Spring 2010

GOV 365L • Asian Technopolitics

Course Description

This course offers an overview of the interaction between scientific and technological systems and political, social, and cultural relations in Asia. Technopolitics refers to the strategic practice of designing or using technology to enact political goals. These practices produce artifacts and systems whose design features matter fundamentally to their success, and to the ways in which they act upon the world. The actions may reflect the intentions of their initiators, but their very materiality means that the power enacted by technopolitical systems may also escape those intentions. This course will explore Asian technopolitics through the following themes: Imperial and Environmental Histories; Technological Visions; Life Changes; Technological Personalities and Scientific Publics; Development and Change. Case studies will be drawn from Japan, China, India, the Koreas, and, Indonesia. No scientific or technological background is necessary.

Grading Policy

Students will be required to complete a 25 page term paper and short writing assignments based on the readings.

Texts

TBD

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