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Science Fiction Studies

By Prof. Gigy J Alex   |   Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology
Learners enrolled: 32
ABOUT THE COURSE:

Science fiction (often abbreviated “sci-fi” or SF) is a genre of storytelling that uses imaginative, speculative concepts rooted in science and technology. The course offers a comprehensive exploration of Science Fiction as a literary and cinematic genre that investigates the impact of actual or imagined science on individuals and society. It traces the early origins of SF and examines its defining traits through a wide range of forms including novels, short stories, films, plays, and poetry. Students will engage with classic SF themes such as space travel, robotics, aliens, time travel, cyberspace, utopias and dystopias, as well as contemporary concerns involving cybernetics, genetic engineering, gender, ecology, language, and power. The course aims to deepen understanding of the relationship between science and society, highlight the individual's role in technological development, and encourage critical analysis of how SF fuses fact with fiction to explore alternate realities.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: UG and PG Students

PREREQUISITES: Should be familiar with language and literature
Summary
Course Status : Upcoming
Course Type : Core
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit Points : 3
Level : Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date : 19 Jan 2026
End Date : 17 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends : 26 Jan 2026
Exam Registration Ends : 13 Feb 2026
Exam Date : 24 Apr 2026 IST
NCrF Level   : 4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

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Course layout

Week 1: Introduction to Science Fiction
  1. Introduction to the genre
  2. Origin, growth and early stages 
  3. Definitions and Discourses on SF
  4. The Copernican Revolution (Essay - Adam Roberts)
Week 2: Precursors to SF and Proto-Science Fiction
  1. The Gothic Origins of Science Fiction (Essay – Patrick Brantlinger)
  2. Science Fiction (Essay - Raymond Williams)
  3. Frankenstein (Novel - Mary Shelley)
  4. Moxon’s Master (Short Story - Ambrose Bierce)
Week 3: Science Fiction and Cultural History
  1. Introduction: A History of Social Science Fiction (Essay - Neil Gerlach, and Sheryl N. Hamilton)
  2. Science Fiction and Cultural History (Essay – Roger Luckhurst)
  3. The Flowering (Short Story- Soyeon Jeong)
  4. 2 B R 0 2 B (Short Story- Kurt Vonnegut)
Week 4: Visual Poetics and Science fiction
  1. Cinematic Fantasies of Becoming - Cyborg (Essay - Anneke Smelik)
  2. La Jeete (Featurette - Chris Marker)
  3. 2001 A Space Odyssey, Solaris, Interstellar (Feature Films)
  4. Mason’s Rats – Vol. 3 from Love, Death & Robots (Animated Series)
Week 5: Race and the SF Imagination
  1. The Convergence of Postmodern Innovative Fiction and Science Fiction: An Encounter with Samuel R. Delany’s Technotopia (Essay - Teresa L Ebert)
  2. Racism and Science Fiction (Essay - Samuel Delany)
  3. Gattaca (Feature Film - Andrew Niccol) Bloodchild (short story - Octavia Butler)
  4. Come Home to Atropos (Short Story - Steven Barnes)
Week 6: Gender Identity and Science Fiction
  1. Gender in Science Fiction (Essay - Helen Merrick)
  2. The Matter of Seggri (Short Fiction- Ursula K. Le Guin)
  3. All You Zombies (R.A. Heinlein) (Short Stories)
  4. Sophia the Robot Contemplates Beauty (Poem- Safiya Sinclair)
Week 7: Post-Colonial Perspectives
  1. Colonizing the Universe: Science Fictions Then, Now, and in the (Imagined) Future (Essay – Greg Grewell)
  2. District 9 (Feature Film)
  3. Harvest (Play - Manjula Padmanabhan)
  4. The Calcutta Chromosome (Novel - Amitav Ghosh)
Week 8: Cultural Criticism and Speculative Worlds
  1. The Critical Reception of Speculative Fiction (Essay - M. Keith Booker)
  2. Science Fiction as Mythology (Essay-Thomas C. Sutton and Marilyn Sutton)
  3. Sita’s Descent (short story-Indraparmit Das)
  4. Black Panther (Feature Film)
  5. Fahrenheit 451 (Novel) and If Only We Had Taller Been (Poem) (Ray Bradbury)
  6. A Martian Sends a Postcard Home (Poem - Craig Raine)
Week 9: Science Fiction and Post Humanism
  1. Dystopia, Science Fiction, Posthumanism, and Liquid Modernity (Essay – Lars Schmeink)
  2. Akira (Manga – Katsuhiro Otomo)
  3. Big Hero 6 (Animated Film)
  4. Klara and the Sun (Novel - Kazuo Ishiguro)
Week 10: Science Fiction and Post Humanism (Continued)
  1. Cyborg Manifesto (Essay - Donna Haraway)
  2. Bodies That Matter: Science Fiction, Technoculture, and the Gendered Body (Essay - Kaye Mitchell)
  3. Her (Feature Film)
  4. Poem Rocket (Allen Ginsberg), Robot Baby (Jane Yolen) (Poems)
Week 11: Science Fiction and Digital Human
  1. From Science Fiction to Reality: How Digital Humans are Forging New Realities (Essay - Kuk Jiang)
  2. Nosedive and Bandersnatch – from Black Mirror (Series)
  3. The Matrix (Feature Film - Wachowskis)
  4.  Augment – from The Digital Human (Podcast)
Week 12: Science Fiction and Ethics
  1. Post-Capitalist Futures: A Report on Imagination (Essay - Nick Lawrence)
  2. Avatar (Feature Film) 
  3. A Different Sea (Short Story Vandana Singh)
  4. Oryx and Crake (Novel – Margaret Atwood)

Books and references

  • Aldiss, Brian – Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction
  • Brantlinger, Patrick – “The Gothic Origins of Science Fiction” (NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction)
  • Csicsery-Ronay Jr., Istvan – “Science Fiction and Empire” (Science Fiction Studies)
  • Ebert, Teresa L. – “The Convergence of Postmodern Fiction and Science Fiction” (Poetics Today)
  • Gerlach, Neil & Hamilton, Sheryl N. – “A History of Social Science Fiction” (Science Fiction Studies, vol.30)
  • James, Edward & Mendlesohn, Farah (eds.) – The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction
  • Luckhurst, Roger – Science Fiction
  • Moylan, Tom – Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia
  • Roberts, Adam – The History of Science Fiction
  • Schmeink, Lars – Biopunk Dystopias: Genetic Engineering, Society and Science Fiction
  • Sobchack, Vivian – Screening Space: The American Science Fiction Film
  • Suvin, Darko – Metamorphoses of Science Fiction
  • Williams, Raymond – Culture and Materialism (Essay: Science Fiction)

Instructor bio

Prof. Gigy J Alex

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology
Dr. Gigy J Alex is an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) Thiruvananthapuram, specializing within the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her academic research primarily focuses on the interdisciplinary fields of Food and Cultural Studies, alongside an astute interest in Science Fiction. She is currently working on “Cultural Mapping of Tribal Cuisines of Kerala”, an IIST funded project.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: April 24, 2026 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Madras .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team
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