Shaping Gender-Inclusive Societies Through Technology: Insights from The Left Hand of Darkness

1. Requirements
   • Requirement: Focus on one of the topic areas and its required fiction/essays(https://arlduc.org/senseandscale/?p=6059#topicAreas )
   • (I chose 
   • 1. Gender
        • Literary text: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
        • Data-driven texts: Research related to the UNESCO report on Artificial Intelligence and Gender Equality, including Gender and feminist considerations in artificial intelligence from a developing world perspective (Nature))
   • Requirement: Two or more of the additional assigned reading/watching/listening(https://arlduc.org/senseandscale/?p=6244)
   • Requirement: Use of a critical theory(s) to guide your research (see #4, “Recommended Method,” below)
   • Requirement: Discuss one or more identities protected by NYC Human Rights Law(https://www.nyc.gov/site/cchr/law/the-law.page)
   • Requirement: Discuss one or more disruptive technologies(https://arlduc.org/senseandscale/?p=5089#technology) in the context of the major Industrial Revolutions(The Left hand of darkness).
     • Don’t pick something that doesn’t involve hard science (e.g. the ghost of Beloved; silence between Sonny and his brother). This includes tech in the sci-fi novels we’ll read. Don’t make this harder than it has to be!
     • If you pick something very like “music” or “the city,” focus on a specific technological topic like “a piano” or “a subway car.” Don’t focus on a genre like “jazz.”
     • If you discuss multiple fiction authors (e.g. Morrison and Baldwin), pick a tech category that is present in both eras (e.g. wrought iron, cotton loom, etc.)
   • Requirement: Discuss your positionality -Asian, international student, Male
3. Positionality: building on your background, engineering major & interests 
   • Personal manifesto
   • Icebreaker exercise
   • Related scholarly techniques: Reflexivity (thematic analysis), Subjectivity Statement, Autoethnography
4. Recommended Method: Critical Literary Theory
• Why use the critical literary theoretical approach?
  • Flexible, unstructured, can include other methodologies, doesn’t require additional data collection or structured analysis
• I like the broadness of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature; it draws on fields outside of English lit and American lit. Please use this resource to explore and choose at least one
  • Specific theories
  • Theoretical areas
  • Note that intersectionality is discussed in other Oxford Research Encyclopedias as well.
• For tips on literature (as opposed to literary) review, see Research Competencies on the Project Resources page
• Other methods: Sage Methods Map 
• Qualitative Analysis 

1. Gender Diversity and the Role of Technology

• Description: On Gethen, individuals do not have a fixed gender and can transition between genders during their reproductive cycle. This challenges binary notions of gender. In comparison, modern technologies like AI, medical advancements, and bioengineering open possibilities for more fluid and diverse gender identities.
• Key Points:
• The implications of Gethen’s gender dynamics for modern society.
• How technology can foster or hinder the acceptance of gender diversity.