The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Division of Cultural Studies, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies

M.A. in Intercultural Studies

Basic Information

Course Code CULS 5207

Course Title Interdisciplinary Approach to Technoscience Culture

Principal lecturer CHAN Kit Sze Amy

amykschan@gmail.com

Units 3

No. of hours 39

Medium of instruction C&E

Pre-requisite NO

Course Background

This seminar explores the impact of the worldwide technoscience revolution of our era in the cultural context. We are in the midst of the fast developments of technology and science. As witness to this important moment, we have a vantage point to review the cultural impact of technology on social, economic, political development over the past two centuries. As there is now a surge of feminist studies of science and technology, special emphasis will be given to the interrelationship between gender and technoscience.

Objectives

Through reading of theories by important social critics and philosophers, we will analyse some dominant themes and forms of representation of female in fiction, film and animes from Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) to the Japanese animes Ghost in the Shell (1995) and Metropolis (2003).

Course materials include short stories, films, animes and readings from the Web.

Students are encouraged to complete the assigned readings and movies before attending the lectures. Lecture notes will be posted at least a day before the lecture.

This course does not require students to have computer skills or knowledge.

Presentations. Students are required to give a 30- 45 minute presentation on a specific topic. Should the student fail to deliver the presentation on the pre-assigned week, a written report on the topic (about 2000 words) should be submitted within two weeks.

Final Project. Students are required to write a research essay for a final, individual project. The length of the text should be 12-14 A4 double-spaced typed pages. Students are encouraged to include multimedia content, according to one's ability and interests, in this final project. Submission of this project could be made in electronic form.

Notes on Films and Readings. Students must view the required films and go through the readings BEFORE each class. Students are required to provide their own reading materials due to copyright problems.

Course Textbook: David Bell's Introduction to Cybercultures

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Course Reference book: David Bell's The Cybercultures Reader and Cyberculture: Key Concepts

Course Outcomes, Teaching Activities and Assessment

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (TLOs)

Upon completion of this course students should be able to:

TLO1 state the critical issues of technoscience culture/ cyberculture

TLO2 develop an awareness of how our sense of identity and subjectivity are shaped by technology, science and mass media

TLO3 analyse the elements tied to the scientific contexts critically

TLO4 demonstrate an understanding of critical concepts by using concrete examples

TLO5 synthesize critical concepts of technoscience culture and our everyday life practice

TLO6 write critically on a specific issues in the field of technoscience culture studies

Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)

TLA1 introduction of relevant issues

TLA2 explanation of critical concepts

TLA3 illustration of critical concepts and issues with daily examples and multimedia materials

TLA4 critical reading of the cultural texts with relation to the key concepts

TLA5 explanation of required readings

TLA6 in-class discussions

TLA7 online discussion on specific topics

TLA8 oral presentations by students

TLA9 peer comment on presentation and discussion

TLA10 writing of term paper

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Assessment Tasks (ATs)

AT1 Class Participation 10%

AT2 Oral Presentation 30%

AT3 Online discussion 10%

AT4 Term Paper 50%

TOTAL 100%

Alignment of Course Intended Learning Outcomes, Teaching and Learning

Activities and Assessment Tasks

Course Intended Learning

Outcomes

Teaching and Learning

Activities

Assessment Tasks

TLO1 TLA1,4,5,6,7 AT1,3

TLO2 TLA1,2,3,4,6,7 AT1,3

TLO3 TLA2,3,4,6,8,10 AT1,2,4

TLO4 TLA3,4,7,8,10 AT2,3,4

TLO5 TLA8,10 AT2,4

TLO6 TLA7,10 AT3,4

Teaching Mode

Two-hour lecture + one-hour tutorial

Honesty in Academic Work: A Guide For Students and Teachers

The Chinese University of Hong Kong places very high importance on honesty in academic

work submitted by students, and adopts a policy of zero tolerance on cheating and

plagiarism. Any related offence will lead to disciplinary action including termination of studies

at the University. Students must submit their assignments via the Webpage of the Chinese

University Plagiarism Identification Engine (CUPIDE) http://cupide.cse.cuhk.edu.hk/student .

Although cases of cheating or plagiarism are rare at the University, everyone should make himself/herself familiar with the

content of this website and thereby help avoid any practice that would not be acceptable.

