Culture, Embodiment, and the Senses will provide an historical and cross-cultural analysis of the politics of sensory experience. The subject will address western philosophical debates about mind, brain, emotion, and the body and the historical value placed upon sight, reason, and rationality, versus smell, taste, and touch as acceptable modes of knowing and knowledge production. We will assess cultural traditions that challenge scientific interpretations of experience arising from western philosophical and physiological models. The class will examine how sensory experience lies beyond the realm of individual physiological or psychological responses and occurs within a culturally elaborated field of social relations. Finally, we will debate how discourse about the senses is a product of particular modes of knowledge production that are themselves contested fields of power relations.

This class is divided into a series of sections or “modules”, each of which concentrates on a particular large technology-related topic in a cultural context. The class will start with a four-week module on Samurai Swords and Blacksmithing, followed by smaller units on Chinese Cooking, the Invention of Clocks, and Andean Weaving, and end with a four-week module on Automobiles and Engines. In addition, there will be a series of hands-on projects that tie theory and practice together. The class discussions range across anthropology, history, and individual development, emphasizing recurring themes, such as the interaction between technology and culture and the relation between “skill” knowledge and “craft” knowledge.

Culture Tech evolved from a more extensive, two-semester course which formed the centerpiece of the Integrated Studies Program at MIT.  For 13 years, ISP was an alternative first-year program combining humanities, physics, learning-by-doing, and weekly luncheons.  Culture Tech represents the core principles of ISP distilled into a 6-unit seminar. Although many collections of topics have been used over the years, the modules presented here are a representative sequence.

This course examines computers anthropologically, as artifacts revealing the social orders and cultural practices that create them. Students read classic texts in computer science along with cultural analyses of computing history and contemporary configurations. It explores the history of automata, automation and capitalist manufacturing; cybernetics and WWII operations research; artificial intelligence and gendered subjectivity; robots, cyborgs, and artificial life; creation and commoditization of the personal computer; the growth of the Internet as a military, academic, and commercial project; hackers and gamers; technobodies and virtual sociality. Emphasis is placed on how ideas about gender and other social differences shape labor practices, models of cognition, hacking culture, and social media.

This course is an introductory exploration of documentary film theory and production, focusing on documentaries about science, engineering, and related fields. Students engage in digital video production as well as social and media analysis of science documentaries. Readings are drawn from social studies of science as well as from documentary film theory. The courses uses documentary video making as a tool to explore the worlds of science and engineering, as well as a tool for thinking analytically about media itself and the social worlds in which science is embedded. The course includes a hands-on lab component devoted to digital video production, in addition to classroom lectures and in-class film screenings.

Short Description:
Innocent trends may foreshadow a grimmer future. You may wonder why the title refers to pleasures. If you have read Huxley's Brave New World, you may understand how pleasures can be motors of control and manipulation, which makes them dangerous.

Long Description:
Canceling” and calling out appear as the struggle against the opposite world views. I invite you to look at this cultural phenomenon from an economic perspective that outlines the social stakes of its practice. This book will encourage you to consider the unintended consequences of cancel culture and question its reliability as a tool of activism.

Word Count: 24104

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Short Description:
Ce dictionnaire a été d’abord pensé pour répondre aux besoins de formation des équipes internationales du projet Yanayi[1], qui vise la co-création d’une base internationale de données ouvertes qualitatives sur les changements climatiques tels que vécus, observés, analysés et combattus par des aînés et des aînées d’Afrique francophone subsaharienne et d’Haïti et racontés à des étudiants et étudiantes affilié-e-s à 10 boutiques des sciences et des savoirs.Cet ambitieux et énorme projet ne pourra avancer que s’il repose sur la collaboration de nombreux participants et nombreuses participantes.Il est possible de : se proposer pour rédiger une entrée qui est encore disponible, c’est-à-dire qui apparaît dans la table des matières du Dictionnaire; proposer une entrée qui est absente du dictionnaire, avec ou sans texte; proposer ses services pour traduire des entrées dans des langues africaines; réviser et compléter une entrée; réviser les références bibliographiques et la qualité linguistique des entrées.L’adresse mail de contact est reseauliraj@gmail.com. Merci d’y envoyer toutes vos questions ou propositions.

Long Description:
Ce dictionnaire a été d’abord pensé pour répondre aux besoins de formation des équipes internationales du projet Yanayi[1], qui vise la co-création d’une base internationale de données ouvertes qualitatives sur les changements climatiques tels que vécus, observés, analysés et combattus par des aînés et des aînées d’Afrique francophone subsaharienne et d’Haïti et racontés à des étudiants et étudiantes affilié-e-s à 10 boutiques des sciences et des savoirs.

Cet ambitieux et énorme projet ne pourra avancer que s’il repose sur la collaboration de nombreux participants et nombreuses participantes.

