Instructor:
Office hours:
Samuel Collins
Mondays, Wednesdays:
Office: Li-318A
2-4 pm
Telephone: x43199
Fridays:
email: scollins@towson.edu
1-3 pm
homepage: www.towson.edu/~scollins
Class Description: Reacting against the Boasian study of myths for “historical
data,” Claude
Levi-Strauss urges anthropologists to look behind myths to what they
might reveal of cultural and
cognitive structures.
The myth is certainly related to given facts, but not a representation
of them. The
relationship is of a dialectical kind, and the institutions described
in the myths can
be the very opposite of the real institutions. This conception
of the relation of
myth to reality no doubt limits the use of the former as a documentary
source. But
it opens the way for other possibilities; for in abandoning the
search for a constantly
accurate reality in the myth, we gain, on occasions, a means
of reading unconscious
realities. (Levi-Strauss 172-173)
The twenty-first century finds the myth-making apparatus producing
a surfeit of narratives
chronicling the emergence of “information society.” Some of these
posit a decisive break with the
past, an “information society” so different than preceding “Fordist”
or “Gutenberg” eras as to
engender entirely new modes of being. Other works locate information
society at the apex (or
aporia) of developments in culture, politics or library science.
In these, information society is only
explicable in light of earlier “epochs”--a “Gutenberg Galaxy” giving
way to more “cool” mediums,
the vertical organization of Fordism giving way to post-Fordist, flexible
networks. But all of
these formulations remain “emergent”: “information society” has proven
notoriously resistant to
empirical description and to argue for a summary break with the past
or a selective genealogy is,
in these works, ultimately a metaphysical question. Nevertheless,
the tremendous outpouring of
commentary suggests that “information”--whatever is status as a bonafide
object of social inquiry-
-is an important site for cultural work. What is at stake here
is, I would suggest, nothing less than
the shape of the future: the possibilities engendered in the new and
the continuities with what has
gone before. “Information society” is all about what we will
or will not be allowed to do or know
and under what circumstances.
Grasping the immensity of this “information society” means moving
outside of the
confines of any one institution or discourse--beyond “information society”
as the sum of
technological advancements, as organizational shifts, as legal frameworks
of intellectual property
and surveillance, as “mediated” modes of being. This is where
anthropology comes in. An
anthropological understanding is predicated on making meaningful connections
between
apparently singular, local instances of social and cultural life without
causally privileging any one
of them.
In the course of this class, students will examine “information
society” in a multiplicity of
sites and contexts using anthropological method and theory, e.g., culture,
power, identity and
political economy. Out of these, students will forge their own
projects, studying one aspect of
“information society” in light of these greater contexts and developing
not only a familiarity with
contemporary issues under that aegis, but also particular, critical
perspectives that problematize
the extent to which we can theorize an “information soicety.”
“Information” doesn’t just exist “out there” to be apprehended
by monadic intellects.
Instead, information--produced in the crucible of governments, universities
and corporations--is
the sum of its varied contexts. In apprehending the putatively
border-less phenomena of
“information society” with localized sites, we perform a critical function,
opening up alternative
possibilities for configurations of power and knowledge in the act
of tracing the limits of
information society.
Learning Goals:
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Understand and explain diverse theories of “information society”:
technological, economic,
political, social and cultural.
2. Understand, debate and assess the concept of “information society”
from an anthropological
perspective.
3. Utilize anthropological method and theory to analyze “information
society” in social and
cultural contexts.
4. Critically reflect on the effects of “information society” changes
on the lives of the student
herself and the people around her.
5. Communicate anthropological critiques of “information society” to
educated groups of non-
anthropologists.
required readings:
Required articles are available online through Cook Library.
The following texts are available in the campus bookstore:
English-Lueck, J.A. 2002. Cultures@Silicon Valley. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Freeman, Carla. 2000. High Tech and High Heels in the Global
Economy. Durham: Duke
University Press.
recommended readings:
Bowker, Geoffrey C. and Susan Leigh Star. 1999. Sorting
Things Out: Classification and Its
Consequences. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Class Assignments:
1). Quizzes: There will be short, 5-6 question quizzes each week over
class readings and
discussions. 5 points each (50 points total).
2). Project Proposal (October 5) Students must write a one-page description
of their proposed
semester projects. Proposals should detail both a relevant site
of “information society” and the
method(s) for studying it. 25 points.
3). Midterm Examination (October 25) Students will demonstrate their
knowledge of class themes
and readings by answering a battery of true-false, multiple choice
and short-answer questions. 50
points.
4). Oral Report (December 5-14) Students will give an in-class, oral
report of their projects. 50
points.