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Section 1 What is plagiarism [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p01.htm ]

Section 2 Proper use of source material [http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p02.htm]

Section 3 Citation styles [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p03.htm]

Section 4 Plagiarism and copyright violation [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p04.htm]

Section 5 CUHK regulations on honesty in academic

work [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p05.htm]

Section 6 CUHK disciplinary guidelines and

procedures [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p06.htm]

Section 7 Guide for teachers and

departments [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p07.htm]

Section 8 Recommended material to be included in course

outlines [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p08.htm]

Section 9 Recommended declaration to be included in every assignment handed

in [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p09.htm]

Section 10 Electronic submission of term

papers [ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p10.htm]

Teaching Schedule

Week 1 Introduction to the Course: Receptions and Interpretations of

Technology in the Postmodern Age (7 Jan)

Introduction to Cybercultures, Chapters 2 & 3.

Singerland, Edward. (2008) “Introduction.” What Science Offers the Humanities:

Integrating Body and Culture. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1-30.

Poster, Mark. (1996) “Postmodern Virtualities.” FutureNatural: Nature, science, culture.

Ed. George Robertson et al. London and New York: Routledge. pp.23-42.

Reference:

Feenberg, Andrew. (1999) “Critical Theories of Technology.” Questioning Technology.

London and New York: Routldege.

Baudrillard, Jean. (1998) "Simulacra and Simulation”. Jean Baudrillard: Selected

5

Writing. Ed. Mark Poster. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Tutorial topic:

Lang, Metropolis

Week 2 Feminist Studies of Science (14 Jan)

Bell, David. (2006) Science, Technology and Culture. London: Open University Press.

pp. 1-58.

Pursell, Carroll. (2001) “Feminism and the Rethinking of the History of Technology.”

Feminism in Twentieth-Century Science, Technology, and Medicine. Edited by Angela

N.H. Creager, Elizabeth Lunbeck & Londa Schiebinger. Chicago and London: The

University of Chicago Press. pp. 113-127.

Tutorial topic:

Branagh, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Week 3 Cyberspace and Virtual Reality (21 Jan)

Introduction to Cybercultures, Chapters 5-6.

Graham, Gordon.(1999) "Virtual Reality: The future of cyberspace". the internet://a

philosophical inquiry. London and New York: Routledge.

Turkle, Sherry. (2002) "Constructions and Reconstructions of the Self in Virtual Reality."

Cyber_Reader: Critical writings for the Digital Era. Ed. Neil Spitler. London: Phaidon.

pp. 208-215.

Reference:

Heim. Michael. "Essence of VR" CyberReader. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Boston: Allyn and

Bacon, 1999. pp.20-35.

Benedikt, Michael. (2000) "Cyberspace: First Steps." Cybercultures Reader. Ed. David

Bell. London: Routledge. pp. 29-44.

紀大衛 ”去年在馬倫巴：模擬網頁小說”中外文學．1997 年 8 月 303 期 pp.102-119.

Philip K. Dick, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (This short story was

6

adapted into Total Recall)

Tutorial topic:

Wachowski, The Matrix Trilogy

Week 4 Post-Information Age (28 Jan)

Cohen, Sande. (2005) “Disparity, Information, and Consumption – Hello to an

Agonistics of the Future.” Consumption in an Age of Information. Eds. Sande Cohen

and R.L. Rutsky. Oxford & New York: Berg. pp. 155-80.

Jenkins, Henry. (2009) “Buying into American Idol: How We Are Being Sold on

Reality Television.” Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture. Eds. Susan Murray

and Laurie Ouellette. New York: New York University Press. pp. 343-362.

Baudrillard, Jean. The Ecstasy of Communication.

Baudrillard, Jean. (1995) the gulf war did not take place. Bloomington & Indianapolis:

Indiana University Press.

Reference:

張大春 , 大都會的西米

Winkler, The Net

Tutorial topic:

Levinson, Wag the Dog

Week 5 Cyberpunk and Postmodernity (11 Feb)

Introduction to Cybercultures, Chapter 6

Leary, Timothy. (2000) "The Cyberpunk: The Individual as Reality Pilot." Cybercultures

Reader. Ed. David Bell. London: Routledge. pp.529-539.

Foster, Thomas. (2005) “The Legacies of Cyberpunk Fiction: New Cultural Formations

and the Emergence of the Posthuman.” The Souls of Cyberfolk: Posthumanism as

Vernacular Theory. Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press. pp.1-48.