Il est possible de : se proposer pour rédiger une entrée qui est encore disponible, c’est-à-dire qui apparaît dans la table des matières du Dictionnaire; proposer une entrée qui est absente du dictionnaire, avec ou sans texte; proposer ses services pour traduire des entrées dans des langues africaines; réviser et compléter une entrée; réviser les références bibliographiques et la qualité linguistique des entrées. L’adresse mail de contact est reseauliraj@gmail.com. Merci d’y envoyer toutes vos questions ou propositions.

Word Count: 2493

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This book is intended for use in a variety of introductory archaeology settings, such as in lectures and lab courses. This text can complement an existing traditional text or completely replace a standard text. It can be used for its activities or as a study resource. When we wrote this text, we designed the chapters to be brief, providing concise and to-the-point information. This book is not intended to replace lectures or direct instruction from an instructor; rather, it supports learning in a variety of settings and formats. The book can be printed in whole, read digitally, or used piecemeal in either format. However you use this text, we hope that you find it serves as an instructive learning tool and that you dig archaeology as much as we do!

Digital Anthropology is a Spring 2003 applied social science and media arts seminar, surveying the blossoming arena of digital-artifact enabled experimental sociology/anthropology. We will emphasize on both (a) Technology Testbeds – systematically deploying research lab prototypes and corporate pre-production products in a sample human organizational population and carefully observing the social consequences, and (b) Sociometrics – using digital artifacts to better observe and measure the complex social reality of interesting human systems.

This class introduces studies in the algorithmic manipulation of type as word, symbol, and form. Problems covered will include semantic filtering, inherently unstable letterforms, and spoken letters. The history and traditions of typography, and their entry into the digital age, will be studied. Weekly assignments using Java® will explore new ways of looking at and manipulating type.

This course is an introduction to the cross-cultural study of biomedical ethics, examining moral foundations of the science and practice of Western biomedicine through case studies of abortion, contraception, cloning, organ transplantation and other issues. It evaluates challenges that new medical technologies pose to the practice and availability of medical services around the globe, and to cross-cultural ideas of kinship and personhood. Also discussed are critiques of the biomedical tradition from anthropological, feminist, legal, religious, and cross-cultural theorists.

Word Count: 147871

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This course examines how medicine is practiced cross-culturally, with particular emphasis on Western biomedicine. Students analyze medical practice as a cultural system, focusing on the human, as opposed to the biological, side of things. Also considered is how people in different cultures think of disease, health, body, and mind.

Diversity and Multiculturalism

Short Description:
In this course in addition to culture, we will learn about norms, values, systems of beliefs, social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, race and ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation and gender, technology and culture, cultural universalism and relativism and how these affect our shared or distinct day to day cultural practices and social interaction in our various communities. Students will share their day-to-day social interactions, travels, and cross - cultural experiences in and around New York City.

Long Description:
The fundamental knowledge of understanding culture and teaching from diverse backgrounds. Examination of the nature and function of culture, development of individual and group cultural identity, definitions and implications of diversity, and the influences of culture on learning, development, and pedagogy. This course has a required field experience component – an ethnographic survey of diverse cultures and groups in New York City.

At the end of this course, students will work on an assignment on eliminating biases, prejudice, racism, discrimination on gender, sexual, cultural, religious, disabilities, and aging. They will provide recommendations, suggestions and solutions on how to promote diversity, inclusion, equity, cross-cultural understanding and include anti – racist activities in schools and in our communities. The assignment will be based on student experiences or observations as a minority or majority living in the US. In addition, students will provide critical thinking analysis on case study scenarios on issues in cultural diversity and multi -culturalism as they relate to the individual and society.

This course has been designated as an OER / COIL / ZTC . The instructor will provide the learning materials and will collaborate with a faculty at the Institute for Cultural Studies at the Obafemi Awolowo University [OAU], Nigeria in providing additional learning resources on “living in complex societies”. A list of recommended texts have been provided for students wishing to obtain them for their personal libraries and research.

Please see the Note/Disclaimer page for book content info.

Word Count: 140711

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Études culturelles africaines

Short Description:
Comment lire et comprendre les pratiques culturelles africaines? Comment mobiliser les savoirs sur l’Afrique, ses arts et ses cultures sans verser dans la réification ou le folklorisme? Profondément novateur, cet ouvrage collectif mobilise les outils théoriques des cultural studies pour proposer un généreux panorama de l’étude de la culture en Afrique. Il rassemble des textes d’auteurs et d’autrices d’Afrique de l'Ouest, théoriques ou descriptifs, qui mettent en lumière la réévaluation passionnante des modes d’appréhension des pratiques et objets en contexte africain que proposent les études culturelles africaines. L’épilogue qui clôt le livre n’est donc point fermeture, mais plutôt ouverture sur les enjeux relatifs à ce nouveau champ d’études, plein de promesses pour rendre compte de l’extraordinaire créativité des cultures africaines.

