Courses / Module

This module is an introduction to Science, Technology and Society (STS) with a particular emphasis on anthropological approaches to STS. Science, Technology and Society studies are generally about the political, cultural and value-laden contexts of scientific research and 'innovations' and how those forms of research and intervention affect, in turn, human life. STS draws its influences from the critical social theory of such figures as Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour and Michel Foucault, but in this module key theoretical work will be augmented with ethnographic insights and anthropological concepts. In recent years, for example, anthropologists have reflected on post-colonial technology and science, biopolitics, and on the 'return effects' of science and innovation extending from Western hegemony. The module will also reflect on research ethics, research practices and methodology. The module is structured as a workshop, so that anthropology students and students in cognate disciplines at various stages of their careers will be able to produce work within the module that relates to their respective career stages, locations, and goals. This work, such as an engagement with STS from the position of extant ethnographic projects, forms the basis for module assessment.