Fall 2006

ANS 361 • Science, Technology, and Society in Contemporary Asia-W

Course Description

Historical and critical studies of science amd technology in there relation to social, cultural, and political processes have expanded greatly in recent years within such fields as anthropology, sociology, and history as well as in "disciplinary" science studies. Crucial questions have centered, for example, on the way that technologies and scientific concepts are formed and succeed, the place of interests in scientific practice, the politics of expertise and the issues this poses in political life, and the relation between technology and new forms of subjectivity. This course attempts to bring together recent writing that has considered such topics in South, Southeast, and East Asia-specific concerns will include laboratory physics, nuclear weapons, technical advocacy, and biotechnology. In passing, the course will provide an introduction to different ways of looking at science and address issues of its specific location in Asian contexts.

Grading Policy

10 in-class informal assignments and at-home response papers (a few sentences to one-pg each) 30% 3 papers (5-6 pgs ea-Analytical, conceptual, prescriptive) 45% General class participation/attendance 20% Presentation 5%

Texts

Traweek, Beamtimes and Lifetimes Fortun, Advocacy after Bhopal Abraham, The Making of the Indian Atomic Bomb Tsing, Friction: An Ethnography of Global Communiction Packet of Conceptual Readings

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