HNRS 353: Technology and Contemporary

HNRS 353: Technology and Contemporary Society
Dr. John M. Woolsey (jwoolsey@gmu.edu)
Sections and class times:
353.004: T, R from 10:30-11:45am in Enterprise Hall 274
353.003: T, R from 1:30-2:45pm in Thompson Hall L004
Office Hours: M, W 10-12 and by appointment (ENT 352A)
“The dropping of the atomic bombs effected what Michel Foucault would call a major shift in
epistemes, a fundamental change in the organization, production and circulation of
knowledge.” Rey Chow
“[With the advent of satellite technology,], we are looking at a new type of landscape literacy,
in which the ‘modern’ perspective of the human eye is rendered obsolete—arguably turning
Galileo’s telescope, the first direct optical challenge to the combined rule of divine authority
and common sense, backwards to view the earth, and so creating a radically new type of
divine knowledge.” –Jody Berland
Playing on and developing the notion of “globalization
from above,” this course focuses on two oftenoverlooked contributors to contemporary notions of
the global: satellites and aerial bombs. Readings and
assignments address how the history and current
usage of these technologies inform everyday political
and social globalisms. After briefly identifying
objective and subjective conceptualizations of
globalization, the first half of the course addresses
aerial bombs and drones as technologies that both
literally and perceptually shape “the global” as a
geostrategic space to be known, traversed and
managed. The second half of the course focuses on
the way in which various satellite technologies prompt
us to feel, think and act as members of “the global.”
Required texts:
§
Lindqvist, S. (2003). A History of Bombing.
§
Benjamin, M. (2013). Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.
All other course readings and materials will be provided via the course Blackboard site or are
available online.
Assignments and Expectations:
§
Participation (10%): The success of this course depends on active student engagement.
You are expected to attend every class and come prepared to discuss the daily readings.
§
Weekly Reading Responses (20%): Short, 250-word posts are due to the Blackboard
discussion board before each class. Posts should address the main theme(s) of the
reading and/or productively connect it to related readings or class discussions.
§
Midterm Essay (20%): A 5-page essay analyzing the Smithsonian National Air and Space
Museum’s exhibit on Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. This assignment requires a visit to
the museum. All essays must adhere to academic and ethical protocols.
§
Project Presentation (20%): A 5-minute Prezi presentation that introduces your final
project. Presentations should introduce the case, propose a relevant analytical question,
and explain the primary evidence and method being used.
§
Final Project (30%): A 12 to 15-page essay that analyzes primary evidence from a
specific case study of “globalization from above” as explored in the course readings and
discussions. All essays must adhere to academic and ethical protocols.
See the course Blackboard site for more detailed assignment descriptions and rubrics.
Tentative Schedule for HNRS 353. 03 and HNRS 353.04 (S2015)
Week One
Tuesday,
January 20
Thursday,
January 22
Daily Reading to be Discussed
Supplemental Materials and
Suggested Readings
Intros
Steger. The Rise of the Global
Imaginary. 2008. (1-15, 129-134).
Steger and James. “Levels of
Subjective Globalization:
Ideologies, Imaginaries,
Ontologies.” 2013
Kamola. “US Universities and
the Production of the Global
Imaginary.” 2014
Week Two
Tuesday,
January 27
Thursday,
January 29
Lindqvist. A History of Bombing. 2003.
“Bang, You’re Dead,” “In the Beginning
was the Bomb,” “The History of the
Future,” “Death Comes Flying” and
“What is Permissible in War?”
Lindqvist. A History of Bombing. 2003.
“Bombing the Savages,” “Bombed into
Savagery,” “The Law of the Prophets,”
and “From Chechaouen to Guernica.”
The History of Bombing 1/6
The History of Bombing 2/6
The History of Bombing 3/6
Week
Three
Tuesday,
February 3
Thursday,
February 5
Lindqvist. A History of Bombing. 2003.
“The Splendid Decision,” “Hamburg,
Auschwitz, Dresden,” “Tokyo,” “The
Dream of a Superweapon,”
“Hiroshima,” “Living with the
Superweapon.”
Lindqvist. A History of Bombing. 2003.
