240521 SE The Fetish of Technology (P4) (2019S)
Continuous assessment of course work
Labels
Participation at first session is obligatory!
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).
- Registration is open from Fr 01.02.2019 00:01 to Tu 26.02.2019 23:59
- Deregistration possible until Mo 18.03.2019 23:59
Details
max. 25 participants
Language: English
Lecturers
Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N
Friday
08.03.
09:45 - 13:00
Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
22.03.
09:45 - 13:00
Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
05.04.
09:45 - 13:00
Seminarraum A, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
03.05.
09:45 - 13:00
Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
17.05.
09:45 - 13:00
Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
31.05.
09:45 - 13:00
Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
14.06.
09:45 - 13:00
Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Friday
21.06.
09:45 - 13:00
Seminarraum D, NIG 4. Stock
Information
Aims, contents and method of the course
Lehrziel:The fetish of technology signalizes those aspects of our artificial environments that are not mere "technical" achievements, but also symbolic, economic and political materializations of how social relations of power are configured (and often obscured) in specific contexts. In this course students will learn to use the conceptual tool of the "fetish" to observe how symbolic and material aspects of technology are articulated in a way that provides "technical" legitimations of social inequality.Lehrinhalt und Methode:This seminar will approach central debates around "technology" as a part of human material culture that is particularly vulnerable to fetishization, that is: subject to the disguising of the relations of power existing behind "the thing". Texts, videos and empirical examples will be brought to the fore and analyzed, so that students see how can anthropology compare the accounts of technology that characterize natural and technical sciences, politics, economics and public opinion. "Western" and "non-Western" versions of "technology" and "fetishes" will be likewise contrasted, with the final goal of providing a cross-ethnographic perspective of how the material, the technical and the symbolic dimensions of technology interpenetrate each other in different contexts with different consequences for the constitution of social orderings.
Assessment and permitted materials
Participation, presentation, final essay
Minimum requirements and assessment criteria
Participation in the course + text presentation (mandatory): 30 %Final essay (4-8 pages): 70%
Examination topics
Presentation, written paper, engagement in discussions and work in small groups
Reading list
Literatur:**Mandatory literature and videos will be specified the first day of class.GELL, Alfred (1988) Technology and Magic. Anthropology Today 4(2): 6-9
HARVEY, D. (2003). ‘The fetish of technology: causes and consequences’. Macalester
International 13(7):330
HEIDEGGER, Martin. (1978) The Question Concerning Technology. Basic writing.
From Being and Time (1927) to the task of thinking (1964) Farrel, D. (ed.). Pp. 283-
318. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
HORNBORG, Alf (1992) Machine Fetishism, Value and the Image of Unlimited
Good: Towards a Thermodynamics of Imperialism. Royal Anthropological Institute
of Great Britain and Ireland 27(1): 1-18.
INGOLD, Tim (2000) The perception of the environment. Essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill. London: Routledge.
LATOUR, Bruno. & LEMONNIER, Pierre (1994) De la prehistoire aux missiles aux.
L’intelligence sociale des techniques. Paris: La Découverte.
MUMFORD, Lewis (1972) Technics and the Nature of Man. Philosophy & Technology: Readings on the Philosophical Problems of Technology. Mitcham, C. & Mackey, R, (eds.). Pp.77-85. New York: The Free Press.
PFAFFENBERGER, Bryan (1992) Social Anthropology of Technology. Annual Review
of Anthropology 21: 491-516.
(1988) Fetished objects and humanised nature: towards an anthropology of
technology. Royal anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Source Man, New
Series 3 (2): 236-252
HARVEY, D. (2003). ‘The fetish of technology: causes and consequences’. Macalester
International 13(7):330
HEIDEGGER, Martin. (1978) The Question Concerning Technology. Basic writing.
From Being and Time (1927) to the task of thinking (1964) Farrel, D. (ed.). Pp. 283-
318. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
HORNBORG, Alf (1992) Machine Fetishism, Value and the Image of Unlimited
Good: Towards a Thermodynamics of Imperialism. Royal Anthropological Institute
of Great Britain and Ireland 27(1): 1-18.
INGOLD, Tim (2000) The perception of the environment. Essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill. London: Routledge.
LATOUR, Bruno. & LEMONNIER, Pierre (1994) De la prehistoire aux missiles aux.
L’intelligence sociale des techniques. Paris: La Découverte.
MUMFORD, Lewis (1972) Technics and the Nature of Man. Philosophy & Technology: Readings on the Philosophical Problems of Technology. Mitcham, C. & Mackey, R, (eds.). Pp.77-85. New York: The Free Press.
PFAFFENBERGER, Bryan (1992) Social Anthropology of Technology. Annual Review
of Anthropology 21: 491-516.
(1988) Fetished objects and humanised nature: towards an anthropology of
technology. Royal anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Source Man, New
Series 3 (2): 236-252
Association in the course directory
Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:40