Postgraduate Course: Foundations of Science, Technology and Development (PGSP11287)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The course seeks to draw on theory and practice from science and technology studies and development studies in understanding the role scientific and technological knowledge and technologies play in shaping development, and vice versa, in less-developed regions of the world. The course will first take a historical perspective to answer questions concerning how western science spread around the world so effectively and how did colonial governments made use of scientific knowledge and technology. Further we will explore how colonised peoples reacted to, and contribute to scientific research and technological development. We will consider the role of science and technology in transitions to independent governance and the 'postcolonial'. Throughout the course we will be asking what the potential is for science and technology to make sustainable contributions to global development today. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| No Classes have been defined for this Course |
| First Class |
First class information not currently available |
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students will:
- Develop an advanced knowledge and understanding of the principal theories, principles and concepts of science and technology studies and development studies;
- Be able to offer their own analyses of the practices of international development using these theories principles and concepts;
- Gain experience in dealing with primary and secondary source materials and learn to critically review and assess these materials;
- Develop the ability to use these materials and methods to critically examine the role of science and technology in development policy and offer their own analyses;
- Be able to demonstrate a critical awareness of current issues in science, technology and international development;
- Develop their skills in essay-writing and oral presentation |
Assessment Information
1 x 4000 word essay. This essay will be produced as a journal article, utilising the full formatting and referencing criteria as set by a leading journal in this field.
Additionally, each student (or a group of students) will be asked to make a short (10 to 15 minute) un-assessed presentation each week based on readings for that week.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Indicative Weekly Themes
1. Introduction: 'the spread of Western science and technology'
2. Innovation and Development: a historical retrospective
3. Science, Technology and Decolonisation
4. Across the great divide? Transitions to Independence and new centres of power
5. Experts and Expertise
6. 'The Zimbabwean Bush Pump': theories of technology and development
7. Science, Technology and Politics in India
8. Energy and Development
9. Tropical Medicines in Development
10. ICTS in the developing world |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
- Adas, M. (1989) Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
- Agrawal, A. (1995) Dismantling the divide between indigenous and scientific knowledge, Development and Change, 26(3), 413-429.
- Anker, P. (2001) Imperial Ecology: Environmental Order in the British Empire, 1895-1945, Cambridge.
- Beinart, W., and J. McGregor, eds. (2003) Social History and African Environments, Oxford: James Currey.
- Drayton, R. (2000) Nature&Šs Government: Science, Imperial Britain, and the 'Improvement' of the World, Yale University Press.
- Dubow, S., ed. (2000) Science and Society in Southern Africa, Manchester.
- Ferguson, J. (1999) Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life in the Zambian Copperbelt, University of California Press, Los Angeles.
- Grove, R. (1995) Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism, Cambridge.
- Headrick, D. (1988) The Tentacles of Progress: Technology Transfer in the Age of Imperialism, Oxford University Press.
- Hodge, J. (2007) Triumph of the Expert: Agrarian Doctrines of Development and the Legacies of British Colonialism, Ohio University Press.
- Kumar, D. (1994) Science and the Raj, 1857-1905 Oxford University Press.
- Leach, M. and Scoones, I. (2006) The Slow Race: Making Technology Work for the Poor, Demos, London
- Livingstone, David N. Putting Science in its Place: Geographies of Scientific Knowledge, (Chicago: 2003)
- Mackenzie, J., ed. (1990) Imperialism and the Natural World, Manchester.
- MacLeod, R. and D. Kumar, eds. (1995) Technology and the Raj: Western Technology and Technical Transfers to India, 1700-1947 Sage.
- Sismondo, S. (2009) An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies, 2nd edition. Blackwell, Oxford.
- Smith, J. (2009) Science, Technology and Development, Zed Books, London.
- Staples, A. (2006) The Birth of Development: How the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Health Organization Changed the World, 1945-1965, Kent State University Press, Kent.
- UNESCO (2010) Engineering: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities for Development, UNESCO Publishing
- UNESCO (2010) UNESCO Science Report 2010: The Current Status of Science around the World, UNECO Publishing
- Yearley, S. (2005) Making Sense of Science: Understanding the Social Study of Science, Sage, London.
- special issues of journals
Social Studies of Science 32:5-6 (2002): 'Postcolonial Technoscience'.
- Isis 96:1 (2005): Focus on 'Colonial Science'.
- Osiris 15 (2000): 'Nature and Empire: Science and the Colonial Enterprise'.
- Osiris 21 (2006): 'Global Power Knowledge: Science and Technology in International Affairs' |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Lawrence Dritsas
Tel: (0131 6)50 4011
Email: L.Dritsas@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Madina Howard
Tel: (0131 6)51 1659
Email: Madina.Howard@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2011 The University of Edinburgh - 16 January 2012 6:37 am
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