Termin

Di 17:30 - 20:30, A/B Woche, 15.10.2024 bis 04.02.2025, Zentrales Hörsaalgebäude / SR 1

Studiengänge

• Transformation Studies Master (1. - 3. Semester) / Prüfungsordnung 2024
• Kultur und Technik Master / Prüfungsordnung 2017
• Environmental and Resource Management Bachelor (3. Semester) / Prüfungsordnung 2005
• fachübergreifend
• World Heritage Studies Master / Prüfungsordnung 2008
• Environmental and Resource Management Bachelor (3. Semester) / Prüfungsordnung 2015

Lehrinhalt

Please see further information in Moodle.  
 
“How to talk about nature?” is closely linked to the question of what “nature” is, how it is construed and in which way we act with, in or against it. It is a question that is ontological and epistemological at the same time, it is about how we imagine nature “to be” and how we conceive of knowledge about nature. The ideas about this entwinement are manifold over time and in space, different cultures have developed different ways of thinking and also practices of how to deal with a culture/nature distinction. Another important conceptual issue is how nature and technology are related, in contemporary debates for instance, "nature" is often identified with "environment" and as such inescapably entangled with its cultural, political, and technological context. Is the use of technology in “nature” then a threat or an opportunity to build a genuinely sustainable world? 
This course seeks to answer these and other questions, by approaching “nature” with variously grounded historical and contemporary theoretical approaches. For example, the concept of “nature” was differently interpreted in ancient times, compared to modern contemporary cultures. We will probe the different usage, the scope of historical and cross-cultural depth, the semantics, the images/imaginaries, and finally, the logical coherence of “nature” concepts. This variety of topics means that the assigned readings will draw from a wide range of sources. With respect to handle current ecological and technocultural problems, a conscious reflection about “nature” seems to be required. Thus, the course should be also seen, in part, as a way to gain insight into contemporary reading, writing, and visual practices about “nature”.
 
At the beginning of the module an educational field trip will be announced. 
 
Goals 
After passing the course, students should:
·       interrogate the concept of “nature” and to expose its numerous ideological and cultural    manifestations.
·       understand main philosophical theories of “nature” and their cross-cultural and political dimensions.
·       identify the main ethical dimensions of “nature” in relation to ecological/environmental justice. 
·       apply philosophical positions to historical, contemporary, and new emerging issues about “nature”. 
·       gain insight into reading, writing, and visual practices about “nature” and understand the power of narratives and storytelling to shape our environmental present and future.

Requirements
•    Article Review 2000-3500 words (35%)
•    Reciprocal Reading or plant/animal journal 1500-2000 words (35%)
•    Oral presentation (or alternative assignment based on answers to two readings) (15%)
•    Short essay “My wilderness” 600-700 words (15%)
  

Weiterführende Informationen

Link zum Moodle-Kurs

Termin

Fr 10:00 - 13:00, A/B Woche, 18.10.2024 bis 07.02.2025, LG 10 Raum 113a

Studiengänge

• fachübergreifend
• Kultur und Technik Master / Prüfungsordnung 2017

Lehrinhalt

Termine werden nach Bedarf vergeben.
Ort: LG 10, R113a.
Im Kolloquium werden Arbeiten vorgestellt und diskutiert, die im Interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekt entstanden sind. Bachelorar- beiten, Masterarbeiten oder Theoriearbeiten können hier ebenfalls zur Diskussion gestellt werden. Die Veranstaltung ist vor allem gedacht für Arbeiten im Bereich Technikphilosophie, STS oder Kulturwissenschaften, die am Fachgebiet Allgemeine Technikwis- senschaft oder in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Fachgebiet entstehen.
Lernziele
Entwicklung von Projekten, Darstellung der eigenen Projektfragen, -methoden und -ergebnisse, insbesondere Diskussion der Problematik interdisziplinärer Zusammenhänge.
Zur Präsentation im Kolloquium melden Sie sich bitte mit Ihrem Thema und Terminwunsch: fg-technikwissenschaft@b-tu.de

Weiterführende Informationen

Link zum Moodle Kurs

Termin

Mi 11:30 - 13:00, A/B Woche, 16.10.2024 bis 05.02.2025, Laborgebäude 4B / B3.16

Studiengänge

• Heritage Conservation and Site Management Master / Prüfungsordnung 2015
• Kultur und Technik Bachelor / Prüfungsordnung 2017
• Kultur und Technik Bachelor / Prüfungsordnung 2008
• Kultur und Technik Master / Prüfungsordnung 2017
• fachübergreifend
• World Heritage Studies Master / Prüfungsordnung 2008

