ANTH 50.52 Anthropology of Innovations

Innovation – is everywhere. It is expected in our thinking, research, technologies, learning, and lifestyle. It is upheld as solutions to the world’s big problems. But what exactly is innovation? Why is innovation so valued? What does this tell us about the society we live in and the futures we are creating? This course examines “innovation” as a social, historical, and political economic concept, discourse, and practice. We will draw from texts in anthropology, STS, disability studies, black studies, and performance studies to develop analytical tools to examine how social norms and power relations are challenged, reorganized, and reproduced through innovations, often in unequal ways. 

Distributive and/or World Culture

Dist:SOC

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