Technocultures: Anthropology of Science and Technology

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

What is the contribution of anthropology to the social studies of science, technology, and computing? In this course we will respond to this question by examining classic and contemporary debates in science and technology studies. We will start with the foundational debates in meta-science concerning the institutions, paradigms, values, controversies, instruments, and rhetorical strategies that constitute scientific practice. We will proceed to examine the distinctions between various schools of thought in sociology, history, and philosophy of science. With a focus on science-in-the-making, we will explore the main theoretical and methodological frameworks of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and introduce the anthropological contributions to the study of rationality, instrumentality, and knowledge-making. Our main goal is to situate anthropological contributions in theory and method through what anthropologist Michael Fischer (2003) characterized as the “wordling” of sciences and “peopling” of technologies. To situate what makes anthropology of science and technology particularly indispensable in the so-called “post-truth era,” we will cover ethnographic research projects on pressing issues across a wide range of topics, such as scientific collaborations, expertise and lay-expertise, ‘post-truth” skepticism of science, data-intensive science and artificial intelligence. After taking this course, you should be able to plan and execute an independent anthropological project on an emergent topic in science and technology.