ENGL 578

Spring 2017

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Seminar Lit &Other Disciplines
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Credit: 4 hours.

May be repeated if topics vary. Prerequisite: One year of graduate study of literature or consent of instructor.

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CRN Type Section Time Day Location Instructor Section Details
60407
Lecture-Discussion
R
1:00PM -2:50PM
T
113 English Building
Littlefield, M
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
01/17/17-05/03/17
Section Title:
Techno-Culture
Section Info:
Topic Section R: Techno-Cultures Radio, telephone, television, computers; brain imaging, pharmaceuticals, artificial hearts; fax machines, refrigerators, automobiles; artificial sweeteners, frozen food, GMOs. If you’re interested in the history of technologies; intersections between technology, science, and culture; and really great stories, then this is the seminar for you. We’ll read in and around some foundational texts from the history of technology, (feminist) science and technology studies, and literature and technology (Kittler, Kuhn, Haraway, Latour, Star, Marx, Wajcman). Then we’ll move on to some excellent case studies and fiction. Our goal is to think critically about the ways that technologies are not only invented and introduced to various publics, but how their production and use becomes ubiquitous and invisible. Topics will partially depend on student interest. All are welcome; previous experience with science and technology studies is NOT required. Possible texts may include, but are not limited to: •Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda (2010) •Drugs for Life: How Pharmaceutical Companies Define Our Health (2012) •Magnetic Appeal: MRI and the Myth of Transparency (2008) •Refrigeration Nation: A History of Ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in America (2016) •The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data (2016) •Feeling Mediated: A History of Media Technology and Emotion in America (2014) •Our Biometric Future: Facial Recognition Technology & the Culture of Surveillance (2011) •The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction (2016) •fiction by Margaret Atwood, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, Kyle Kirkland, Robert Scherrer, China Miéville, George Saunders . . . Students can take one of two paths in this course: 1) Response papers and a final seminar paper (in stages: proposal, bibliography, draft) OR 2) A set of smaller assignments but NO seminar paper; these might include a brief scholarly edition, book review, funding proposal, and/or conference paper
Restriction(s):
Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
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