<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Margaret, the upcoming publication of Peter Valente's science fiction novella <i>Partheogenesis</i> may shed additional light on the subject of the bending of sexual identities. This novella will be published together with another novella of his <i>Plague In the Imperial City</i>.<br><br></div>Ciao,<br></div>Murat<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, May 8, 2017 at 2:56 PM, Margaret J Rhee <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mrhee@uoregon.edu" target="_blank">mrhee@uoregon.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<br>
Dear Sean, Susan, and all,<br>
<br>
Im so moved at how you've centered play within queer science fictions, and this incredible class!! that includes Butler, Ahmed, to Le Guin, alongside cultural texts! I feel the possibilities of gender, and queer expressions of intimacy really speak to one another especially within the science fictional worlds of robots, and your pedagogy really framed in an exciting cross genre way. I love how you provided strong theoretical grounding for the students, to then begin to understand gender/sexual expressions within SF robot worlds. The framing with _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ and Futurama is exciting, and how you taught them about bodies, marking, through the intimacies between robots, humans, Amphibiosan, etc.! It makes me think to learn about SF, really also requires learning about queer/gender theory...<br>
<br>
It reminds me also of your own exquisite fairy tales, which also queers the genre in such interesting ways, and I'm looking forward to your forthcoming collection, "Thank You for Listening" from Mindmade Books. I want to learn more, and like Susan, excited about your pedagogical pairings, and discussion of queer SF and fairytales. Thank you again for your pedagogy, and SF queer worlding.<br>
<br>
warmly,<br>
<br>
Margaret<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
On 2017-05-04 17:07, Pessin, Sean E wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<br>
Hello everyone!<br>
<br>
Thank you all so much for the recommendations and ideas that have been<br>
shared here. While I have been trying to figure out how to participate<br>
in this discussion, I have been delighted in these various approaches<br>
to considering the robopoetic. There is much here already to consider<br>
and this thread will sustain me for some time.<br>
<br>
I taught _Radio Heart_ in a special topics class on Queer Theory and<br>
Science Fictions that is supposed to be a kind of culminating class.<br>
Students in this class are supposed to be given materials and then<br>
they are supposed to develop and finish projects on their own. To<br>
facilitate this, the class emphasized the kinds of play that queer<br>
theorists and science fiction writers perform. To that end, my<br>
inclusion of _Radio Heart_ exposed students to queer experimental<br>
science fiction poetry, as I am also inclined to read the book as<br>
exploring its central relationship in a queer way.<br>
<br>
The method of the class was to provide incremental exposure to a lot<br>
of material that is supposed to disorient the students so that they<br>
may reorient, or to give them opportunities to turn from one way of<br>
thinking and to another, to borrow Sara Ahmed’s framework in _Queer<br>
Phenomenology_. We started with Lucian’s _True History_, and then<br>
worked through classics like Judith Butler’s _Gender Trouble_ and<br>
Ursula LeGuin’s _The Left Hand of Darkness_, setting the stage, so to<br>
speak, for all manner of gender play and science fiction imaginings<br>
that students could then use to explore in their own<br>
critical/creative/hybrid projects through sustained play.<br>
<br>
Once my students opened up to considering the possibilities of gender<br>
expression, and how those possibilities were present in science<br>
fiction texts, as a class we then asked how bodies may perform or<br>
manifest those expressions in textual forms. We covered as part of one<br>
of our conversations _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_, an episode of<br>
the television show _Futurama_, “Proposition Infinity,” and, of<br>
course, _Radio Heart_ in our session closest to Valentine’s Day. It<br>
was no coincidence—using the holiday as a backdrop, we took on as our<br>
conversation’s starting point, what to make of constructed lovers?<br>
Their desires? The expression of these desires? and of their lovers<br>
and creators: Who made them and for whom?<br>
<br>
We looked at _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_, when Dr. Frank N. Furter<br>
defends the aesthetics he demonstrates in his creation, Rocky, to<br>
Janet: “I didn’t make him for you!”; when the robot Bender Rodriguez<br>
defends his robosexual relationship with Amy Wong _Futurama_: “After<br>
all, our love isn't any different than yours, except it's hotter,<br>
'cause I'm involved;” and at the moments when in _Radio Heart_’s<br>
“Beam, Robot” the speaker considers the robot lover’s constructedness:<br>
“you’re all made so uniquely…” “who programmed you?”<br>
<br>
Further questions raised by this paring came from the students: What<br>
kinds of play inform the perspectives of these works on the<br>
constructed lover? Why is it that the creators of these beings are<br>
incapable of “keeping” them? (Rocky escapes Frank N. Furter’s bed and<br>
seduces Janet, Amy returns to her fonfon ru (a kind of non-legally<br>
binding marriage) Kif, when Bender doesn’t want to be monogamous, and,<br>
by the title, we expect the robot lover and the speaker of _Radio<br>
Heart_ may not continue on together, and by the description of the<br>
lovers’ encounters, we know that the speaker did not construct the<br>
robot lover). The constructions here are articulating the limits of<br>
this body (of work), about the desires of the creator being in<br>
conflict with the desires of the construct.<br>
<br>
And: How is it that in these examples the couples are raced? What is<br>
the effect of this? _Radio Heart_ explores the human/robot pairing,<br>
and “Traced,” as Susan pointed out, addresses the preprogramming of<br>
race; Amy is human, Kif is Amphibiosan, and Bender is a robot; and<br>
after all, Frank. N. Furter is an alien: “just a sweet Transvestite,<br>
from Transsexual, Transylvania,” while his Rocky seems all too human<br>
despite being construct.<br>
<br>
What was most interesting to my students about these texts was the way<br>
that the construct stood in for or replaced bodies on which clear<br>
expectations were otherwise marked, bodies that many of them<br>
recognized as their own. For me, what was interesting about this<br>
recognition was that while there are many anxieties about machines<br>
replacing people playing out in the news, my students were reading<br>
them as metaphors for themselves.<br>
<br>
Because of this, I am interested in previously mentioned speculation<br>
about the _Radio Heart_ speaker projecting onto the robot what the<br>
relationship is.<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
—Sean<br>
<br>
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</blockquote>
<br></div></div><span class="im HOEnZb">
-- <br>
Margaret Rhee, Ph.D.<br>
<br>
Visiting Assistant Professor<br>
Women's and Gender Studies<br>
University of Oregon<br></span><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
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