STS 4301 - [Social Studies of Space, Technologies and Borders]

(crosslisted) DSOC 4301, GOVT 4807
(CA-AS)

Fall. Not offered 2015-2016. 4 credits.

C. Leuenberger-Pinch.

In this course we will discuss how society, culture and politics shape technological artifacts and the natural and built environment, such as bridges, roads, and landscapes in diverse cultural contexts. We will examine reasons for the rise in bordering mechanisms - ranging from walls, barriers to fences within cities as well as along national borders, in such countries such as Ireland, Korea, Germany, the US, and Israel. We will compare how such ‘strategies of exclusion’ impact local communities, transnational relations and social connectivity across such divides. We will also examine how the growth of gated communities has reconfigured urban spaces and given rise to new forms of spatial and social segregation.