A studio class examining Coronavirus through STS tools
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected all of our lives. Across the world, more than 2 million have been infected (at the time of writing, and given huge problems with confirming infection rates), more than 100.000 people have died, and over 100 countries have instituted lockdown measures. Here in Vienna we have experienced restrictions on movement previously unheard of in peacetime and adapted our bodies to mask-wearing, distance-keeping, and extended periods at home.To say that the last months have felt tumultuous is an understatement. Our teaching and learning have been disrupted and, for many of us, it has been hard to make sense of what is happening from one day to the next.
This course is predicated on the notion that STS offers important tools to help in such sensemaking and reflection, even as events continue to unfold. Together we will discuss: what concepts and resources does STS offer that are relevant to the current crisis? How can we think Covid-19 using these resources? And how does this moment of crisis and pandemic itself trigger new modes of STS reflection and research?As a studio course, teaching is practical and experimental in orientation. The course is team-taught and offers the opportunity to start mobilising STS to map and critically reflect on Covid-19, the technologies and policies that have sprung up around it, and what the crisis reveals about science and democracy. Students should therefore anticipate not getting ‘the final word’ on the pandemic, but having the chance to start engaging with it alongside their instructors and colleagues.
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected all of our lives. Across the world, more than 2 million have been infected (at the time of writing, and given huge problems with confirming infection rates), more than 100.000 people have died, and over 100 countries have instituted lockdown measures. Here in Vienna we have experienced restrictions on movement previously unheard of in peacetime and adapted our bodies to mask-wearing, distance-keeping, and extended periods at home.To say that the last months have felt tumultuous is an understatement. Our teaching and learning have been disrupted and, for many of us, it has been hard to make sense of what is happening from one day to the next.
This course is predicated on the notion that STS offers important tools to help in such sensemaking and reflection, even as events continue to unfold. Together we will discuss: what concepts and resources does STS offer that are relevant to the current crisis? How can we think Covid-19 using these resources? And how does this moment of crisis and pandemic itself trigger new modes of STS reflection and research?As a studio course, teaching is practical and experimental in orientation. The course is team-taught and offers the opportunity to start mobilising STS to map and critically reflect on Covid-19, the technologies and policies that have sprung up around it, and what the crisis reveals about science and democracy. Students should therefore anticipate not getting ‘the final word’ on the pandemic, but having the chance to start engaging with it alongside their instructors and colleagues.
More info here