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| Detailed information |
| Original study plan |
Master's programme Physics 2023W |
| Objectives |
Biology, Ethics and Gender (winter term)
The aim of this course is to understand how ideas of gender and gender relations shape questions, metaphors and models of biological theories, and how ethical questions can change directions of research.
Gender in technological processes (summer term)
Was the microwave oven developed for ‘single young men’ or for ‘gainfully employed mothers’? Who were the first computer-progammer and how did computer-programming become a ‘male profession’? Does the Internet provide (equal) space for all genders?
Gender before technology assessment
This course aims at the analysis of gender relations and gender images and their formative power in technology development and use. Students will have the possibility to acquire and broaden their reflexive and analytic competences by discussing selected theoretical and empirical findings, by analyzing specific technological artefacts and by discussing their own professional approaches and possible alternatives of action.
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| Subject |
Biology, Ethics and Gender (winter term)
Gender Studies discovered, that biology has been deeply interwoven with social values and cultural assumptions about the meaning of gender and gender roles in the past and in the present. In the seminar we will discuss the impact of the Life Sciences on gender hierarchies and gender norms and vice versa. We will learn about the relevance of ethical reflections for biological research.
Gender in technological processes (summer term)
In the seminar we will discuss the impact of technologies on gender hierarchies and gender norms. We will learn about the relevance of ethical reflections for technological research. The aim of this course is to understand how questions of gender and gender relations shape technologies as well as metaphors and models of technologies, and how ethical questions can change directions of research.
Gender before technology assessment
The course refers to central debates on queer-feminist technology studies in order to reflect on gender related inscriptions in technical artefacts (for example chain saws), which influence their conception and use. Here not only the materiality of artefacts but also the discursive embeddedness, affective relations, narrations, symbolic representations, perceptions on technical affinity and adoption as well as embodied knowledge are key. The course addresses these aspects by literature work, discussions and case analysis.
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| Criteria for evaluation |
Attendance and participation in discussion; reading of the assigned literature. Credits for presentation and written text analysis of one selected essay. The selection will be presented in the introduction session.
Gender before technology assessment
Attendance and participation in discussion; reading of the assigned literature and presentation of a text; analysis of an artefact (in teams of 2 students); presentation of results (ppt or other means of presentation); written résumé of the analysis (3-4 pages).
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| Methods |
Biology, Ethics and Gender (winter term)
After an introduction to the topic the students read one selected research paper for every session and prepare a presentation of one paper. Each paper will be discussed in depth related to the topic of the course. The transdisciplinary course is meant as introduction to the topic. There are no preconditions to take part, but the willingness to read every week about 25 pages in English.
Gender in technological processes (summer term)
The transdisciplinary course is meant as introduction to the topic. There are no preconditions to take part, but the willingness to read several selected texts of the topics mentioned above.
Gender before technology assessment
In the first course unit an introduction into the field will be provided and discussed; distribution of literature. In the second and third unit the students have to present their conclusions of the literature and work on a set of criteria for the analysis of artefacts. In the closing course unit students share their results with the plenum.
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| Language |
English |
| Study material |
Biology, Ethics and Gender (winter term)
Londa Schiebinger: Nature's Body. Gender in the Making of Modern Science, Boston: Beacon Press 1993.
Donna J. Haraway: Simians, Cyborgs, and Women. The Reinvention of Nature, London: Free Association Books 1991.
Rebecca M. Jordan-Young: Brain Storm. The Faws in the Science of Sex Differences, Cambridge MA: Harvard UP 2010.
Anne Fausto-Sterling: Sexing the Body. Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, New York: Basic Books 2000.
Gender in technological processes (summer term)
Anne Balsamo: Designing Culture. The Technological Imagination at Work, Durham/London:Duke UP 2011.
Waltraud Ernst/Ilona Horwath (eds.): Gender in Science and Technology. Interdisciplinary Approaches, Bielefeld:transcript Verlag 2014.
Isabel Zorn; Susanne Maass; Els Rommes (u.a.) (eds.): Gender Designs IT. Construction and Deconstruction of Information Society Technology, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag 2007.
Ruha Benjamin (ed.): Captivating Technology, Durham/London: Duke UP 2019.
Safiya Umoja Noble: Algorithms of Oppression. How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, NY: New York UP 2018.
Gender before technology assessment
Allhutter, Doris/Hofmann, Roswitha (2014): Affektive Materialitäten in Geschlechter-Technikverhältnissen. Handlungs- und theorie-politische Implikationen einer antikategorialen Geschlechteranalyse. Freiburger Zeitschrift für Geschlechter Studien, 20 (2), 59-78.
Brandes Uta: Designing Gender oder Gendered Design? Zur Geschlechtersprache in der Gestaltung. Forum Holz/Bau. http://www.forum-holzbau.com/pdf/meran10_Brandes.pdf
Brandes, Uta (2002): Die Geschlechtersprache der Produkte. In: Zeitschrift für Frauenforschung und Geschlechterstudien, Heft 4/2002, S. 51-64.
Mraz, Gabriele/Hofmann, Roswitha/Bernhofer, Gabriele (2013): Die Motorsäge als vergeschlechtlichtes Artefakt. Maskulinitäts- und Femininitätskonstruktionen in der privaten Brennholzherstellung. in: Soziale Technik, 2/2013, 17-19.
Ormrod, Susan (1994): ‚Let’s Nuke the Dinner’: Discursive practices of gender in the creation of a new cooking process. In: Cynthia Cockburn/Ruza Fürst-Dilic (Hg.): Bringing Technology Home: Gender and Technology in a Changing Europe. Open University Press, 42-58.
Schmitz, Sigrid (2009): Gender und Diversity treffen Naturwissenschaften und Technik. In: Gender und Diversity: Albtraum oder Traumpaar? VS Verlag, 175-190.
Young, Iris Marion (2005): On Female Body Experience: "Throwing Like a Girl" and Other Essays. Oxford University Press, 27-45.
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| Changing subject? |
No |
| Further information |
The english course is found under 536.020.
For students of all Master programmes at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (TNF).
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