Dr. M. Elizabeth Ginway used her new book Cyborgs, Sexuality and the Undead: The Body in Mexican and Brazilian Speculative Fiction (Vanderbilt University Press, 2020) to teach two classes: a graduate class in Spanish and a 4000-level class in Portuguese.
Divided into four three-week modules, plus time for introduction and research, the course includes the following topics:
- Cyborgs and the “ethos barroco” and cybernetic theory
- Sexualities and queer theory
- Zombies and theories of contagion and immunity
- Vampires and biopolitics
In her classes, Dr. Ginway examines the lurking sense that certain bodies continue to be identified as “impolitic,” despite the official rhetoric of mestizaje / mestiçagem in Mexico and Brazil. Cyborg bodies, queer bodies, zombified and vampiric bodies resist the positivist ethos and provide an alternate perspective on rapid growth and modernity in the 20th and 21st centuries and the political and economic challenges they have brought. While SPW 6902 emphasizes Mexican texts, culture and history, POW 4930 highlights Brazil’s literary production.
The book can be purchased on Amazon.