Graduation Semester and Year

2011

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in English

Department

English

First Advisor

Stacy Alaimo

Abstract

Feminist science fiction (SF) and feminist science studies share common concerns--the gendered perception of science and women's place in the sciences among them--but the two fields are rarely considered together. This failure to connect the two fields may be explained in part by the ongoing divide between the sciences and the humanities; it may be further exacerbated by the ghettoization of SF within literary studies. I gather together feminist SF texts, literary theories of feminist SF, and feminist science studies in order to add to the scholarship of each individual field as well as make a case for the value of combining these fields.Building on the historical exclusion or marginalization of women in the sciences, Chapters 2 - 4 examine three major responses to the place of women in science as represented in feminist SF: rejecting science, embracing science-as-usual, and reversing power relations associated with science. In Chapter 2, I explore a radical feminist approach to the relationship between women and science, examining in particular anti-science feminist utopias and "utopian science" in feminist SF and the consequences of rejecting or radically redefining science. In Chapter 3, I consider a number of SF texts that take science seriously and that, through representations of women as scientists, attempt to challenge stereotypes about women doing science and provide new narratives for girls and women to either use as models or warnings. Chapter 4 considers what happens when the inclusion of women in science seen in Chapter 3 is combined with the critique of masculine science explored in Chapter 2, asking whether it is the person doing the science that makes a difference or the science being done that matters. In other words, can science done by women be better than (i.e., more equitable, feminist, or productive) than science done by men? The final two chapters argue that a more fruitful response to the problem of women and science involves the development of a specifically feminist science. Through readings of feminist theory and science fiction by women, Chapters 5 and 6 consider feminist science as a project to revise the definitions and expand the limits of traditional science in order to include work traditionally associated with women, challenge hierarchical and dichotomous modes of thinking, and make space for more ethical, embodied scientific practices that are not limited by identity politics. For feminist science and feminist SF to be truly effective, they cannot be limited to women's writing and women doing science but must also work to incorporate men into feminist science and SF.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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