Professor: Angela Rovak
1 credit
In this course, we will read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale as the inaugural text of the Red Cloak Book Club, a multi-course experience that focuses on the fiction of reproductive justice. Atwood’s canonical text not only inspired the name for this series of courses but has taken center stage in the cultural imagination when it comes to issues of reproductive control and reproductive freedom. By focusing exclusively on the novel for five weeks, we will ask ourselves: why this text? Does the novel have more to offer than the media adaptations or references in our society?
We will also practice the skill of slow reading and mimic the pace of “reading for pleasure” while learning to critically engage the text in conversation with fellow readers.
All you’ll need is a copy of the novel and a notebook to use as a private reading journal.
This course will run from weeks 1 -5 of Winter 2027. If you would like to participate in the second installment of the Red Cloak Book Club, consider enrolling in CRN 26417 where we will turn to Octavia Butler’s Dawn as an alternative imagining of similar reproductive justice topics during weeks 6-10. You do not need to enroll in both courses to participate in either of the courses.
Graduation Requirement: This 1 credit, P/N course counts toward fulfillment of the CHC Electives requirement.