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PHILIP DOUGLAS
Visiting Assistant Professor
Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures
517/432-2568 (office); 517/353-5250 (fax)
courses: WRA 130 Writing: American Radical Thought; WRA 150 Writing: The Evolution of American Thought; WRA 195H Writing: Major Topics in American Thought
Douglas' research interests involve the intersection between rapidly advancing technologies and contemporary culture. He has written about virtual worlds as they appear literally in science fiction, and figuratively in other literary genres. A related concern is the notion of the Singularity, a point in the future of which some theorists contend the impact of technological change upon humanity will be so profound that any attempt to forecast the nature of life in the world in its wake becomes futile. Nevertheless, one figure common to many futurists’ extrapolations beyond the opacity of the Singularity is that of the cyborg. Douglas is interested in representations of the cyborg as the inheritor, and at times victim of human values and culture. He is currently at work on an article that explores the cyborg as outlaw in comparison with the figure of the outlaw in certain works of nineteenth-century fiction.
Douglas has also written extensively on African-American author Richard Wright as well as 20th century American literature more generally. He has published in Modern Fiction Studies and TESOL Quarterly.
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