Battlestar Galactica speculates on what would happen in a world like this, and suggests that reproduction is best left as a biological process. Battlestar also calls into question human existence. When the commander is stuck in the ammunition depot with the Cylon, they have a conversation about whether or not humans are really “chosen” by God, and whether or not he made a mistake. Who is to say that humans are the race that is meant to reproduce and populate the earth? In the end, humans have a history of abusing what is available to them. Finally, the confusion between who is human and who is Cylon makes an important statement as well. When objects we produce look exactly like us, are capable of doing everything we can, if not better, and can feel the same things that we feel, what makes us human? Why should we keep on reproducing, when they are pretty much human themselves, and they are capable of reproducing themselves? SHOULD we keep reproducing, when, Cylons can just transfer their knowledge from one being to another? Should we accept the constraints of human consciousness, that our minds cannot be transferred to other beings, and what does this say about human reproduction? Battlestar Galactica asks all of these questions.

Current Music: Kaskade - I Remember (Strobelight Edit)

alothian

We will all be watching Battlestar: Galactica at 5pm in THH 301 on Tuesday. We'll watch the miniseries together and then you're assigned to watch Downloaded (episode 2:18) on your own afterward. The whole series is available to watch on Netflix instant––I highly recommend it! (ETA: there will be pizza.)

I gave you some excerpts from Donna Haraway's influential 1984 (collected 1991) essay "A Manifesto for Cyborgs." The full text is available online for anyone who is interested: Cyborg Manifesto. As always, come talk to me so we can go over context if you get interested in working with anything that isn't in our assigned excerpts.

As a starting point for doing close reading of a visual text, this guide from Rutgers is useful. Think about our conversations on popular culture as well: what kind of messages is this show sending to the "masses" (if there is such a thing) who watch it? To what extent is it critical of and to what extent does it celebrate technology, capitalism, and the forms of reproduction that are associated with them? What messages is it sending about family, gender, sex?

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Future Generations: class blog

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Online Class on Dawn, 2: the Ooloi

Online Class on Dawn, 1: Humanity

Spillers and Morrison

Race, gender and the history of the human

How I Spend My WiLD Thursday Nights:

Edelman handout

Heavy.

Lady Gaga Did TO, Probably Maybe

It hits you after the fact

Reproductive dehumanization

Dehumanizing humans

Article links for A3

Heil Hailsham!

Dehumanization on a Whole New Level

Never Let Me Go

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3-year-old blog post...

Cylons and Cyborgs, oh my!

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