SHUM 4622 - Thinking Through Transparency

(crosslisted) COML 4618

Spring. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Enrollment limited to: 15 students. Intended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students.

A. Parry.

The course reads theoretical texts on liberalism, neoliberalism, and corruption in dialogue with science fiction/fantasy narratives, literary and visual. We will study how the aesthetic features of these genres are used to thematize corruption and scandal, and to imagine various forms of transparency, both interpersonal and political. Our goal is to understand how accounts of transparency and corruption in speculative fiction can engage the constitutive categories of liberal political thought, such as freedom, rights, property, progress, autonomy, and legality. Students are advised to read the Song of Ice and Fire series or watch Game of Thrones before class begins. In the last section, students will be asked to select a cultural text for their presentation, and assign part of it as a course reading.

For longer description and instructor bio please visit http://societyhumanities.as.cornell.edu/courses.