I grew up in Southern Arizona along the U.S. / Mexico border. Although I was never very good at sports, I did enjoy playing soccer. I was the only gringo, the only non-spanish speaker on a team in Yuma that was made up of kids who lived on both sides of the border. In the 1970's, border communities were closely integrated across the line and families and friends would travel back and forth daily or weekly for activities such as soccer tournaments. Nowadays, the militarization of the U.S. Mexico border and the building of The Wall has made such connections more difficult to sustain. My partner Zoe and I work actively to try to build power within the communities most affected by such fear-driven, racist and nationalist policies. The picture above is of a volleyball game a few years ago across the border line at an international picnic. Such events happen frequently to bring together schools and community organizations. The low fence here has since been replaced by a massive steel wall with high tech night vision video cameras, motion sensors and surveillance blimps.
In today's world of globalized industrial / post-industrial capitalism, the forces of history can transform our lived realities quite quickly. We clearly do not live in a "utopia" and sometimes the story of humanity seems to be headed towards apocalpyse. In spite of all this, members of local and global communities find common ground for action in social movements that actively resist, reframe, and reshape dominant historical trajectories into better futures.
Science fiction narratives often imagine the history of the future in ways that can help us to see our own history and current realities through a different lens. Interestingly, science fiction narratives also often employ the notion of outer space as a new (or "final") frontier. While some critical aspects of the rules of the game have often changed -- technology, laws of nature, evolution -- many of the dramas that play out on these future frontiers stage familiar questions about how human groups relate to each other across borders, through various types of difference (class, gender, ethnicity, etc.). This is particularly true with narratives that focus on humanity's own final frontiers: apocalypse, dystopia, utopia.
I'm excited to work with you all to generate the questions that will guide our research together. I'm also eager to experiment with you all via this e-portfolio collaboration tool. Hopefully, it will help us to share our learning with each other and with the larger community.
One of my favorite authors has always been Douglas Adams. If digication, the course, or life in general is feeling confusing or overwhelming, please remember the advice on the cover of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: DON'T PANIC!
2. Rachel Pearson
Hey Paul,
It's amazing how many connections to border and immigration issues I've already been discovering. I was thinking about how much I learn during the first few days of classes. It's always great to get back into the flow of academics because my lens on the world always seems to change and/or broaden.
Hitchhiker's Guide was always a favorite for me, though I never got around to watching the movie. I think I'll go and read it again after this class because it's nice to see how much more one gets out of a story the third and fourth times around.
I'm really looking forward to working with you! I'm hoping to utilize your knowledge of the border and immigration issues in order to further my web of learning as well as your background in science fiction to give me a push in theoretically interesting directions.
02/22/10, 04:13 am
1. Sam Kassel
Hey Paul,
Thanks for your final words of reassurance! I am very excited about this class, about essays and ideas that I truly want to pursue, about new books. I had a question for you; Are the books in the Dune series past the third one worth reading? I have heard mixed reviews. Thanks!
02/21/10, 11:28 pm