STSS 4963 Race and Technology

Spring 2003

Ricketts 212

Monday/Thursday 12:00-1:50

Professor R. Fouché fouche@rpi.edu 276-8507 5602 Sage

Professor L. Winner winner@rpi.edu 276-8498 5709/5707 Sage

Office Hours: Thursday 10-11:50 and by appointment

Course Website:

http://www.rpi.edu/~fouche/raceandtechnologysyllabus.htm

Course Objectives:

There exists in post-civil rights America a common belief that the beliefs that racism is dying and that science and technology will level the playing field, making all Americans equal. This course will consider the depths to which beliefs about race and technology are embedded into almost every interstice of contemporary existence.

The primary focus of this course will be to address the myriad ways in which issues of race—and its unpleasant cousin racism—interact with technological artifacts, practices, and knowledge within American society and culture.

Some of the issues this course will address are:

-How science and technology is deployed and used for racial ends.

-How racial beliefs and ideologies are “built” into science and technology.

-How the interaction of race, science, and technology shapes the built environment.

-How science and technology privilege certain racial communities in America.

Meetings:

We will meet twice a week in seminar. Brief presentations by Profs. Fouche and Winner about themes for the session will begin our exploration of issues from the assigned readings and other materials. Please come prepared to engage in thoughtful, lively discussion. Regular attendance is required and will be a central part of your grade.

Attendance:

Attendance is mandatory. Roll will be taken for each session. After 4 unexcused absences your grade will be lowered an entire letter grade. After 7 absences you will be dropped from the course.

Readings:

The three of the books we will read this term are available for purchase in the Rensselaer Bookstore. All other materials can be found at linked websites or on and off line at the library course reserves.

1) Richard Dyer. White. New York: Routledge, 1997.

2) Thomas Holt. The Problem of Race in the 21^st Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

3) Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001.

Grading:

1) Class participation: 30%

2) 3 three-page-long: 30% (Due: February 6, March 6, and April 7)

3) Final term paper: 40% (Topic Choice: March 17)

(One page progress report: April 10)

(Due: April 30 by 5pm)

Assignments:

1) Reading Synopsis:

For each session one student is responsible for presenting a 1-page synopsis of the assigned readings outlining the thesis (or theses) and major points. You are also required to provide 3-4 thought-provoking questions to encourage class discussion. Discussions should NOT be centered around the professors. To discourage this, the person speaking will chose the next respondent in the class.

When you are chosen for this task you will be required to email both professors your synopsis the evening before class. After the class period in which you present, your synopsis will be posted to the course website.

Criteria for grading this assignment:

a) Your synopsis should clearly articulate that you have clearly understood the main point(s) and complexity of the day’s reading(s).

b) You should be able to explain cogently the ideas presented in the chosen reading(s) to the rest of the class verbally.

c) Your questions should provide a basis from which to begin a discussion among the other students in class. In other words, do not ask factual questions; instead, ask questions that require the class to analyze, even disagree about, the meaning of the reading.

2) Papers:

The three short papers on assigned topics will be used to help you think through issues in the course and hone you analytical skills. We ask you to read carefully and critically, to make compelling arguments, and to compose succinct and engaging pieces of prose. This preparation will be brought to bear on your term paper. The topic for the term paper will focus an aspect of race and technology of particular interest to you. Profs. Fouche and Winner will approve the topic after talking with you about your plans. Term papers should be 12-15 pages, double spaced and should include scholarly references indicating sources your have used.

Additional Information:

A note on class, gender, sexuality, and race: We all come with different cultural experiences, and in a discussion it is imperative that the opinions of others be listened to, understood, and respected. While we expect you to be well informed and thoughtful, there is no such thing as a wrong opinion.

Academic Honesty

Student-teacher relationships are built on trust. For example, students must trust that teachers have made responsible decisions about the structure and content of the courses they teach, and teachers must trust that the assignments which students turn in are theirs. Acts that violate this trust undermine the educational process. The Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities defines various forms of academic dishonesty and procedures for responding to them. In this class, all assignments that are turned in for a grade must represent the student's own work. In cases where help was received, or teamwork was allowed, a notation on the assignment should indicate with whom you collaborated. If you have any questions concerning this policy before submitting an assignment, please ask for clarification.

