Class schedule & readings

Jan 3 – Introduction

Mini lecture
A brief history of STS studies

Jan 10 – After the ‘Science Wars’

Mini lecture
Beyond realism and constructionism

Readings & discussion
Bruno Latour, 2002, “The Science Wars: A Dialogue,” Common Knowledge 8(1):71-79.
Michael M.J. Fischer, 2006, “Science, Technology and Society,” Theory, Culture & Society 23(2–3): 172-174.
Celia Roberts and Adrian Mackenzie, 2006, “Science,” Theory, Culture & Society 23(2–3): 157-163.
Scott McQuire, 2006, “Technology,” Theory, Culture & Society 23(2–3): 253-265.

Jan 17 – Interpreting technoscience

Mini lecture
Culture and practice

Readings & discussion
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 1, pp. 3-18.
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 2, pp. 21-37.

[Jan 19 - Last day to add or drop courses without penalty]

Jan 24 – Technoscience, history and politics

Mini lecture
The importance of context

Readings & discussion
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 3, pp. 39-53.
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 4, pp. 57-69.

Jan 31 – Technoscience, event and affect

Mini lecture
From representation to performance

Readings & discussion
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 5, pp. 71-87.
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 6, pp. 89-108.

Feb 7 – Technoscience, multiple and partial truths

Mini lecture
The politics of networks

Readings & discussion
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 7, pp. 111-129.
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 8, pp. 131-149.

Assignment due
Paper proposal – 10%

Feb 14 – Producing technoscience

Mini lecture
From interpretation to action

Readings & discussion
Isabelle Stengers, 2000, The Invention of Modern Science, Chapter 9, pp. 151-167.
Nigel Thrift, 2006, “Re-inventing invention: new tendencies in capitalist commodification,” Economy and Society 35(2): 279-306.

Feb 21 – No class

Reading Week

Feb 28 – Technoscience and bodies I

Mini lecture
Cultures and tissues

Readings & discussion
Sharon R. Kaufman and Lynn M. Morgan, 2005, “The Anthropology of the Beginnings and Ends of Life,” Annual Review of Anthropology 34:317–41.
Julie Kent et al., 2006, “Culturing Cells, Reproducing and Regulating the Self,” Body & Society 12(2): 1–23.

Mar 7 – Technoscience and bodies II

Mini lecture
Families of humans and non-humans

Readings & discussion
Irina Aristarkhova, 2005, “Ectogenesis and Mother as Machine,” Body & Society 11(3): 43–59.
Myra J. Hird, 2004, “Chimerism, Mosaicism and the Cultural Construction of Kinship,” Sexualities 7(2):217–232.

Assignment due
Research paper – 30%

[Mar 9 - Last day to withdraw from classes]

Mar 15 – Technoscience and everyday life I

Mini lecture
Domesticating technologies

Readings & discussion
Shelley Nickles, 2002, “‘Preserving Women’: Refrigerator Design as Social Process in the 1930s,” Technology and Culture 43(4):693-727.
Elizabeth Shove, 2003, “Users, Technologies and Expectations of Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience,” Innovation 16(2):193-206.

Mar 22 – Technoscience and everyday life II

Mini lecture
Pervasive computing

Readings & discussion
Nicola Green, 2002, “On the Move: Technology, Mobility, and the Mediation of Social Time and Space,” The Information Society 18:281–292.
Kelly Gates, 2005, “Biometrics and Post-9/11 Technostalgia,” Social Text 23(2): 35-53.

Mar 29 – Poster Session

Assignment due
Poster presentation – 20%

For more detail please refer to the