QSS 30.19 Data and Bodies
In this course we will take a multi-modal approach to understanding relationships between “datafication” and human bodies. Today’s “Datafication” is a process of transforming diverse processes, qualities, actions and phenomena into forms that are machine-readable by digital technologies, but the act of turning humans and human bodies into quanta of information has a long history. We will be using art, new media, history, information science, and more to think through the impact that datafication has on how we understand ourselves and others. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which data has historically been used in racializing and gendering ways, and the role that quantification of people has been integral to the development of the Western nation-state.