The following will be considered instances of academic dishonesty: copying a paper from another student; recycling one's own or others' papers from other courses; obtaining part or all of a paper from another source other than your own research without providing quotations and citations; direct quotation from printed, electronic or online sources without providing a citation (including rewording or "patchwork plagiarism"); and the use of specific ideas and interpretations of printed or electronic sources without citation ("theft of ideas"). Any material that you quote should be placed under quotation marks and cited with a footnote or reference immediately following the quoted portion that provides the source. Do not hide plagiarism by quoting material and then adding a vague reference at the end of the text. You may discuss homework assignments with other students, and you may prepare for papers and class with other students, but the writing assignments should be your own work. If you quote any source or even take ideas from that source, the source should be referenced completely. The penality for plagiarism can be an F in the course.

Copying of class notes: You may make a photocopy of written class notes for friends who have been absent from class for their personal use only. Any wider distribution outside the classroom, such as posting on the Internet or via a list to anyone not in this class, is prohibited and will result in an F in the course.

Semester Schedule

January 13—Introduction

1) Discussion of purpose, themes, and required work

2) Introduction of professors and students to each other

3) The lingering presence of race in American politics: the fall of Trent Lott

4) Video: Interview with Senator Trent Lott on the Black Entertainment Network

Related websites:

a) “A Man out of time”:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/847736.asp#BODY

b) Lott Interview Transcript:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/17/lott.bet.transcript/index.html

c) “Some blacks skeptical of Lott's BET apology”:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/17/lott.bet.reax.ap/

d) “BET anchor assesses Lott interview”:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/17/cnna.gordon/

January 16—Technological Progress in African American Experience

1) Anthony Walton. “Technology Versus African-Americans,” The Atlantic Monthly, January 1999.

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99jan/aftech.htm

1830 US Population Map

1) Derrick Bell. “The Space Traders,” in Faces a the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992, pp. 158-194.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Derrick Bell. “Redemption Deferred: Back to the Space Traders,” in Gospel Choir: Psalms of Survival in an Alien Land Called Home. New York: Basic Books, 1996, pp. 17-28.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

January 20—Holiday, Martin Luther King Day

January 23—Martin Luther King’s Contemporary Legacy

1) Martin Luther King, Jr. “The World House,” in Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community. Boston: Beacon Press, 1968, pp. 167-191.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Michael Eric Dyson. “‘If I Have to Go Through This to Give the People a Symbol’: The Burden of Representation,” in I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: The Free Press, pp. 282-306.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

3) Malcolm X. “Not Just an American Problem, but a World Problem,” in Bruce Perry ed., Malcolm X, The Last Speeches. New York: Pathfinder, 1989, pp. 151-181.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

January 27—Inequality by Design

1) Claude Fischer, et. al. “Race, Ethnicity and Intelligence,” in Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 171-203.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Claude Fischer, et. al. “Summary of the Bell Curve,” in Inequality by Design: Cracking the Bell Curve Myth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 217-224.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

3) David K. Shipler. “Mind: Through the Glass, Darkly,” in A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America. New York: Vintage Books, 1997, pp. 276-289.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

January 30—Human Populations and There Differences

Essay 1 topic distributed to class

1) David Theo Goldberg. “The Mask of Race,” in Racist Culture: Philosophy and the Politics of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1993, pp. 61-89.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Jared Diamond. “Race Without Color,” Discover, November 1994, pp. 82-89.

http://208.245.156.153/archive/output.cfm?ID=436

3) Lawrence Blum. “Do Races Exist?” in “I’m Not a Racist, But…” The Moral Quandary of Race. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002, pp. 131-145.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

4) Gina Kirchweger. “The Biology of Skin Color: Black and White, The Evolution of Race was as Simple as the Politics of Race is Complex ,” February 2001.

http://www.discover.com/feb_01/featbiology.html

5) Full article: Nina G. Jablonski and George Chaplin. “The Evolution of Human Skin Coloration,” Journal of Human Evolution, 39, 1, July 2000, pp. 57-106.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6WJS-45F4X4V-13-1&_cdi=6886&_orig=search&_coverDate=07%2F31%2F2000&_sk=999609998&wchp=dGLbVzb-lSztz&_acct=C000035878&_version=1&_userid=659639&md5=c83ccbbf839064404a6c3534fde681ef&ie=f.pdf

February 3—Race and Athletic Ability

1) Jon Entine. “The Environmentalist Case Against Innate Black Superiority in Sports,” in Taboo Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About it. New York: Public Affairs, 2000, pp 272-291.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Jon Entine. “Sports and IQ” in Taboo Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About it. New York: Public Affairs, 2000, pp. 232-245.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

3) Jon Entine. “Winning the Genetic Lottery” Taboo Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About it. New York: Public Affairs, 2000. pp. 246-271.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

February 6—The Future of Race I

Essay 1 is due in class

1) Thomas Holt. The Problem of Race in the 21^st Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000, pp. 1-57.

