Tinkering in Feminist Technoscience

Catalog description

This course uses the concept of tinkering to explore the innate links between "maker" culture and feminist studies of science. Something more than novice, but less than expert, a tinkerer is one who tests boundaries and innovates through fresh perspective, often working outside of a professional context. Students in this class will learn the theoretical tools of feminist technoscience studies, noting how the topics of scientific research are guided by, and tacitly reinforce, sexist and racist stereotypes and assumptions, and question whether it is possible to change the methods and the ideas that justify scientific knowledge itself. Along the way, students will become tinkerers in a literal sense by completing a collaborative robotics project. Together, we will consider the radical potential of building from scratch in the digital age, the ethical imperative to re-write the world around us, and the philosophical experience of tinkering with knowledge itself. For in feminist critical theory, it is not enough to take things apart: we must also put them back together. No prior experience in building, coding, electronics or feminist theory required.