Explores the local, global, and universal natures of the speculative genre of science fiction (SF) from the early twentieth century through the present. Highlights works from the Golden Age (late 1930s–1950s), the New Wave of the 1960s and 1970s, cyberpunk in the 1980s, and today’s various subgenres and cross-over incarnations. Approaches SF as a mode of thought-experimentation and world-building that problematizes actual and possible political, cultural, natural, human, and techno-scientific realities. Among the themes included are the human-machine interface, environmental apocalypse, the alien, and time travel. Readings include short stories from nearly every continent (a number of which are accompanied by a film or other media), scholarly writing on SF, and contemporary debates in and around SF. Does not count for the Italian minor or Romance languages and literatures major. Taught in English.