American Studies 10 Imagining the Future
- day and time TTh 8-9:30
- location 141 McCone
- instructor C. Palmer
- 4 Units
- Class # 23167
Sec. 101: M 2-3, 285 Cory
Sec. 102: T 1-12, 56 Hildebrand
Sec. 103: M 3-4, 25 Wheeler
Sec. 104: W 4-5, 238 Kroeber
Sec. 102: T 1-12, 56 Hildebrand
Sec. 103: M 3-4, 25 Wheeler
Sec. 104: W 4-5, 238 Kroeber
In 1816, Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams, I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past, a stance Adams not only declared judicious but also a prophecy that they would soon meet and be better friends than ever. This course considers many of the ways Americans from Jefferson and Adams to a host of writers, photographers, painters, filmmakers, activists, engineers, architects, and city planners have imagined the future. We will consider how the concept of the future influences and determines American politics, economics, architecture, race relations, social policy, and culture. The course will pay particular attention to the special relationship between the past, American memory, and imagined futures. Topics under consideration may include Afrofuturism; robots, robotics, and artificial intelligence; the gleaming city of tomorrow; utopian communities; and dystopia, prophecy, and apocalypse. By focusing on the future as a time, a place, a theory, a fantasy, and a media construct, this course will introduce students to the interdisciplinary study of America.