Ecology, Technology and Anime | Duskin Drum

In this course, we view selected Japanese anime and manga to examine contemporary issues in ecology and technology. In a world of global climate change, genetic engineering, industrial materials, cyborgs, robots, and other sentient non-humans, Japanese anime and manga offer intriguing, creepy, and enjoyable ways to introduce and examine pertinent issues in ecological critique, and science and technology studies. Along with watching selected anime films and shows, we will read texts from ecological critique and science and technology studies.

The class explores issues and themes like global warming, extinction, bioethics, anthropomorphism, becoming animal, becoming machine, and other human nonhuman relations — both technological and biological, augmentation and alteration.

Duskin Drum is an interdisciplinary scholar, artist, performer, and woodsman. In 2017, he completed a doctorate in Performance Studies with designated emphases in Native American Studies, and Science and Technology Studies at University of California, Davis. In 2005, he earned a Bachelors of Arts studying interdisciplinary theatre and performance at Evergreen State College. For 15 years, duskin has been making art and performance in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Open online course “Ecology. Technology. Anime”.