This seminar will be taught in English (unless there happen to be German-speaking participants only). It will take up current debates in Science and Technology Studies and the social anthropology of knowledge, science and technology. There will be two main themes: (1) algorithms and (their) politics and (2) Value and valuation. Both themes have attracted a lot of attention in research and the literature recently and we will approach them through a close reading of two recent special issues (Science, Technology and Human Values and HAU Journal for Ethnographic Theory). We will use these special issues to understand the importance of the topics, how we might approach them empirically and analytically and how they speak to broader themes in current anthropology.
The seminar will be old-fashioned in the sense of read & discuss. You will come into contact with current research and learn about two themes that are not only important for anthropology, but that are in constant debate in public discourse. |