“Bombs Against Independence,”
“Korea,” “Massive Retaliation,” “Flexible
Retaliation,” “Surgical Precision,” “The
Bomb on Trial,” “Nothing Human.”
The History of Bombing 4/6
The History of Bombing 5/6
Watch the US Drop 2.5 Million
Tons of Bombs on Laos
The History of Bombing 6/6
Week Four
Tuesday,
February 10
Chow. “Age of the World Target” (2543)
A Time-Lapse Map of Every
Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 by Isao Hashimoto
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki
film they didn't want us to see
Thursday,
February 12
Benjamin. Drone Warfare. 2013. (1-30)
A New iPhone App Catalogues and
Maps U.S. Drone Killings
Our Bombs
What are Drones?
Broughton. “The Bomb’s-Eye View”
First Gulf War Air Strikes
Week Five
Tuesday,
February 17
Thursday,
February 19
Week Six
Tuesday,
February 24
Thursday,
February 26
Friday,
Saturday
and/or
Sunday:
Week
Seven
(40-65).
Benjamin. Drone Warfare. 2013. (3182)
Tuesday,
March 3
Benjamin. Drone Warfare. 2013. (149219)
Thursday,
March 5
Friday,
March 6
Week Eight
Tuesday,
March 10
Thursday,
March 12
Week Nine
Tuesday,
March 17
Thursday,
March 19
Benjamin. Drone Warfare. 2013. (83148)
Delmont. “Drone Encounters.” (193202)
Go to the Smithsonian Air and Space
Museum
Living Under Drones
Drones/Amnesty International
5,000 Feet is the Best
Naming the Dead
Military Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAV) (The
Smithsonian Air and Space
Museum)
Boyle. “The costs and
consequences
of Drone Warfare.” 2013.
Midterm Essay Peer Review Workshop
Midterm Essay Due by 11:59pm
SPRING BREAK
NO CLASSES
Di Palma. “Zoom: Google Earth and
Global Intimacy.” 2009. (230-270)
Berland. “Mapping Space: Imaging
Technologies and the Planetary Body.”
1996. (123-137).
Powers of Ten
Google Earth
Brannon. “Standardized
Spaces: Satellite
Imagery in the Age of Big
Data.” 2013. (271-299)
Week Ten
Tuesday,
March 24
Thursday,
March 26
Week
Eleven
Tuesday,
March 31
Shim. “Seeing from Above: The
Geopolitics of Satellite Vision and North
Korea.” 2012.
Campbell. “Tele-Vision: Satellite
Images and Security.” (16-23)
Parks. “Satellite Witnessing: Views and
Coverage of the War in Bosnia.” (77107)
Warf. “Dethroning the View
from Above: Toward a Critical
Social Analysis of Satellite
Ocularcentrism.” 2012. (4260)
CIA video showing suspected
Syrian nuclear reactor
O Tuathail. “Between a
Holocaust and a Quagmire:
‘Bosnia’ in the U.S. Geopolitical Imagination, 1991-
1994.” (187-223)
Thursday,
April 2
Crutcher and Zook. “Placemarks and
waterlines: Racialized cyberscapes in
post-Katrina Google Earth.” 2009.
(523-534)
Satellite images show
devastation of Boko Haram
attacks, rights groups say
Week
Twelve
Tuesday,
April 7
Thursday,
April 9
Week
Thirteen
Tuesday,
April 14
Thursday,
April 16
Week
Fourteen
Tuesday,
April 21
Thursday,
April 23
Week
Fifteen
Tuesday,
April 28
Thursday,
April 30
Friday, May
1
Collins. “‘Freedom to Communicate’
Ideology and the Global in the Iridium
Satellite Venture.” 2012. (83-95)
Visit from Dr. Martin Collins
Project Prezis
Project Prezis
Project Prezis
Project Prezis
NGA joins GitHub, offers code to help
disaster response
RFI Generator manages emergency
geospatial info requests
NGA's belief in open source,
crowdsourcing heating up (read the
article and listen to the audio file
starting at the 17 minute mark)
Chris Rasmussen, NGA
Final Projects Due by 11:59pm
Dr. Martin Collins