Frankly, that whole idea of technology saving us from our own capitalist exploitation of the environment is just wishful thinking. What Indigenous legal orders (ontologies if you must) bring to the table is an acknowledgement that we have reciprocal duties to the land, to the other-than-human. And in those duties, there are responsibilities not to destroy entire watersheds, pollute whole lakes, raze mountains for ore. Because there are real legal-governance, social, cultural, living consequences to those actions. I’m hopeful that maybe some technological solutions can help us with the immediate crises we find ourselves in. But we cannot continue to relate to one another, to the land, to the fish, the birds, the bears, the plants in the way that we have been doing since the beginning of the Industrial revolution. Indigenous legal orders, the little bit that I can claim to understand of them, orient us to a much more accountable legal-governance relationship between all things/people/beings. – Zoe Todd
Vansintjan, Aaron (2015, September 21) Decolonizing nature, the academy, and Europe: An interview with Métis writer Zoe Todd. Uneven Earth. Retrieved from https://unevenearth.org/2015/09/decolonizing-nature-the-academy-and-europe/
In Marx’s Communist Manifesto, he suggests that capitalism will bring about rapid technological innovation that can liberate people from their need to work. If we have the technology to produce all the means we need to survive, with minimal human labor, we could all be enjoying expansive amounts of leisure time. All we need to fulfill such a dream is to be able to wrestle that technology away from those that own it as private property, and instead bring it to the public domain. Productive technology, for Marx, puts us at the mercy of those who own it, but it also has the radical emancipatory potential to liberate us from labor, and free up our time for those activities that are truly fulfilling. For Marx, technology is a part of “historical materialism,” where material technologies shape our lives, with particular social outcomes destined to be realized in the future. Even Marx claimed he didn’t know what that future would look like, but most true Marxists are committed (at some level) to a fully automated luxury utopia.
Many scholars have since considered how technology influences society, and how it might lead to a society with a fundamentally different kind of economic system. In this class, we will be exploring new ideas about how technology shapes our lives, how it could shape our lives, and how we should critically engage technologies currently being developed. Materials unite us, but they also divide us.
By the end of the course, students will gain skills in critical thinking and critical collaboration. In particular, they will be able to:
- Discuss trends in science and technology studies (STS)-including feminist and anticolonial STS
- Understand historical materialism and new materialism
- Discuss the relationship between policy and technology
- Critically understand technologies like nuclear power, artificial intelligence and climate tech
- Discuss post-capitalist work
- Articulate critical social theory to a general audience
- Critically and collaboratively imagine what ethical, equitable and anticolonial technologies might look like in practice
Blog posts generated by students in the class are posted on https://socialtheoryforsustainability.wordpress.com
A sample course outline is available here: SOCI 309 – 2022 Course Outline (Summer School).
This is a reworking of a course originally developed by Assistant Professor Katharine Legun
WHAT STUDENTS SAID…
About Karly
“Best lecturer I have ever had – nothing bad to say.”
“very engaging, probably the most kind, thoughtful, and empathetic lecturer I have experienced at otago. Karly was extremely dedicated and caring towards her students and made me feel very welcome which I am grateful for.”
“She is very engaging and collaborative, and works extremely hard to support the students.”
“Karly was incredibly supportive and approachable. I could ask her about anything and she would support me to find an answer. Karly always encouraged our best work by guiding us and giving us effective feedback.”
“Karly was always enthusiastic and I could tell that she was genuinely interested in what she was teaching. That enthusiasm was easily transferred to students of the course and created a very engaging experience. The in-depth feedback Karly provided on assignments was also invaluable.”
I enjoyed “the overall good vibe of the class that Karly created. She is approachable, understanding, kind, knowledgeable and helpful. Great teacher!”
“Such amazing organisation for a paper that started in person and moved to fully online with the pandemic. There was never any question around where we needed to be or when etc. Awesome communication.”
“The communication we received was incredibly comprehensive and inclusive, both in class and via email/blackboard.”
About Karly’s teaching
“Karly is a brilliant lecturer and, dare i say it, her teaching is one of the best styles i have ever had! I had her in another paper and in that one i absolutely aced it, and it was because of the dedication and teaching style that she has for us students.”
“Karly was an amazing teach who was genuinely invested in our learning and gave some of the most useful feedback I’ve ever had in university!”
“Karly’s enthusiasm and engagement with us as learners was and continues to be infectious, and I feel the content of the course was extremely relevant to our lives outside of the classroom. Her emphasis on applying a thorough and methodical critique of existing literature nurtured the learning environment like none other.”
“Karly is an awesome teacher. She is inclusive, supportive, and understanding! The content was all interesting and offered varied perspectives.”
Karly “stimulated my interest in sociology and made me question some of my beliefs and how I relate to the wider world. She did this by critically engaging with various scholars.”
“Karly had a very good mix of written content as well as videos to keep us interested. There was never a moment I thought that something was unnecessary or irrelevant.”
“Karly was very supportive of us when moving online. Class was a really comfortable space to be that wasn’t overwhelming or stressful. Karly made Zoom calls easy and interesting.”
I enjoyed “her ability to explain the subject matter in a way that everyone can understand. Her ability and understanding that everyone learns in different ways and are going through different situations in their lives. So her understanding of the students and their situations in her class has made her very approachable in class.”
“It was fantastic to have some podcasts and videos as part of the learning. Not only is it a nice change from academic readings, it provided another forum for gaining understanding. I loved this!”
About the assignments
“I found the group assignment to lead a class discussion to be the most fun I’ve ever had doing group work. Setting group agreements at the beginning and organising channels for communicating outside of class really helped.”
About the class
“I am so grateful to have been a part of the class. It was a very engaging, exciting and interesting class to be in. Easy to discuss your own ideas, ask questions and communicate with others.”
“Definitely one of my favourite papers I’ve taken in my degree.”
The class “was really well formatted and clear in what we were expected to do, and the blackboard pages were really well organised. I had an awesome time meeting everyone and becoming friends with my group, overall a great experience!”
“thoroughly enjoyed my first foray into sociology, and Karly was very lovely and open-minded in terms of her students and the course content.”
KARLY BURCH, PHD 