Pedagogy Oct 2019

Locating Empathy

Emily Hall

Abstract

This article explores how to use science fiction, particularly texts centered on android protagonists, to open up discussions of marginalization, race, and oppression in the introductory literature classroom. In response to the hateful rhetoric directed toward asylum seekers, this author developed an entire course around personhood and rights. She first examines how, in particular sci-fi works, paranoia and prejudice compel citizens to delineate between kinds of personhood. She then illuminates how students were invited to make parallels between the othering that the androids endure and historical and present-day examples of human rights abuses. After a semester of examining and debating these issues, students selected an android or robot in a television show, film, or video game of their choice and first assessed how the android’s personhood was delimited by human and then articulated why humans placed these boundaries on the android. Throughout the article, the author explains the kinds of texts she used for the course, the assignment students were tasked with, and how the course broached other issues of power dynamics, such as consent and disability rights.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2019-10-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-7615570
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism disability studies editorial matter
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (5)

  1. Baron-Kriese (1993)
    Exploring Divergent Realities: Using Science Fiction to Teach Introductory Political Science
    Extrapolation  ↗
  2. Berne (2005)
    Teaching Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology to Engineering Students thro…
    Bulletin of Science, Technology, and Society  ↗
  3. Kakoudaki (2014)
    Anatomy of a Robot: Literature, Cinema, and the Cultural Work of Artificial People
     ↗
  4. Luna (2016)
    Alex + Ada: The Complete Collection
  5. Wosk (2015)
    My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  2. Philosophy & Rhetoric Apr 2025
    Introduction: On the Desirability of Speaking to Others ↗
    Nirvana Tanoukhi; Nicholas Dunn
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis argument social media race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric literary studies editorial matter
  3. Pedagogy Jan 2025
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism graduate education teacher development professional writing archival research race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2024
    Social Justice and “Harmful Tech”: Dis-Orienting Militarized Research ↗
    Calvin Pollak; Sanvi Bhardwaj
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis writing pedagogy teacher development technical communication scientific writing race and writing disability studies editorial matter
  5. Pedagogy Oct 2024
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development revision argument collaborative writing assessment writing program administration multimodality multilingual writers literacy studies race and writing disability studies community literacy editorial matter