5). Final Paper (December 14) Students will hand in their final papers
analyzing research over the
course of the semester. Papers should present the research site,
give relevant background and
explore an “anthropological perspective.” Papers should include
all relevant materials, including
notes on participant observation, photographs, gathered “texts” as
well as a detailed bibliography.
100 points.
6). Final Examination (December 22) Our final examination will ask
students to draw parallels
between class readings and their own research in an extended essay.
25 points.
Class Grading:
270-300
A
240-269
B
210-239
C
180-209
D
<180
F
explanation of grading
Following department policy, students will be assigned a letter grade
without a qualifying “+” or
“-”.
A: A superior performance surpassing assigned work in unique and novel
ways and
integrating diverse ideas from a wide range of sources in addition
to those discussed in
class.
B: Excellent work surpassing the expectations of the assignment and
demonstrating initiative
and a willingness to move beyond the basic requirements of the
assigned work.
C: Satisfactory work meeting all basic requirements of the assignment.
D: Work in some way less than satisfactory. Although conforming
to basic requirements in
some way, the completed work is nevertheless not a coherent response
to the
assignment.
F: A profoundly unsatisfactory performance which doesn't meet
the intent of the assignment at any level.
Class Schedule:
Week 1: Class Introduction: The problem of “information society”
(8/28)
Week 2: Theories of Information Society
(9/4) –Technical
–Political Economy
–Psychological
–Teleological
September 2: LABOR DAY
September 6: Change of Schedule Period Ends
Assigned Reading:
Schiller, Dan (2001). “World Communication in Today’s Age
of Capital.”
Emergences 11(1). [EBSCO]
Week 3: Theories of Information Society II: Anthropological Approaches
to Information Society
(9/9-9/11) –Science and Technology Studies
–Borders/hybridity
–multi-sited ethnography
–cyberanthropology
Film: Virtual Friends (2000)
Assigned Reading:
English-Lueck, pp. 1-44
Freeman, pp. 1-20
Week 4: Sites of Information Society: Histories
(9/16-9/18) –Imperialism
–Globalization
–Nationalism
September 18: PROJECT PROPOSALS DUE
Assigned Reading:
Freeman, pp. 21-101
Week 5: Site 2: Information Society and Power
(9/23-9/25) –Identity
–Inequality
Assigned Reading:
English-Lueck, pp. 45-102
Week 6: (con.)
(9/30-10/2) --Institutions/Work
–Military
Film: Wag the Dog (1998)
Assigned Reading:
Freeman, pp. 102-139
Week 7: Sites 3: Information Society and Work
(10/7-10/9) --Organizational change
--Science studies
Assigned Reading:
Freeman, pp. 140-212
OCTOBER 9: MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Week 8: (con.)
(10/14-10/16) --Post-Fordism/ Flexible Labor
--Globalization/ TNCs (Transnational Corporations)
Film: Globalization (2001)
Assigned Reading:
Wright, Melissa (2001). “Feminine Villains, Masculine
Heroes, and the
Reproduction of Ciudad Juarez.” Social Text 19.4: 93-113.
[MUSE]
Week 9: Sites 4: Information Society and Culture
(10/21-10/23) --Mass media and global culture
--Internet/World Wide Web and the Public Sphere
--The ‘Digital Divide’
Assigned Reading:
English-Lueck, pp. 105-133
Week 10: (con.)
(10/28-10/30) --Formations of self and other in information society
--Artificial Life and Artificial Intelligence
Film: 2001 (1968)
Assigned Reading:
English-Lueck, pp. 134-166
Week 11: Sites 5: Information Society and the Future
(11/4-11/6) --Utopias/dystopias
--Emergent orders of power/knowledge
Assigned Reading:
Freeman, pp. 213-252
Week 12: (con.)
(11/11-11/13) --Information Society as ‘Post-’
Film: Metropolis (1926)
Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis (2000)
Assigned Reading:
English-Lueck, pp. 167-182
Week 13: Alternatives to Postmodern Dystopia
(11/18-11/20) --Activism
--Alternative globalizations
Assigned Reading: TBA
Week 14: Directions in Information Society Research
(11/25) Assigned Reading:
11/27-11/30--THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Week 15: Oral Reports
(12/2-12/4)
Week 16: Review
(12/9-12/11) December 11: FINAL PAPERS DUE
12/16: FINAL EXAMINATION, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
notes
1. Although exams and graded work will remain as stated above,
I may have to change different
readings or films on the syllabus throughout the semester. I
will, in any case, try to give you
ample warning of any syllabus changes.
2. Each student is required to sign a contract indicating his/her understanding
of the University’s
rules regarding cheating and plagiarism (Towson University Undergraduate
Catalog, Appendix
F). Neither will be tolerated in my class and will result in
a flunking grade.
3. Students with learning disabilities should register at the Disability
Support Services Office.