Fall 2008 Courses

STS COURSES

STS 902
"Current Topics in Science and Technology Studies"
Daniel Kleinman (Rural Sociology)
alternate Thursdays 12:00 – 1:30
8108 Social Science Building

The brown bag series showcases University of Wisconsin faculty and student work in the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies. Strongly recommended for PhD minors in STS; all others welcome.

STS-RELATED COURSES

Anthropology 909:
"Research Methods and Research Design in Cultural Anthropology"
Maria Lepowsky
Wednesdays 2:25 – 5:25
5230 Social Science Building

This seminar focuses on field research and the ethnographic method, the core of social/cultural anthropology. We will analyze the ethnographic research method in terms of its histories in anthropology and the debates it has generated in its home discipline and beyond. We will examine anthropologists in the field and their diverse experiences in settings ranging from remote tropical islands to urban American neighborhoods. We will examine approaches to research design, funding agencies and Institutional Review Boards; adapting methods and approaches to field situations, the ethnographic self in the field, fieldnotes as ethnographic records; life histories, oral histories, archival research and ethnographic method; photography and film in the field; the politics and ethics of ethnography; and ethnographic writing.

Seminar members will draw on discussions and readings over the course of the semester in conducting a field research exercise, designing a dissertation research project, and writing two separate drafts of a research proposal. The first draft of each seminar member’s research proposal will be constructively critiqued in seminar during the last part of the semester.

This course is designed primarily for students in Ph.D. programs who intend to conduct ethnographic fieldwork as part of their dissertation research and who have already passed their qualifying or comprehensive examinations. The course may also be appropriate for second year students in Ph.D. or M.A. programs who intend to do ethnographic fieldwork, and who already have a reasonably clear idea about the shape of their dissertation or master’s thesis research. The seminar satisfies the requirement of a course in anthropological research methods for cultural anthropology graduate students in the Ph.D. program. Graduate students in other Ph.D. or M.A. programs with a strong interest in ethnography are also welcome, with the understanding that they may need to do supplemental reading on specific topics in anthropological theory and disciplinary history.


History of Science 615/Philosophy 523:
"Darwin and Darwinism"
Elliott Sober (Philosophy) and Ron Numbers (History of Science, Medical History & Bioethics)
Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:00 – 2:15

This course will concentrate on the 19th century, pre and post 1859, with substantial
readings from Darwin.


Journalism & Mass Comm/Environmental Studies/LSC 860: Science & Environment Communication
Sharon Dunwoody (Journalism & Mass Communication)
Tuesdays 9:30 – 11:30

This graduate-level readings course is for students seeking professional or research training and who are interested in science and environment communication. It will tackle a set of issues and content areas important to both professional and scholarly worlds and will ask you to evaluate them through the lens of science and environmental communication scholarship and informed commentary. The major goals of the effort are to share with you the latest scholarly literature in this area and, ultimately, to help you become more introspective about the process of enhancing public interaction with science and environmental issues.


Library and Information Studies 201:
"The Information Society"
Greg Downey (Journalism & Mass Communication, Library & Information Studies)

Today, in an environment of web-enhanced workplaces, schools, and shopping malls, we routinely speak of living in an "information society". But what does this term mean and where did it come from? How has information -- in oral, print, broadcast, and now digital/networked forms -- been tied to notions of democracy, capitalism, social justice, and "progress" in American history? And if we really are living in a "postindustrial," "global," and "informational" economy today, what does such a world mean for our understandings of our fragmented selves, our cultural affiliations, and our social responsibilities to each other? Through both in-class and online experiences, this course will guide students in interrogating the information society. As a Comm-B course, students will both experiment with new personal publishing tools like text weblogs and audio podcasts, and hone more traditional skills of academic argument and presentation. (Limit: 200 students.)

Medical History & Bioethics 526:
"Culture and Ethics of Body Modification"
Linda Hogle (Medical History & Bioethics, Anthropology)

Ethical and cultural dimensions of chemical, surgical & biological therapeutics and enhancements to the human body. Explores body-altering technologies within cultural understandings of appearance, function, perception and identity. Topics include: prosthetics design and disability, neural implants and cognitive enhancements, sports enhancements, bioengineered medical devices, transplantation, and life extension technologies among others.


Medical History & Bioethics 559
"Stem Cells, Cloning and Synthetic Biology"
Linda Hogle (Medical History & Bioethics, Anthropology)

This course concerns cultural and ethical issues related to stem cells and related technologies. Topics include: history of the embryo (moral status, representations, legal protections); state, federal & international policies and regulations; cell & tissue donation issues; the public arena (controversies, religious and political debates, cultural concerns, the media), clinical and patient care issues, and popular culture (film, fiction, biographies). Open to all undergraduates (no advanced science required).

NOTE: This course differs from MHB 610 Regenerative Medicine and Society, a graduate course which will be taught in Spring 09. MHB610 is more in-depth regarding research ethics, regulatory issues, international collaborations, clinical trials, and issues of standardization and scale-up among other topics and is appropriate for scientists, engineers, advanced social scientists, and public health and medical students who have research interests in stem cell, tissue engineering and other regenerative medicine techniques.