May 02, 2024  
2017-18 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2017-18 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

US 269 Steampunk Difference Engines


This course examines the multifaceted genre/subculture that is ‘Steampunk.’ From its literary roots in the Sf/Fantasy genre, to its current expressions in aesthetics, literature, fashion and artwork, the class will seek to understand what the term means, what work it encompasses, and what issues it seeks to address. Most visibly characterized by its romanticizing of the Victorian era, its fashions, it manners, and its technologies. Steampunk also grapples with historic tensions, and tries to address the inequalities that resulted from colonialism and the gender/sexual/social inequality of Victorian society. By examining critical essays, fiction, and created art, the course enables students to engage with these issues, and come to see how Steampunk’s reimagining of our past becomes an engine that allows us to explore how society accepts and grapples with difference, an issue that still troubles us to this day.