Long Description:
Comment lire et comprendre les pratiques culturelles africaines? Comment mobiliser les savoirs sur l’Afrique, ses arts et ses cultures sans verser dans la réification ou le folklorisme? Profondément novateur, cet ouvrage collectif mobilise les outils théoriques des cultural studies pour proposer un généreux panorama de l’étude de la culture en Afrique. Il rassemble des textes d’auteurs et d’autrices d’Afrique de l’ouest, théoriques ou descriptifs, qui mettent en lumière la réévaluation passionnante des modes d’appréhension des pratiques et objets en contexte africain que proposent les études culturelles africaines. L’épilogue qui clôt le livre n’est donc point fermeture, mais plutôt ouverture sur les enjeux relatifs à ce nouveau champ d’études, plein de promesses pour rendre compte de l’extraordinaire créativité des cultures africaines.

Word Count: 78460

ISBN: 978-2-924661-82-6

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Short Description:
Today, First Nations peoples living in Yukon, Canada are reviving and practicing their cultural traditions in exciting ways. At the same time, there has been an influx of newcomers to the territory who want to learn more about Yukon's Indigenous peoples and their cultures. With hundreds of references for those wanting to delve deeper into particular topics, ECHO is a handbook that provides the most current research pertaining to Yukon First Nations peoples. Topics include archaeology, ethnology, and lifeways, relationships with newcomers (in the past and currently), the arts, and modern-day land claims. The volume also includes interviews with research collaborators who discuss the importance of community-based research. Castillo, Schreyer, and Southwick's solidly researched handbook serves as an important tool, both for teachers and students, seeking accurate information pertaining to the Indigenous cultures of Yukon.

Long Description:
Recently, Yukon, Canada has experienced huge growth in First Nations cultural revival as well as an influx of newcomers brought on by the growth of the education, industrial and tourism sectors, who are also interested in learning about Yukon First Nations peoples and their cultures. The need for academic teaching materials that can educate adult learners about Indigenous peoples of the Yukon has resulted in the publication of this handbook. ECHO is meant as a teaching tool that provides the most current research pertaining to Yukon First Nations peoples on topics such as archaeology, ethnology and traditional lifeways, and relationships with newcomers (in the past and currently), as well as the arts. With a focus on topics that are relevant to students learning about Yukon Indigenous peoples history and culture, such as collaborative research with anthropologists, the history of the Yukon, and, most importantly, an overview of the modern-day land claims movement. Although generalized material on Yukon First Nations is provided within other publications, these are primarily out-of-date and out-of-print books. Castillo, Schreyer, and Southwick’s solidly researched ECHO: Ethnographic, Cultural, and Historical Overview of Yukon’s First Peoples will serve as an important tool, both for teachers and students, seeking accurate information pertaining to Indigenous cultures of the Yukon.

Word Count: 62227

ISBN: 978-1-988804-32-3

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This subject is an introduction to various forms of culture in East Asia (focusing on China, Japan and Korea), including both traditional and contemporary examples. Critically examines the shared cultural elements that are widely considered to constitute “East Asian culture,” and also the diversity within East Asia, historically and today. Examples include religious and philosophical beliefs (Confucianism and Buddhism), literature, art, food, architecture, and popular culture. The study of gender will be an integral part of this subject. The influence and presence of Asian cultural expressions in the U.S. are also considered.
This class is suitable for students of all levels, and requires no Asian language background. Students who wish to fulfill the MISTI-Singapore requirement may do the final project on Singapore. Taught in English.
The course includes field trips to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Peabody Essex Museum.

This course will explore the relation of women and men in both pre-industrial and modern societies to the changing map of public and private (household) work spaces, examining how that map affected their opportunities for both productive activity and the consumption of goods and leisure. The reproductive strategies of women, either in conjunction with or in opposition to their families, will be the third major theme of the course. We will consider how a place and an ideal of the “domestic” arose in the early modern west, to what extent it was effective in limiting the economic position of women, and how it has been challenged, and with what success, in the post-industrial period. Finally, we will consider some of the policy implications for contemporary societies as they respond to changes in the composition of the paid work force, as well as to radical changes in their national demographic profiles. Although most of the material for the course will focus on western Europe since the Middle Ages and on the United States, we will also consider how these issues have played themselves out in non-western cultures.

This course is designed to help students understand the aspects of linguistic principles and processes that underlie oral and written language proficiency, and how this knowledge is relevant K-12 instruction. Emphasis is on a thorough, research-based understanding of phonology, morphology, orthography, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. Students learn ways to use this information to support literacy and oral language development for elementary and secondary school students. Issues of linguistic diversity and second language learning are addressed.

This course surveys the social, cultural, and political development of western Europe between 500 and 1350. A number of topics are incorporated into the broad chronological sweep of the course, including: the Germanic conquest of the ancient Mediterranean world; the rise of a distinct northern culture and the Carolingian Renaissance; the emergence of feudalism and the breakdown of political order; contact with the Byzantine and Islamic East and the Crusading movement; the quality of religious life; the vitality of the high medieval economy and culture; and the catastrophes of the fourteenth century.

This class explores the interrelationship between humans and natural environments. It does so by focusing on conflict over access to and use of the environment as well as ideas about “nature” in various parts of the world.