Courses:

Introduction to the History of Technology >> Content Detail



Syllabus



Syllabus

This page includes a course calendar.



Course Description


How does technology evolve over time? This course addresses this question by concentrating each week on a particular historical subject in the history of technology, and reading one or several important historical works. We shall try to build up a coherent narrative of technology and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries, though not necessarily in chronological order. The goal is to understand how authors have approached the subject of technology, and what questions and new approaches are on the table for the future.

For each class, read and write with the following questions in mind:

  • Who is the historian?
  • What is his/her background (education, training, teachers, schools, etc.)?
  • What other work has the author done?
  • What is the book arguing against?
  • What is the book's thesis/argument?
  • What evidence does the author use to support the argument?
  • What is the relationship between narrative and analysis in the book?
  • What is the significance of the work?


Assignments


Three times during the term, each student will write an in-depth book review, covering the book assigned for that week as well as one additional book. On those weeks when you write a review, present your work, 10-15 minutes, and then ask questions for class discussion. The actual written review should be 1,000 - 1,500 words (3-4 double spaced pages), and should be handed in the week following the presentation (so you can incorporate comments from the discussion).

The book reviews should each focus on one of the following themes: historiography, sources, argument. Each student, then, should write one review on each of these themes during the term (though in any order, and applied to whichever books the student chooses). We will discuss these more early in the term.



Grading Policy


You will be graded on: Attendance, class preparation and participation, organization, clarity and liveliness of presentation and writing. There is no final paper.



Readings


For each class session, a book is assigned as required reading for all students, and several other books are listed for weekly review papers and presentations.

This is a doctoral-level seminar, so it is expected that students will borrow, purchase, or order the materials they need to do their work.



Calendar



LEC #TOPICS
1Introduction: History and the Idea of Technology
2Geography and Systems I: Manufacturing and Distribution
3Geography and Systems II: Landscape and Technology
4Manufacturing
5Human and Machine I: War Machines
6Human and Machine II: Modernist Cybernetics
7Biography
8Modernist Visions
9Human and Machine IV: Gender, Sex and the Body
10Technology and Representation I
11Technology and Representation II: Computing
12In-class Film Viewing: Architecture of Doom
13Wrap-up Discussion

 








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