Meanings, Approaches, and Cases in the History of Technology

This seminar examines the development of the changing meanings of technology and of the most prominent scholarly approaches to the history of technology as a field. In turn, by including case studies, this course aims to develop critical historiographical thinking while helping students to understand the contributions of different interpretive frameworks within the history of technology in their own object-based research. The course addresses emerging definitions and approaches from disciplines like philosophy, engineering, economics, sociology, gender studies, and social and cultural history. Topics include progress, labor, technological determinism, innovation, social representation, and technological literacy. Case studies may include the washing machine in the West, the power loom in the U.S., and the metalworking of the Ancient Americas. This class will require a short annotated bibliography for the midterm and a 15-20 page research paper for the final. 3 credits.