Public Preview: The Geography of Star Trek

Join Professor Fiona Davidson for an overview of her Fall 2024 Honors Signature Seminar on The Geography of Star Trek. “Beam me up Scotty” “He’s dead, Jim”. Even if you’ve never seen an episode of Star Trek, the chances are that you’ve encountered one of its signature phrases. In the over fifty years since it first aired, through syndication and the constant creation of new content, the show has become a cultural touchstone not just in the US, but throughout much of the rest of the world. Since 1966, the franchise has gone boldly into the geography of an imaginary frontier, exploring new worlds, contacting new civilizations, and expanding the reach of the United Federation of Planets.

In this preview lecture, we will examine Star Trek as a source of entertainment, but also as a reflection of our contemporary world, a world that was created by the Enlightenment, 19th century British imperialism and the expansion of the American Empire in the 20th century. The geography of the Federation is the geography of planets, solar systems, and fictional political entities; empires, hegemonies, coalitions, republics and alliances, each of which reflects the geopolitics and political units of a world in which the United States was, and continues to be, a dominant power.

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