Technopolitics: Infrastructure, Technology, Power NINT 5402/CRN 6982 Spring 2014 Mondays, 6-7:50pm Location: 63 Fifth Ave, #617 Antina von Schnitzler Graduate Program in International Affairs The New School 72 Fifth Avenue, Office 606 Email:
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[email protected] Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3-5pm and by appointment From railroads to communication networks, water pipes and electricity wires, technologies of security and extraction, infrastructures and technologies have been central to mediating modernity. This course explores infrastructure and technology as integral to particular assemblages of power and to the constitution of new political terrains. Rather than neutral means towards more substantive ends, we will approach infrastructures as networked systems that both shape and are shaped by social life and as such, can open up a broader set of questions in relation to power, subjectivity and politics. The course begins by examining the historical relationship between infrastructure, technology and power via studies of colonial infrastructures, Cold War technopolitics and the centrality of infrastructure and technology in projects of development and modernization. We will then explore contemporary questions in relation to infrastructures, such as the technopolitics of oil, technologies of piracy, and infrastructures of security and “preparedness”. Finally, the course will examine infrastructure failure, failure, including both the “ordinary break -downs” of infrastructure in cities of the global south and often dramatic infrastructure failures in the aftermath of disasters or war. Readings will be interdisciplinary, drawing primarily on science and technology studies, anthropology, political theory and geography. Course Requirements and Evaluation: 1) Participation (20%): Active and consistent participation in class is the most important requirement of this class. The class will in large part be discussion-based, so it is essential that you come to class having read all of the material closely and taken notes on it. 2) Online Postings (20%): Each student is asked to post short commentaries and questions for discussion on Canvas by midnight before the relevant class. These can be be questions of clarification, clarification, critical comments or reflections on the arguments raised in the readings. These can in turn form the basis of your participation in class. 3) Introducing discussion (10%): Each week one or two students will introduce the discussion by providing us with discussion points or questions. Presenters should also have read carefully over fellow students’ questions on the class website websi te and bring them into the discussion. Where useful, presenters can also come up with contemporary examples of infrastructures or technologies that may be elucidated via the readings. 4) Final Paper (50%): Over the course of the semester students will work on a final research paper on a topic of their choice. These projects are designed to enable you to 1
connect the material discussed in class to your individual interests. The research question should emerge from the theoretical questions discussed in class. The grade for the project is made up of three assignments: A proposal for the paper that clearly details the argument to be made, the theoretical questions you will address, a description of the sources you will draw on and a list of relevant literature (approximately 2 double-spaced pages, plus bibliography) due Thursday, March 31, 5pm via email. A 10-15 minute presentation of the project in class to be held during the last two sessions (May 5 & May 12). The final paper, approximately 15-20 double-spaced pages long, in hard copy & electronically, due Thursday, May 15, 5pm. Note though that you will have to have a full draft of the paper written by May 5 in order to present it in class.
Late Papers: Deadlines are strict and extensions or incompletes will be granted only in exceptional circumstances. Plagiarism: Any instance of plagiarism will result in a failing grade. Please familiarize yourself with the University policy on plagiarism, available at http://www.newschool.edu/admin/writingcenter/documents/AvoidPlagiarism.pdf Missing classes: Please make sure you come to class prepared and on time. Consistent attendance and active, engaged participation are the most important requirement of this class. Please send me a short email in advance of class if you have to miss a session and make sure you cover the reading for that week. Reading: All texts will be made available on Canvas. COURSE SCHEDULE: (Please note that I may make changes to the syllabus during the semester, so it is best not to print out too far in advance) WEEK 1 (January 27): Introduction and Overview WEEK 2 (February 3): Technopolitics: Conduits, Symbols, Actants Lewis Mumford, “Authoritarian and Democratic Technics,” Technology and Culture Vol. 5, No. 1 (Winter, 1964), 1-8. Langdon Winner (1980) “Do Artifacts have Politics?” Daedalus 109: 121-136. Wiebke Bijker “ Why and how Technology Matters”
Background reading (optional, but highly recommended): W. E. Bijker, T. Hughes and T. J. Pinch (eds). 1987. The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology , Cambridge: MIT Press (esp. Chapters 1-3)
WEEK 3 (February 10): Rethinking Expertise Michel Callon (1987) “Society in the Making: The St udy of Technology as a Tool for Sociological Analysis” in W. E. Bijker, T. Hughes and T. J. Pinch (eds). 1987. The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology , Cambridge: MIT Press.