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Reference:

Sterling, Bruce. (1988)"Preface." Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. Ed. Bruce

Sterling. New York: Ace Books.

Gibson, William. "Johnny Mnemonic."

村上春樹, 世界末日與冷酷異境

Longo, Johnny Mnemonic

Proyas, Dark City

Tutorial topic:

Scott, Blade Runner: the Final Cut

Week 6 Posthumanism (18 Feb)

Gray, Chris Hables. (2001) "The Cyborg Body Politic." Cyborg Citizen: Politics in the

Posthuman Age. New York & London: Routledge. pp.9-20.

Benford, Gregory & Malartre, Elisabeth. (2007) “The Long Perspective: Where are we

headed? Does humanity have a future? What does ‘human’ mean?” Beyond Human:

Living with Robots and Cyborgs. New York: Tom Doherty Associates Book. pp.

239-256.

Reference:

Stelarc. (2002). “Towards the Post-Human.” Cyber-Reader: Critical Writings for the

Digital Era. Ed. Neil Spiller. London: Phaidon. pp. 262-269.

Tutorial topic:

Robocop

I, Robot

Week 7 Posthumanism and Cyberbodies (25 Feb)

Introduction to Cybercultures, Chapter 7

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Tomas, David. (1995) "Feedback and Cybernetics: reimaging the Body in the Age of

Cybernetics.” Cyberspace, Cyberbodies, Cyberpunk: Cultures of Technological

Embodiment. Eds. Mike Featherstone and Roger Burrows. London: Sage, 1995.

pp.21-44.

Murphie, Andres and Potts, John. (2002) "Cyborgs: the Body, Information and

Technology". Culture & Technology. New York: Palgrave. pp. 115-141.

Blum, Virginia L. (2003) “Untouchable Bodies.” Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic

Surgery. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 35-66.

Reference:

Greg Egan, "Learning to be Me"

平路, 按鍵的手 人工智慧紀事

Gray, Chris Hables (2001) "Infomedicine and the New Body" and "Cybernetic Human

Reproduction" . Cyborg Citizen: Politics in the Posthuman Age. New York and London:

Routledge. pp. 69-98.

Balsamo, Anne. (2000) "The Virtual Body in Cyberspace." The Cybercultures Reader.

pp.489-503.

Hayles, N. Katherine.(1996) "The Life Cycle of Cyborgs". The Cyborg Handbook.

pp.321-340.

Tutorial topic:

Spielberg, Artificial Intelligence: A.I.

Week 8 Biotechnologies and Gender Issues (4 Mar)

Haraway, Donna J. (1991) “The Biopolitics of Postmodern Bodies: Constitutions of Self

in Immune System Discourse.” Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of

Nature. London & New York: Routledge. pp. 203-230.

Fukuyama, Francis. (2002) “Genetic Engineering.” Our Posthuman Future:

Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. London: Profile Books. pp.72-83.

Thacker, Eugene. (2005) “Bioinformatic Bodies and the Problem of ‘Life Itself’”;

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“Regenerative Medicine: We Can Grow It For You.” The Global Genome:

Biotechnology, Politics, and Culture. London: The MIT Press. pp. 51-90; pp. 275-304.

Reference:

Greg Egan, "The Extra"

Boyle, 28 Days Later

Singer, X-Men series

Tutorial topic:

Bay, The Island

Week 9 Reproductive Technologies (11 Mar)

Horn, David. (1997) “Unnatural Acts: procreation and the Genealogy of Artifice.”

Processed Lives: Gender and Technology in Everyday Life. Edited by Jennifer Terry

and Melodie Calvert. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 145-154.

Stabile, Carol. (2001) “Shooting the Mother: Fetal Photography and the Politics of

Disappearance.” The Visible Woman: Imaging Technologies, Gender, and Science.

Edited by Paula A. Treichler, Lisa Cartwright and Constance Penley. New York and

London: New York University Press. pp. 171-197.

Hartouni, Valerie. (2001) “Fetal Exposures: Abortion Politics and the Optics of Allusion.”

The Visible Woman: Imaging Technologies, Gender, and Science. Edited by Paula A.

Treichler, Lisa Cartwright and Constance Penley. New York and London: New York

University Press. pp. 198-216.

Reference:

Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. (2001) “Medicine, Technology, and Gender in the History of

Prenatal Diagnosis.” Edited by Angela N.H. Creager, Elizabeth Lunbeck & Londa

Schiebinger. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. pp. 186-196.

