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ANTH 1553 - ANCIENT FUTURES: READING SPECULATIVE FICTION THROUGH ARCHAEOLOGYMinimum Credits: 3 Maximum Credits: 3 Speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, dystopian fiction, etc.) imagines alternative human social worlds, often placing them in the future, while archaeologists reconstruct real social worlds of the past - worlds that were fundamentally different from our own. These two fields ask the same timeless questions in different ways: What is human nature? How do human societies work? In this class, readings from speculative fiction and its early fictional precursors are paired with case studies in archaeology and ethnography. We assess how speculative fiction compares to current theories in anthropology and what we know about the human past. For instance: did societal collapse, alternative gender systems, or social hierarchies ever actually work the way they do in fiction? By juxtaposing two fields that don't usually talk to each other, this class aims to hold a mirror up to our cultural moment, offering new ways to think about cultural difference, what "progress" means, and the possibility of utopian or dystopian futures. Academic Career: Undergraduate Course Component: Lecture Grade Component: Letter Grade
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