One of the Professors where I teach planned a course on the Anthropology of
the Future in which she planned to rely heavily on ST. This course was
cancelled for low enrollment. The same professor shows the movie ST: First
Contact (dealing with attempts of the Borg to assimilate humanity as well
as the more benign first contact between Vulcans & humans) to, I believe,
her cultural anthropology class.
I had wanted to show the episode of ST: TNG, Darmok, which deals with a
culture that talks in metaphor to my Linguistic Anthropology class, but was
unable to get a copy & just recommended it to students. I tend to require
students to learn a vast amount of material & occasionally try introduce a
light moment or 2. I'm told this enables students to remember better.
I also tend to draw comparisons between other cultures and concepts with
students day to day concrete experiences. I've been told by students that
this helps them understand what I am getting across. For ex: I've compared
the modern fascination with New Age philosophies to the ancient interest in
magic when people feel disillusioned by philosophy or science; I've asked
students to imagine various California cities as separate nations to get
across the concept of the City-State; and I've used the example of the
improbable situation of elderly folks at a Marilyn Manson concert to get
across the idea of how context can affect performance and discourse.
Re. the woman who wore her ST uniform to a jury trial. I heard her
interviewed on a radio show during my morning commute. She is part of some
kind of service club with a ST and apparently wears her uniform daily and
refers to herself as the "Commander." The name of the fictional ST ship
Enterprise was based on a real US Aircraft Carrier, but the first Space
Shuttle was named Enterprise based on the fictional ship after a letter
writing campaign by Trek fans. Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura (1/2 of
TV's first interracial kiss) later became a NASA spokesperson.
A recent issue of the AAA newsletter had an article by an anthropologist
who is studying SF (sci-fi) fandom in the US, but I don't recall the
details.
I won't want to bore readers with additional examples for fear of coming
across as too banal.
Make It So,
Louise
Louise A. Hitchcock, Ph.D.
Research Associate
Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies
UCLA
310-825-9639
For more info on the Center and its Programs:
http://www.isop.ucla.edu/cnes
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|