Science fiction’s most frequent alternative to human is 'alien', another rich imaginative resource with which to think about what makes us human.
This free lecture by Jim Endersby, Visiting Professor of the History of Science at Gresham College, will include reflections on various aliens, from H.G. Wells Selenites, to Octavia Butler’s Oankali, the genetic traders who link the novels of her Xenogenesis trilogy who are imagined as both saving and enslaving humanity. Whether aliens are imagined as conquerors or saviours, their superiority has often been used to explore human limitations.
This is a hybrid lecture which you can watch online, in person, or later at a time to suit you.
Jim is Visiting Gresham Professor in the History of Science.
He is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Sussex and specialises in Victorian natural history and the modern genetics and has presented programmes for BBC Radio 4.
Professor Endersby's lecture series are as follows:
2021/22 How Not To Be Human: Exploring Humanity Through Science Fiction
2020/21 Darwin's Descent: Monkeys, Orchids and Myths
2019/20 Utopian Gardens
Book free tickets to watch online or in person via the link.