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Madeleine Akrich “De-scribing Technologies” in Bijker, Wiebe E. and John Law (eds). 1992. Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (pp. 205258) Marianne de Laet and Annemarie Mol. 2000. “The Zimbabwe Bush Pump: Mechanics of a Fluid Technology” in Social Studies of Science 30 (2), pp. 225-263
Recommended: Timothy Mitchell (2002) Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity . Berkeley: University of California Press ( “Introduction”, Ch. 1 “Can The Mosquito Speak ” ) NO CLASS FEB. 17 – President’s Day
WEEK 4 (February 24): Infrastructure, Modernity, Biopolitics Paul N. Edwards “Infrastructure and Modernity: Force, Time, and Social Organisation in the History of Socio- Technical Systems” In: Misa, Thomas, Brey, Philip and Andrew Feenberg (2004) Modernity and Technology (pp. 185-225) Graham and Marvin. 2001 Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructure, technological mobilities & the urban condition . London: Routledge, (pp. 1-89)
Recommended: Michel Foucault (1978) “Right of Death and Power over Life” in History of Sexuality Volume I , (pp. 135-150) Thomas Osborne. 1997. “Security and Vitality: drains, liberalism and power in the nineteenth century” In: Foucault and Political Reason , pp. 99-122
WEEK 5 (March 3): Colonial Genealogies Brian Larkin (2008) Signal and Noise: Media, Infrastructure, and Urban Culture in Nigeria , Chapter 1 Paul Edwards and Gabrielle Hecht (2010) “History and the Technopolitics of Identity: The Case of Apartheid South Africa” in Journal of Southern African Studies 36 (3) Colin McFarlane (2008) “Governing the contaminated city : infrastructure and sanitation in colonial and postcolonial Bombay.’, International journal of urban and regional research., 32 (2). pp. 415-435.
WEEK 6 (March 10): The Technopolitics of Extraction Timothy Mitchell (2011) Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil Economy and Society 38 (3) Gabrielle Hecht (2009) Africa and the Nuclear World: Labor, Occupational Health and the transnational Production of Uranium in Comparative Studies in Society and History Hannah Appel (2012) Walls and white elephants: Oil extraction, responsibility, a nd infrastructural violence in Equatorial Guinea in Ethnography 13 (4)
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WEEK 7 (March 17): Beyond the Social I: Crisis, Liberaliz ation & Splintering Urbanism Graham and Marvin (2001 ) Splintering Urbanism (second half, chapters tba). Jamie Monson (2006) Defending the People s Railway in the Era of Liberalization: Tazara in Southern Tanzania in Africa 76 (1) -- Discussion of Students ’ paper topics in class —
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NO CLASS March 24 – Spring Break
WEEK 8 (March 31): Informal Infrastructures & Everyday Brea k-down Brian Larkin (2008) Signal and Noise: Media, Infrastructure, and Urban Culture in Nigeria , Part II, “Degraded Images, Distorted Sound: Nigerian Video and the Infrastructure of Piracy” “Conclusion” in (optional: Chapter 6). AbdouMaliq Simone. 2005. “People As Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg” in Public Culture 16(3): pp. 407-429 Stephen Graham (2012) “Disrupted Cities: Infrastructure Disruption as the Achilles Heel of Urbanized Societies”
PAPER ABSTRACTS DUE April 3, via email
WEEK 9 (April 7): Beyond the Social II: Humanitarian infrastructures Redfield, Peter. 2012. "Bioexpectations: Life Technologies as Humanitarian Goods." Public Culture 24 (1): 157-184. Julia Elyachar. 2012. “Next Practices: Knowledge, Infrastructure, and Public Goods at the Bottom of the Pyramid” in Public Culture 24 (1), pp.109-126 Jamie Cross (2013) “ The 100th object: Solar lighting technology and humanitarian goods” in Journal of Material Culture 18 (4)
WEEK 10 (April 14): New Modalities of Provisioning Stephen Collier (2011) Post-Soviet Social: Neo-liberalism, Social Modernity, Biopolitics , Princeton: Princeton University Press (selected chapters) Andrew Lakoff (2007) “Preparing for the Next Emergency” in Public Culture 19 (2
WEEK 11 (April 21): “Smart” Infrastructures & Technologies Orit Halpern et al (2013) “ Test-bed Urbanism” in Public Culture Further readings TBA.
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WEEK 12 (April 28): Rethinking Technopolitics Braun and Whatmore (2009) Political Matter: Technoscience, Democracy, And Public Life. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press (selected chapters) Marres, Noortje. 2011. “ The costs of public involvement Everyday devices of carbon accounting and the materialization of participation”. Economy and Society, 40(4), pp. 510-533. Anand, Nikhil 2012 Pressure: The PoliTechnics of Water Supply in Mumbai . Cultural Anthropology 26(4):542-564. Recommended: Cultural Anthropology, Special Online Issue on Infrastructure , December 2012
WEEK 13 (May 5): Student Project Presentations WEEK 14 (May 12): Student Project Presentations
Final Papers Due Thursday, May 15, 5pm, by email and hard copy, my mailbox at 72 Fifth Ave, 6 th Floor.
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