Border Crossing: Immigrant Narratives in Speculative Fiction

Speculative fiction is the genre of migrants, refugees, and those that move between the borders of what is known and unknown. In this one-day course, we will examine what happens to characters and narratives that exist in this "in between". Through in-class writing exercises and readings, we will discuss and discover the journeys our characters take and why they are meaningful. Examining writers like Octavia Butler, Ken Liu, Liz Hand, and Carmen Maria Machado, we will ask ourselves: what happens when we cross a border? Are we still in our bodies, are we still ourselves? Or do we become a new species, forever stuck in the liminal spaces that are not one thing or the other but both and neither?