February 10—The Future of Race II

1) Thomas Holt. The Problem of Race in the 21^st Century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000, pp. 57-123.

February 13—Explaining Wealth and Dominance Among the World’s People

1) Jared Diamond. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. pp. 13-28; 67-81; 251-264; 405-408.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

February 18 (Mon. classes on Tues.)—Ideologies of Race, Empire, and Progress

1) Gray Brechin. “The University the Gate, and ‘the Gadget’,” in Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin. Berkeley: CA: University of California Press, 1999, pp. 280-330.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

February 20—Identity, Community, and Technological Advances I

1) Sound and Fury (film)

Related websites:

a) Sound and Fury website:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/index.html

b) “Cochlear Implants: Restoring Hearing to the Deaf”:

http://www.utdallas.edu/~loizou/cimplants/tutorial/

c) “Sound from Silence: The Development of Cochlear Implants”:

http://www.beyonddiscovery.org/content/view.article.asp?a=252

d) “Cochlear Implant Education Center”:

http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/CIEC/

February 24—Identity, Community, and Technological Advances II

1) Heejin Lee. “Blepharoplasty among Young Korean Women: Opening Eyes for Beauty While Blinding from Oneself,” 2002.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Anne Balsamo. “On the Cutting Edge: Cosmetic Surgery and New Imaging Technologies,” in Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 1996, pp. 56-79.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

3) Sander Gilman. Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002, pp. 16-26; 186-199.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

February 27—Technology, Race, and the Production and Consumption of Food

Essay 2 topic distributed to class

1) Carlos Martín. Mechanization and “Mexicanization”: Racializing California’s Agricultural Technology,” Science as Culture, 10, 3, 2001, pp.301-326.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Victor M. Valle and Rodolfo D. Torres. “Mexican Cuisine: Food as Culture,” in Latino Metropolis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000, pp. 67-99.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

March 3—Race and Technology in Everyday Life I

1) Logan Hill. “Beyond Access: Race, Technology, Community,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp. 13-33.

2) Karen J. Hossfeld. “‘Their Logic Against Them’: Contradictions in Sex, Race, and Class in Silicon Valley,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp. 34-63.

3) Andrew Ross and McLean Mashingaidze Greaves. “Net-Working: The Online Cultural Entrepreneur,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001. pp. 64-75

March 6—Race and Technology in Everyday Life II

Essay 2 is due in class

1) Amitava Kumar. “Temporary Access: Indian H-1B Workers in the United States,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp. 76-87.

2) Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Vivek Bald. “Appropriating Technology,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp.88-99.

3) Ben Chappell. “‘Take a Little Trip with Me’: Lowriding and the Poetics of Scale,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp. 100-121.

March 10 & 13—Spring Break

March 17—The Color of No Color

Paper Topic: a one-page prospectus indicating the topic and research plan for your term paper is due in class.

1) Richard Dyer. “The Matter of Whiteness,” in White. New York: Routledge, 1997, pp. 1-40.

2) Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women’s Studies” in Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, eds. Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. 291-299.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

March 20—The Politics of Whiteness

1) Richard Dyer. “Color White, not Colored,” in White. New York: Routledge, 1997, pp. 41-81.

2) Jerome McCristal Culp, Jr. “The Michael Jackson Pill: Equality, Race, and Culture,” in Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, eds. Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. 438-443.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

3) Katherine M. Franke. “What Does a White Women Look Like? Racing and Erasing in Law,” in Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, eds. Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, pp. 467-470.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

March 24—The Apparatus of Slavery: The Middle Passage and Plantation Life

1) Winthrop D. Jordan. “Unthinking Decision: Enslavement of Africans in America to 1700,” in The White Man’s Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974, pp. 26-54.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) David K. Shipler. “The Fatal Stain of Slavery,” in A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America. New York: Vintage Books, 1997, pp.165-188.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

Student should consult the following web site:

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record

http://gropius.lib.virginia.edu/Slavery/

On the web site, examine the photos and other materials in (but not limited to) the following sections:

a) Slave Ships and the Atlantic Crossing (images and some first hand accounts of the slaves experiences; see especially the design of the ships and drawing of the insurrection on the Barricado)

b) New World Agriculture and Plantation Labor (note the cotton gin, “George Washington as a Farmer,” scenes of labor and machinery)

c) Plantation Scenes, Slave Settlements and Houses

d) Physical Punishment, Rebellion, Running Away

March 27—Jim Crow and African Americans Representation in Popular Culture

1) Richard Dyer. “The Light of the World” in White. New York: Routledge, 1997, pp. 82-144.

