ENVS 1A - Composing a Sustainable World (Glaser)

Community garden in Concord by Marian Dörk is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Hello and welcome to the research guide for Dr. Kirk Glaser's CTW1 Course, Composing a Sustainable World!

This guide and today's research session will help you find and evaluate secondary sources for your group projects on Oryx and Crake. 

Excerpts from your assignment:

Choose at least one particular theme or issue directly related to science, technology, society and sustainability related to your section of the novel (evolving out of the previous bullet point) to analyze in depth. Find several secondary sources for comparison and analysis.

• One approach is to find material on a current issue related to one that Atwood presents (e.g.: biotechnology, social effects of internet, etc.). Explore that issue in our current society and analyze/critique how Atwood depicts that issue. 
• Another approach is to apply a theoretical model (e.g.: psychological, economic, sociological, etc.) to an aspect of the book. 

Provide a brief summary of the secondary source(s) for the class (as well as some excerpts or copies). 
Use your sources both to explore how Atwood critiques our present culture and to critique how effective or believable you find her fictional prognostications. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR CRITICAL APPROACHES 
Following are topics that stem from themes and issues in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake—some more central to the novel, others more in the background. These are suggestions only. Feel free to head in your own directions with any of them.
Examine the concepts and controversies of your issue by drawing on a variety of sources: the press (newspaper and magazine articles/editorials, journals of opinion/commentary), specialized magazines and professional journals, television, film, internet, political debates, etc. What are the major ethical, moral, environmental, and economic debates? Summarize your findings for the class. 
Interpret passages and themes based on your knowledge. Explore how Atwood uses the material to create her “dystopian” future. How does Atwood present these issues and how does this jive with your understanding? Evaluate how your reading of the novel changes with the additional knowledge of the scientific, social, ethical, etc. issues. 

• Human Relations to the Natural World: contemporary relations, other cultures’ views of nature/relationships to it.
• The Nature and Structure of Cities/City-States: past, present, future visions.
• Biotechnology: Animal/plant genetic altering/cloning and “mining” for agriculture, medicine, human organ production, etc. Biomechanics, eugenics and genetic alteration of human tissues (and within humans). What has been done, what is proposed? What are the debates? You might also explore bio-terrorism (scenarios, history) under this topic. 
• Internet Culture: Virtual worlds, gaming, chat rooms, online relationships, free speech issues, cultural collisions. What sorts of human culture are being created unique to the Internet? What are the controversies?
• Corporations, Mega-Chains, and Consumer Economies. How have corporations and mega-chains altered the social fabric of American life (malls vs. downtowns, local businesses vs. chains, etc.)? What is the history of the corporation? What is its identity (legally) and what sorts of social structures does it create? What economic model or policies are being critiqued in the novel?
• Gated Communities: What are the “cultures” of gated communities? How do they work? Why do people want them? How do they affect people within them and their relation to “outsiders”? What trade-offs are made between rights/freedoms and safety?
• Bioethics/Environmental Ethics: deep ecology, eco-feminism, and other philosophies/theories/histories that critique human culture from environmental perspectives. Present summaries of key ideas/thinkers and consider using them to analyze parts of the novel and Atwood’s vision and themes.
• Environmental Protestors/ Eco-Warriors. Explore some of the organizations which defend the earth by civil disobedience or direct action (Greenpeace, Earth!first, animal rights groups). 
• Utopian and/or Dystopian Visions. Fill the class in on some major utopian (or dystopian) models presented in literature, film, artwork, graphic novels/comics, video/computer games, etc. Compare them with Atwood’s vision. What are the roles of science and technology in these works?
• Use the essays suggested from American Earth for your section (on syllabus) as a starting point to develop a critique (the essays have themes related to the sections of the novel). This may link with one of the above.
• Another Topic Created by Your Group, drawn from the novel and with a STS / Sustainability focus. Check with Dr. Glaser.