PCST 260 - Peace and Conflict in Fiction

Prerequisites, PCST 150 and sophomore standing or consent of instructor. Obtaining narrative frames to understand the world and to imagine future possibilities and perils is essential for peacebuilding. While academic works help make sense of the world through empirical methods and data, works of fiction help imagine differing futures to work towards or avoid. In this class, students will explore themes including reproductive rights, race/racism, internment camps, technocracies, nonviolence, individual anarchism, genetic splicing, etc. through works of fiction with a lens of peace and conflict studies. For this purpose, the course will explore ideas in works of socio-political speculative fiction such as Octavia’s Brood & A People’s Future of the United States, as well as movies such as V for Vendetta and Snow Piercer. Ultimately, the course will try to imagine whether the future will become a dystopia or a utopia if things go on as they are - and what students can do now to improve the future. Letter grade with Pass/No Pass option. (Offered every year.) 3 credits