The Silent Scream (video)

Tutorial topic:

10

Niccol, Gattaca

Week 10 Cyberfeminism (18 Mar)

Haraway, Donna. (1991) “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and

Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.” Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The

Reinvention of Nature. London: Routledge. pp. 149-181.

Sandoval, Chela. (2000) "New Sciences: Cyborg Feminism and the Methodology of the

Oppressed." The Cybercultures Reader. pp.374-390.

Reference:

Plant, Sadie. (2000) "On the Matrix: Cyberfeminist Simulations." The Cybercultures

Reader. Ed. David Bell. London: Routledge.

Tutorial topic:

Oshii, Ghost in the Shell

Week 11 Environment, Technology and Ecofeminism (25 Mar)

Eisler, Riane. (1990) “The Gaia Tradition and the Partnership Future: An Ecofeminist

Manifesto.” Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism. Edited by Irene

Diamond and Gloria Feman Orenstein. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. pp.23-34.

Merchant, Carolyn. (1995) “The Death of Nature: Women and Ecology in the Scientific

Revolution.” Earthcare: Women and the Environment. New York: Routledge. pp. 75-90.

Tutorial Topic:

Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke 《幽靈公主》

Week 12 Digital Game Culture (1 Apr)

Giddings, Seth. (2007) “Playing with Non-Humans: Digital Games as Technocultural

Form.” Worlds in Play: International Perspectives on Digital Games Research. Ed.

Suzanne de Castell and Jennifer Jenson. New York: Peter Lang. pp. 115-128.

Zimmerman, Eric. (2008). “Game Literacy: Game Design as a Model for Literacy in the

Twenty-First Century.” The Video Game Theory Reader 2. London & New York:

11

Routledge . pp. 23-32.

Reference:

陳潔詩、朱耀偉著．(2005) 《虛擬後樂園：透視電腦遊戲文化》．香港：天窗．

Tutorial topic:

Cronenberg, eXistenZ

Week 13 Science, Technology and the Cultural Reenchantment (8 Apr)

Ricard, Matthieu & Thuan, Trinh Xuan. (2001) “Robots That Think They Can Think?”,

“The Grammar of the Universe.” The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the

Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet. New York: Three Rivers Press. pp.

183-228.

Laszlo, Ervin. (2006) “The Amazing Coherence of (Nearly) Everything.” Science and

the Reenchantment of the Cosmos: The Rise of the Integral Vision of Reality.

Rochester: Inner Traditions. pp. 6-22.

Tutorial topic:

Zemeckis, Contact

Scott, Prometheus

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Suggested References

Introduction

Aronowitz, Stanley et al, eds. (1996) Technoscience and Cyberculture. New York and

London: Routledge.

Bell, David & Kennedy, Barbara M., eds. (2000) The Cybercultures Reader. London &

New York: Routledge.

Bell, David. (2006) Science, Technology and Culture. New York: Open University

Press.

Braidotti, Rosi. (2013) The Posthuman. Maiden: Polity Press.

Feenberg, Andrew.(1999). Questioning Technology. London and New York: Routldege.

Gray, Chris Hables, ed. (1995). The Cyborg Handbook. New York & London:

Routledge.

Murphie, Andrew & Potts, John. (2003). Culture & Technology. Hampshire: Palgrave.

Schuler, Douglas et al, eds. (2003) Cyberculture: The Key Concepts. London & New

York: Routledge.

Spiller, Neil, ed. (2002) Cyber_Reader: Critical Writings for the Digital Era. New York:

Phaidon.

Media

Cohen, Sande & Rutsky, R.L., eds. (2005) Consumption in an Age of Information.

Oxford & New York: Berg. pp. 155-80.

Holt, Jason, ed. (2007) The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen in the Art of

Fake News. Malden: Blackwell.

Kellner, Douglas. (1995). Media Culture: Cultural studies, identity and politics between

the modern and the postmodern. London and New York: Routledge.

Murray, Susan & Ouellette, Laurie, eds. (2009) Reality TV: Remaking Television

Culture. New York: New York University Press.

Poster, Mark. (1995). The Second Media Age. Cambridge: Polity.

Body

Bukatman, Scott. (1993) Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Postmodern Science

Fiction. Durham & London: Duke University Press.

