Dear Constanze:
I know of at least a couple of departments that teach an "Anthropology
through Science Fiction" course. I don't whether anyone has used Star Trak
in this context, but it certainly would be a good idea. The kinds of books
that they read in the science fiction courses are "Dune" and some of Ursula
LeGuin's fiction. I know of one fellow who used "Chariots of the Gods" as
science fiction (which it surely is) in this teaching context.
Cheers!
Clifford
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Constanze Witt [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 1999 1:24 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: real life
>
> Can someone tell the list more about how departments are using Star Trek
> in
> teaching archaeology? And I wonder why they aren't using Indiana Jones or
> Lara Croft instead? A lot of younger kids assume that studying
> archaeology
> includes weapons training ...
>
> I love the question about inter-species miscegenation in ST. It would be
> fruitful for us all, I think, to grapple with the kinds of ideas that
> these
> fictionalizations spread about our fields throughout popular culture.
> That
> is the context in which we work, after all. For the vast majority of the
> (tax-paying, voting) population, the recent Fox TV tomb opening in real
> time special is the closest thing to a scientific, state-of-the-art
> excavation they've seen, and a sad thing that is, too.
>
> For what it's worth, my undergrads could differentiate between "real"
> anthropology and the kind of ethnography Lite practiced on "Stargate," but
> they still enjoyed using examples from the show to talk about symbols,
> language and meaning. Other pop, if historical, subjects we found useful
> were the nature of monarchy in "Elizabeth," and the
> rationality/irrationality of belief with the Heaven's Gate cult
> (self-castration) and Audrey Santo, the "saint" in Worcester, Mass
> (healing, miracles). These examples didn't say anything more or different
> from the dry subject readings, but they did arouse passionate debate, and
> made the students feel that these were REAL issues, for the ancient world
> no less than for us today. To me that emotional connection justified
> using
> non-scholarly metaphors. But what are your teaching experiences and
> thoughts?
> Cheers
> Constanze
>
> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
> Constanze Witt, PhD
> [log in to unmask]
> Instructional Technology Specialist
> UT Austin Classics Dept.
> Waggener Hall 17, C3400
> Austin TX 78712
> (512) 471-8684, fax (512) 471-4111
> http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/
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