From Hyperspace to Hypertext: Masculinity, Globalization, and Their Discontents

ISBN-13: 9789819920266 / Angielski

Christopher Leslie

Opis

This book takes a fresh look at archival sources to show science fiction’s role in the social construction of gender and race relevant to diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM. 

Spis treści

Part I: The Gernsback Era

Chapter 1: Cosmopolitan Gentlemen of Science                                                             3

1.1   An Immigrant Battling Industrial Innovation                                                           5

1.2   Pivot to Publishing                                                                                               11

1.3   Masculinized Technology and Overcivilization                                                     15

1.4   From Science Fact to Scientifiction                                                                      21

1.5   The Authors Gernsback Couldn’t See                                                                   28

 

Chapter 2: Planet Smashers of the Second Industrial Revolution                                   35

2.1   A Genealogy of Science Fiction Magazines                                                          36

2.2   The Paradigm of Progress                                                                                     39

2.3   The New Sort of Magazine                                                                                   46

2.4   Hyperspace and Race                                                                                           57

2.5   The Cosmos Serial                                                                                               65

 

Chapter 3: Have We Not Had Enough of War?                                                             75

3.1   Navigating New Obstacles                                                                                   77

3.2   Challengers to the Sciences of Difference                                                             83

3.3   Clare Winger Harris: The Consequences of Bias                                                   87

3.4   Leslie F. Stone: Science and Empire                                                                     93

3.5   L. Taylor Hansen: Antagonistic Anthropology                                                    104

 

Part II: The Campbell Era

 

Chapter 4: Archaeology of the Future                                                                         121

4.1   The “New Author” with “Marvelous Ability”                                                     123

4.2   Homosocial Technical Teams                                                                             129

4.3   From Fandom and Pseudonyms to “The Presence”                                              136

4.4   Manly White Civilization                                                                                   153

4.5   Declining Reputation                                                                                         159

 

Chapter 5: The Editor with One Hundred Hands                                                         163

5.1   Disentangling Autobiography                                                                             165

5.2   Lab Partners in Outer Space                                                                               169

5.3   Interplanetary Prejudice                                                                                     173

5.4   Misfits Fleeing Big Science                                                                                182

5.5     Repelling Women Writers     188

Chapter 6: The Challenges of Inclusion                                                                      201

6.1   C. L. Moore and the Lovecraft Circle                                                                  204

6.2   The Limits of Rationality                                                                                   211

6.3   Leigh Brackett: Writing Like a Man                                                                   218

6.4   The Future of Inequality                                                                                     224

 

Part III: The Merril Era

 

Chapter 7: Confronting Cold War Masculinity                                                            237

7.1   Finding Community                                                                                           240

7.2   Becoming Judith Merril                                                                                      253

7.3   Doubting Homo Superior                                                                                   258

7.4   Refashioning Gender in the Cold War                                                                 264

7.5   Small Frog in a Big Pond                                                                                   276

 

Chapter 8: The End of Science Fiction                                                                       283

8.1   Changing Markets, Changing Audiences                                                             285

8.2   Merril as Anthologist and Reviewer                                                                    294

8.3   New Wave or New Thing                                                                                   300

8.4   Some of the Authors Merril Saw                                                                         305

8.5   Dying Astronauts                                                                                               315

 

Chapter 9: Science Fiction and the University                                                             321

9.1   Challenges to Technological Determinism                                                          323

9.2   Science Fiction Computing                                                                                 326

9.3   The Crime and the Glory of Hypertext                                                                332

9.4   Entering the Classroom                                                                                      340

9.5   A Theory for the New Wave                                                                               345

O autorze

Dr Christopher Leslie is an independent scholar who has taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; New York University Tandon School of Engineering; Universität Potsdam, Germany; and the South China University of Technology, Guangzhou.

Blurb

This book illuminates how science fiction studies can support diversity, equity, and inclusion in science and engineering. Shortly before science fiction got its name, a new paradigm connected whiteness and masculinity to the advancement of civilization. In order to show how science fiction authors supported the social construction of these gender and racial norms – and also challenged them – this study analyzes the impact of three major editors and the authors in their orbits: Hugo Gernsback; John W. Campbell, Jr.; and Judith Merril. Supported by a fresh look at archival sources and the author’s experience teaching Science and Technology Studies at universities on three continents, this study demonstrates the interconnections among discourses of imperialism, masculinity, and innovation. Readers gain insights into fighting prejudice, the importance of the community of authors and readers, and ideas about how to challenge racism, sexism, and xenophobia in new creative work. This stimulating book demonstrates how education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can be enhanced by adding the liberal arts, such as historical and literary studies, to create STEAM.

Dr Christopher Leslie is an independent scholar who has taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; New York University Tandon School of Engineering; Universität Potsdam, Germany; and the South China University of Technology, Guangzhou.