13

Dyens, Ollivier. (2001) Metal and Flesh: The Evolution of Man: Technology Takes

Over. Trans. Evan J. Bibbee and Ollivier Dyens. Cambridge & London: The

MIT Press.

Featherstone, Mike & Burrows, Roger, eds. (1995) Cyberspace, Cyberbodies,

Cyberpunk: cultures of Technological Embodiment. London: Sage.

Hayles, N. Katherine. (1999) How We Became Posthuman Virtual Bodies in

Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. New York: University of Chicago

Press, 1999.

Ihde, Don. (2002). Bodies in Technology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Murphy, Nancey & Knight, Christopher C, ed. (2010) Human Identity at the Intersection

of Science, Technology and Religion. Burlington: Ashgate.

Terry, Jennifer & Calvert, Melodie, eds. (1997) Processes Lives: Gender and

Technology in Everyday Life. London and New York: Routledge.

CyberFeminism

Balsamo, Anne. (1996) Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women.

Ed. Anne Balsamo. Durham and London: duke University Press.

Gornick, Vivian. (2009) Women in Science: Then and Now. New York: The Feminist

Press.

Hawthorne, Susan & Klein, Renate, eds. (1999) CyberFeminism: Connectivity,

Critique+Creativity. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press.

Hopkins, Patrick D, ed. (1998). Sex/Machine: Readings in Culture, Gender, and

Technology. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Kember, Sarah. (2003). Cyberfeminism and Artificial Life. London & New York:

Routledge.

Kirkup, Gill et al, eds. (2000) The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader. London & New York:

Routledge.

Wajcman, Judy. (2004) TechnoFeminism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Reproduction

Ashford, Janet Issacs. (1998)“Natural Love.” Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to

Techno-Tots. Ed. Robbie Davis-Floyd and Joseph Dumit. New York and

London: Routledge.

da Costa, Beatriz & Philip, Kavita, ed. (2008) Tactical Biopolitics: Art, Activism, and

Techosicence. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

14

Mitchell, Lisa M. & Georges, Eugenia. (1998) “Baby’s First Picture: The Cyborg Fetus

of Ultrasound Imaging.” Cyborg Babies: From Techno-Sex to Techno-Tots. Ed.

Robbie Davis-Floyd and Joseph Dumit. New York and London: Routledge.

Murphy, Michelle. (2012) Seizing the Means of Reproduction: Entanglements of

Feminism, Health, and Technoscience. Durham: Duke University Press.

Purdy, Laura M. “What Can Progress in Reproductive Technology Mean for Women?”

Reproducing Persons: Issues in Feminist Bioethics. New York: Cornell

University Press.

Terry, Jennifer & Calvert, Melodie, eds. (1997) Processed Lives: Gender and

Technology in Everyday Life. London and New York: Routledge.

Treichler, Paula A. et al, eds. (1996) The Visible Woman: Imaging Technologies,

Gender, and Science. New York and London: New York University Press, 2001.

Environment and Ecofeminism

Cudworth, Errika. (2005) Developing Ecofeminist Theory: the Complexity of Difference.

New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Diamond, Irene & Orenstein, Gloria Feman, eds. (1995) Reweaving the World: The

Emergence of Ecofeminism. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2005.

Merchant, Carolyn.(1996) Earthcare: Women and the Environment. New York:

Routledge.

Digital and Video Game

Bogost, Ian. (2010) Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. New

York: MIT Press.

Ensslin, Astrid & Muse, Eben J. (2011) Creating Second Lives: Community, Identity,

and Spatiality as Constructions of the Virtual. New York: Routlede.

McGonigal, Jane. (2011) Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They

Can Change the World. London & New York: Penguin.

Perron, Bernard & Wolf, Mark JP., eds. (2009) The Video Game Theory Reader 2. New

York: Routledge.

Science, Technology and Cultural Reenchantment

-----. (2007) Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything.

Rochester: Inner Traditions.

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-----. (2008) Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific Reality Can

Change Us and Our World. Rochester: Inner Traditions.

Bennett, Jane. (2001) The Enchantment of Modern Life: Attachments, Crossings, and

Ethics. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Laszlo, Ervin. (2006) Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos: The Rise of the

Integral Vision of Reality. Rochester: Inner Traditions.

Ricard, Matthieu & Thuan, Trinh Xuan. (2001). The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey

to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet. New York: Three Rivers

Press.