2) Stephan Thernstrom and Abigail Thernstrom. “ Jim Crow,” in America in Black and White: One Nation , Indivisible. New York: Touchstone Book, 1997, pp. 25-52.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

3) Color Adjustment (film)

Related websites:

a) “Signs of Segregation” on The History of Jim Crow web site (see the Image Gallery):

http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/history/history.htm

b) Ronald L. F. Davis. “Creating Jim Crow: In-Depth Essay”:

http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/history/creating2.htm

c) Without Sanctuary:

http://www.journale.com/withoutsanctuary/main.html

March 31—Race and Incarceration

Essay 3 topic distributed to class

1) Nazi Germany: The Nuremburg Laws and Concentration Camps

a) A summary of Nazi race laws and a chart:

http://www.chgs.umn.edu/Educational_Resources/Curriculum/Broken_Threads/Nuremberg_Laws/nuremberg_laws.html

b) A virtual tour of Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp near Berlin:

http://www.scrapbookpages.com/EasternGermany/Sachsenhausen/

(See in particular the “Pathology Lab”)

2) Incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II

a) “Confinement and Ethnicity:An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites,” by J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord; read the first few pages from the web site:

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce1.htm

b) Note in particular the photographs by Ansel Adams in “Suffering a Great Injustice,” an online exhibit from the Library of Congress:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aamhtml/

c) Korematsu v. the United States:

Read the majority decision by Justice Black, and dissenting opinions by Justice Murphy and Justice Jackson.

http://www.tourolaw.edu/patch/Korematsu/

3) Incarceration of young African American males in contemporary America

(readings to be announced)

April 3—Contemporary Segregation and Virtual Integration

1) Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown. “A Day in the Life on Two Americas, Part 1: Living, Learning, Working Apart,” in By the color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race. New York: Dutton Book, 1999, pp. 29-61.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) David K. Shipler. “Integration: Together and Separate,” in A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America. New York: Vintage Books, 1997, pp. 23-53.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

April 7—Urban Design and the Discrete Separation of Races

Essay 3 is due in class

1) Edward J. Blakely and Mary Gail Snyder. Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1997, pp. 1-3; 15-28; 108-117; and 144-160.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) City of Tomorrow (film)

April 10—Hip Hop and Technological Cultures

Paper Topic: a one-page progress report is due in class.

1) Trisha Rose, “Soul Sonic Forces: technology Orality and Black Cultural Practices,” in Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1994, pp. 62-96.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Scratch (film)

April 13—From Analog to Digital: Race and the Technological Future

1) Ray Fouche. “Analog to Digital: Race and the Cultural Transformation of the Turntable.”

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

April 17—Jazz in a Segregated Society

1) Ken Burns: Jazz (film selections)

http://www.pbs.org/jazz/

2) David Margolick. Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song. New York: Ecco Press, 2001, excerpts.

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

3) Interview with David Margolick author of Strange Fruit (from NPR’s “To the Best of Our Knowledge)

http://test.wpr.org/book/020303a.htm (16:50 into the stream)

April 21—New Technologies and Empowerment

1) Casey Man Kong Lum. “Karaoke And the Construction of Identity,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp.121-141.

2) Tricia Rose and Beth Coleman. “Sound Effects,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp. 142-153.

3) Ben Williams. “Black Secret Technology: Detroit Techno and the Information Age,” in Alondra Nelson, Thuy Linh N. Tu, and Alicia Headlam Himes. Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press, 2001, pp. 154-176.

April 24—Accepting and Rejecting New Creatures

1) Langdon Winner. “Are Humans Obsolete?”

http://www.lib.rpi.edu/cgi-bin/crsind.pl/STSS496301

2) Bill Joy. “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us.” Wired, April 2000.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html

3) Brief video of Kismet robotics project.

April 28—Wrap up: What have we learned?

Papers due April 30 by 5pm. Place papers in box provided outside of Sage 5602.