Postgraduate Course: Gender, Science and Technology (PGSP11217)
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 | This class presents and explores key concepts, theoretical approaches, issues and studies from research in feminist science and technology studies (STS). In broad terms, the class examines how the social phenomena of gender, science and technology are interrelated, and how they shape each other in dynamic and complex ways. Much of the class¿ material deals with the historical and present-day gender-based inequities that exist in science, technology, engineering and medicine. More importantly, the class reveals how these professions are involved in crafting our understanding of men and women, maleness and femaleness, and masculinity and femininity. We also examine how the human-made material world is implicated in the gender social order, helping to perpetuate dominant ideas and expectations of men and women. Last, we consider the role of feminism as a political endeavour in the study and doing of science and technology.
Gender, Science and Technology (GST) can be taken as a standalone class, but it is designed to rely on some basic lessons about science and technology from Semester 1 courses offered by STIS. While it is not necessary to have taken these to complete GST successfully, these courses can prove to be good preparation for the material covered here. Similarly, there is no need for previous training in gender or feminist studies, although some rudimentary understanding may prove useful. Ultimately, the class aims to provide enough material¿in lectures and readings¿to introduce students to key feminist STS research. In summary: this course requires no prior knowledge of gender, science and technology, although previous familiarity with STS and/or gender studies is useful.
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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? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: 16 |
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Class Delivery Information |
This course will be delivered through a 10-week lecture and seminar discussion format. Each three-hour session will involve a one-hour lecture and a 90-minute discussion session, separated by a short recess. The lectures will introduce the material, examine the readings and draw key lessons about that week and its relationship to feminist STS more broadly. The discussion session will involve a short student-led presentation and group exploration of the readings. Discussion is a key element of this class. |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will:
¿ have an understanding of the gender and sex as concepts in social and political studies, as well as they relationship between the two.
¿ have a substantive understanding of the key issues in feminist science and technology studies, the prominent pieces of writing, as well as the most important theoretical framework and arguments in the field.
¿ be aware of how scientific and technological professions and educational disciplines have historically excluded women and the feminine, and how such exclusion continues in implicit (and some explicit) ways in the present day.
¿ understand how science has contributed to our understanding of the sexual binary.
¿ understand how the human-made material world is gendered in a variety of ways.
¿ understand how science and technology are implicated in creating and sustaining the gender social order.
¿ have developed an ability to make use of key theoretical approaches in feminist STS, both in written work and in oral discussion.
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Assessment Information
| tbc |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1 Introduction and beginnings
2 Science and gendered exclusion
3 Science and the sexual binary
4 Feminist epistemologies of science
5 Engineering and masculinity (and engineering masculinities)
6 The gendering of technological things
7 Gender, technology and work
8 Gender and medicine
9 Gender and ICTs
10 Science, technology and feminist praxis
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Pablo Schyfter
Tel: (07880 874828)
Email: p.schyfter@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Jodie Fleming
Tel: (0131 6)51 5066
Email: Jodie.Fleming@ed.ac.uk |
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