Browse: Keyword: Social Change

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Culture Tech, Spring 2003

Abstract:: 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.

Disability and Social Change A South African Agenda

Abstract:: This powerful volume represents the broadest engagement with disability issues in South Africa yet. Themes include: theoretical approaches to and representations of disability, governmental and civil society responses to disability, aspects of education as these pertain to the oppression, liberation of disabled people, social security for disabled people, the complex politics permeating service, provision relationships and consideration of disability in relation to human spaces, physical, economic and philosophical. Noteworthy, is the inclusivity of its nearly fifty contributors, many of whom write both as disabled South Africans and as educators, , linguists, psychologists, human rights activists, entrepreneurs, mental health practitioners, academics, and NGO and government officials. Equally stimulating is the range of writing styles, including interviews, a provocatively stark contrasting of voices in a chapter on Psychiatric Disability and Social Change, various well-crafted articles on theoretical issues, and the autobiographical style of many of the contributions. Firmly located within the social model of disability, this collection will resonate powerfully with contemporary thinking and research in the disability field and will set the benchmark for cutting-edge debates in a transforming South Africa.

Abstract:: " This course is intended to introduce graduate students to a set of core writings in the field of urban sociology. Topics include the changing nature of community, social inequality, political power, socio-spatial change, technological change, and the relationship between the built environment and human behavior. We examine the key theoretical paradigms that have constituted the field since its founding, assess how and why they have changed over time, and discuss the implications of these paradigmatic shifts for urban scholarship, social policy and the planning practice."

No Strings Attached

Abstract:: World Civilizations is a survey course that examines historic and cultural events from five time periods in world history. Students learn about early civilizations, classical civilizations focusing on Greece, Rome and China, and interregional contact which lead to exploration and cultural diffusion during the middle ages. From there students investigate the role of revolution and social change and finally culminate their study of world history with a look at the march towards global integration during the 20th and 21st centuries. This is a rich and interactive course offering students opportunities for students to become eye-witnesses of history.

No Strings Attached

Abstract:: World Civilizations is a survey course that examines historic and cultural events from five time periods in world history. Students learn about early civilizations, classical civilizations focusing on Greece, Rome and China, and inter-regional contact which lead to exploration and cultural diffusion during the middle ages. From there students investigate the role of revolution and social change and finally culminate their study of world history with a look at the march towards global integration during the 20th and 21st centuries. This is a rich and interactive course offering students opportunities for students to become eye-witnesses of history.