The University of Hartford Humanities Lecture Series for Spring 2024, focusing on the theme “Fiction, Fabulation, Futurity,” continues on Monday, Feb. 19, from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m., in Hillyer Hall 229.
The third talk in the series, “Marriage and Family on the Final Frontier,” will be given by Jim McDonald, Humanities Center Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Physics (A&S). Here, he will explore potentially new forms that marriage and family units may take in the future as humankind colonizes nearby bodies such as Mars and the Moon. Based on teaching Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in a class on science fiction, as well as his class “The Martian Way” (UIST 155) which examines the colonization of Mars from scientific, political and social viewpoints, Prof. McDonald will assess various family arrangements present in popular science fiction and consider them for their effectiveness in a “real life” colonial situation where resources are scarce and the risk of mortality is high.
The Humanities Center Lecture series is developed and led by Rashmi Viswanathan, assistant professor of art history. For more information, contact Nicholas Ealy, director of the Humanities Center (ealy@hartford.edu), visit our website, or follow us on Facebook.