SPAN 5015: Mexican and Chicanx Dystopian Fiction

University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Studies of Mexican, U.S. Latino/a, Central American, Caribbean, Andean, Amazonian, or Southern Cone literature, with readings from representative works. Section information text: Authors and cultural producer throughout Latin American—and indeed the world—have long used science fiction and speculative fiction to decry unjust social conditions in the world around them. In this class we will read and discuss science fiction literature and film from Latin American and U.S. Latino/a authors. The texts that we read come from different social national and cultural contexts but they share much in common. Each work strives to imagine a better world where people can enjoy greater freedom and be accepted for who they are. Key questions that we will discuss in this course include—but are not limited to—the following: How can we distinguish utopia from dystopia? How does a story set in the future speak to the time in which it is written? How can the cyborg body challenge (or perpetuate) unjust structures of power? As we discuss these texts we will be able to see how science fiction helps us to navigate the contradictions of modern society.