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Story as Research Method
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EXIGENCE: “What is needed or required; a thing wanted or demanded; a requirement, a necessity.” (Oxford English Dictionary, “Exigency,” n1)
Context for Octavia Butler's "Amnesty"
Discussion groups based on readings. Two groups will discuss each respective reading and work together to describe what is going on in the text to the other group. While this will necessarily include some summary, the goal is not to just recount events as they happened in each narrative, or to figure out what an author's particular argument is definitively, but to interpret what features of the narrative are lending themselves to the author's overarching argumentative moves. You might talk through some of the questions below to think about the rhetorical moves in each text.
How are these stories working as arguments? Or, if they are not working for you, why?
How would you describe the authors' research approach?
Do you see any kind of call to action in the text?
How does story as research method differ from the more traditional approaches we have been discussing (emotionally, logistically, citationally, etc) ?
How do the authors’ storytelling techniques impact the delivery/relevance of their argument?
As they engage in speculative work which diverges from reality, how does their overarching argument stay in contact with the world beyond fiction (or does it)?
Story as Method Beyond the Text
Speculative Flash Fiction
*Pls tread carefully when dealing with sensitive topics— using fiction as method does not necessitate making light of serious topics. This doesn't mean you can't be silly--- you can absolutely use humor to address something serious without minimizing the seriousness of an issue.
In groups of four or so, pick a news event or a system that is large and far-reaching in its consequences and impacts (contemporary or historical is fine)
Reflect on those consequences, list some of them out; As Octavia Butler argues, you have to understand the pertinent events of the past and present before you can begin to postulate on the future or alternate pasts in a compelling manner!
Brainstorm on how you might address aspects of this system or news event through fiction, like the authors we read for today do to address the case of Wen Ho Lee’s persecution and anthropogenic climate change, respectively. Another example is the corporation Buy-n-Large in Wall-e, as it seeks to address consumption and environmentalism through a fictional big box store on a polluted earth with no people.
Flesh out some details of your universe, are we in the near or far future? An alternate past or present? Where are we geographically located? Is this our earth, or another world? Who lives there? Humans? Aliens? Some secret third option? Where does your fictionalized entity/news event/system sit in this universe? How do the people of your universe interact with it?
IF THERE IS TIME, think about what kinds of characters might live there, or whose story in this universe might be most compelling to dive into/would allow you to explore the most interest parts of the universe you are building (i.e. what is it like to be a student in this world? A doctor? A soldier? A news reporter? Etc. etc.)
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