Lehrinhalt

In the last three decades, a lively traffic in theories of material culture has developed. A so-called "material turn" occurred, which crossed various disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, cultural geography, or science and technology studies (STS). Accordingly, the question of what material culture actually is has preoccupied scholars in various fields of research and has given rise to a theoretical perspective known as "new materialism." It promotes a new kind of understanding of matter that invites critical questions about human relations to nature and the environment through technology, and it offers new ways to theorize and question the separation between matter and discourse, or nature and culture. 
 
Course objectives
The course provides an introduction to New Materialism and its basic thesis, critically reflects on its methodological implications, and explores its applications through a variety of practices. A range of object and "New Materialism" theories are discussed in detail, while putting them into practice through individual small-scale projects that focus on different aspects of a larger overarching theme shared by all participants.
 
Requirements
The final grade will be composed of three partial assignments, as follows: 
Project outline (20%) 
Presentation (20%, one day block seminar)
Written contribution (60%)
Attending Half Day Excursion (not graded)
 
The written contribution includes different parts, such as a literature review section, an explanation of the theoretical framework that guided the project, a comment on its selection, a photo documentation or field notes. The written part should not exceed 5000 words (about 10 pages), including cover page, images and reference list.

Weiterführende Informationen

Link zum Moodle Kurs

Termin

Block Woche, 24.02.2025 bis 28.02.2025, Detaillierte Informationen erscheinen in Kürze.

Studiengänge

• World Heritage Studies Master / Prüfungsordnung 2008
• Kultur und Technik Master / Prüfungsordnung 2017
• fachübergreifend
• Environmental and Resource Management Bachelor (3. Semester) / Prüfungsordnung 2015
• Heritage Conservation and Site Management Master / Prüfungsordnung 2015
• Transformation Studies Master (1. - 3. Semester) / Prüfungsordnung 2024

Lehrinhalt

Bitte beachten Sie die Hinweise zu Präsenzveranstaltungen in Moodle. / Please refer to Moodle for information about face-to-face events. 

Sprachen: Deutsch, Englisch

Contemporary society and global governance are significantly shaped by modern projects of disciplining knowledge. The disciplining of knowledge shaped sciences and technologies. However, recent crises have led to significant transformations of the organisation of science, technology and epistemic practices and of the relations between science, politics and the economy. Intersecting with this kind of un/disciplining of knowledge, the imaginary of knowledge as a monolithic object has been questioned increasingly. Concepts and institutional structures have been developed to practice other modes of knowing in transdisciplinary or interdisciplinary projects, and to focus more on scientific practices and experimental settings. All of this results in analysing knowledge in the plural – knowledges. This course traces the transformation of knowledges exemplarily in sustainability studies as well as museum & heritage studies. These fields are analysed to introduce and discuss critical theories and issues of empirical knowledges, un/disciplining and their intersections with science, technology and society.
 
Before the semester’s first meeting, students have to have read the subsequent four prerequisite texts (available on Moodle) and formulate two questions or theses on this literature for a discussion in the first meeting of the semester.



Gibbons, M. (1999). Science's new social contract with society. Nature, 402(6761), C81-C84.
Mittelstrass, J. (2018). The order of knowledge: From disciplinarity to transdisciplinarity and back. European Review, 26(S2), S68-S75.
Turner, S. (2017). Knowledge formations: An analytic framework. Chap. 2 in The Oxford handbook of interdisciplinarity, edited by Frodeman, R., et al., 9–20. Oxford: Oxford University Press.



Prüfungsleistung: MCA
• Presentation – 20%
• Scientific article , draft  (max. 2250 words + references) – 25%
• Revised article (max. 4000 words + references) – 55%

Ziele
By the end of the module students should be able to develop a research question within the academic field of Science and Technology Studies and create and present a research design, as well as identify and make use of appropriate sources of empirical material for their analysis, furthermore to identify, select and compare appropriate concepts and methods, applying these on an interdisciplinary research field, and analyse changes in fields of science and technology with respect to knowledge forms.

Weiterführende Informationen

Link zum Moodle-Kurs