Futures exist in the current moment as potent narratives, drawing on rhetorical, aesthetic, and symbolic strategies for their persuasive power. They shape the trajectory of the present and determine who gets to inhabit the future and under what conditions. This course interrogates the variety of present futures: how they are made, by whom and for whom. Across ten weeks we will examine black radical, queer, feminist, indigenous and dominant futures and the ways they engage with different modes of imagining futures from infrastructure and scenario planning to Afropessimism and counter-apocalypse.

8 x 1hr lectures; 8 x 1.5hr seminars over ten weeks as scheduled on MyCampus. This is one of the MLitt options in English Literature and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Futures: Unbundling the Now (UG Version)

None

 The standard assessments for this course are: 

■ 2 x 7min presentations each accompanied by a mini-archival collection: 20% each  

■ Seminar Contribution: 10%  

■ Essay (3500 words): 50% 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available: 

■ Recorded presentation or one-to-one presentation / discussion/Q&A with staff (where presentation would normally be in class) as alternative to presentations.

■ Written self-evaluation reflecting on seminar contribution or written response to seminar material in advance or after seminar as alternative to seminar contribution.

■ There is no alternative to the essay, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions). 

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.  

It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.

[No exceptions]

This course aims to:

■ Map the contemporary histories and practices of future-making.

■ Critically and independently engage with the methods and contexts of narrative futures.

■ Identify literary and rhetorical strategies in the practice of future-making and interrogate how they draw on and shape narrative techniques of realism, speculation, plausibility, and agency.

■ Outline connections between dominant and institutionalised practices of future-making and their broader impact on contemporary society and culture with a particular focus on the themes of gender, race, climate, and justice.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

■ Identify and critically assess the influence of discourses of futurity in popular culture and policy.

■ Critically contextualise and historicise the practices of future-making.

■ Engage critically with distinct theoretical approaches to futurity, including critical race studies, queer theory, infrastructure studies, and critical futures studies.

■ Conduct independent research and develop advanced academic skills in analysis, writing, editing, and argumentation through written and oral assessments.