Universität Wien

080092 VO+UE Culture-History-Habitat: From atom to Anthropocene: on the political techno-science of world-making (2019S)

wissensanthropologische Annäherung an physikalisch-politische Handlungsräume

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 8 - Kunstgeschichte und Europäische Ethnologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Friday 29.03. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 29.03. 11:00 - 12:30 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 05.04. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 12.04. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 03.05. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 03.05. 11:00 - 12:30 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 10.05. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 17.05. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 24.05. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 24.05. 11:00 - 12:30 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 07.06. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 14.06. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 14.06. 11:00 - 12:30 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 21.06. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse
  • Friday 28.06. 09:15 - 10:45 Seminarraum 2 (4.Stock) EE Hanuschgasse

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course explores the relationships between modes of thought, knowledge practices and the modes and means of agentive politics that follow from such practices from the perspective of the anthropology of knowledge. We begin with the suggestion that the beginning of the new geological age proposed as the Anthropocene should be marked by the explosion of the first atomic bomb, Trinity. The invention of nuclear weapons–and the existential danger they pose to the planet–have also effected fundamental changes in the conditions of knowledge production throughout the 20th century. Big science projects, the exploration of space, systems theory, as well as the increasingly densely networked global economic system can all be read as entailments of nuclear fission. Knowledge production is conceived as cultural practice whose presuppositions and entailments will be examined in this course. We will grapple with large and small changes in epistemic and political practices, their relationship to “culture” writ large, their scalability for various projects, as well as the resulting physical changes in the makeup of the planet.

Assessment and permitted materials

Die Lehrveranstaltung ist prüfungsimmanent; kontinuierliche Anwesenheit (2x Fehlen erlaubt). Die Beurteilung findet auf der Grundlage der Mitarbeit, wöchentlicher Leseprotokolle, Gruppenarbeit: Vorbereitung einer Arbeitssitzung, individuelle Arbeit: 15-seitige Hausarbeit statt.

Aktive Mitarbeit (30 Punkte): Eine regelmäßige Teilnahme, das Lesen der jeweiligen Pflichtlektüre bis zur entsprechenden Lehreinheit, sowie die aktive Mitarbeit bei partizipativen Lehrmethoden wird erwartet.
Leseprotokolle (15 Punkte)
Gruppenarbeit (15 Punkte)
Hausarbeit (40 Punkte)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Für den erfolgreichen Abschluss der LV sind zumindest 50 von 100 möglichen Punkten zu erreichen.
Notenskala:
>= 87,5 sehr gut (1)
>= 75 gut (2)
>= 62,5 befriedigend (3)
>= 50 genügend (4)
< 50 nicht genügend (5)

Examination topics

Literatur und Inhalt der Vorlesung.

Reading list

(Auswahl)

Edwards, Paul N. *A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming*. First Edition. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 2010.

Graham, Stephen. “The End of Geography or the Explosion of Place? Conceptualizing Space, Place and Information Technology.” *Progress in Human Geography* 22, no. 2 (April 1, 1998): 165–85. <https://doi.org/10.1191/030913298671334137>.

Haraway, Donna. “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin.” *Environmental Humanities* 6, no. 1 (2015): 159–65. <https://doi.org/10.1215/22011919-3615934>.

Masco, Joseph. “Bad Weather: On Planetary Crisis.” *Social Studies of Science* 40, no. 1 (2010): 7–40. <https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312709341598>.

Rindzevičiūtė, Eglė. *The Power of Systems: How Policy Sciences Opened Up the Cold War World*. Cornell University Press, 2016.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:31