Honors Seminars Spring 2012

The twentieth century was a time of great technological development and cultural change. In this course, we will explore both the cultural impacts of new technological systems during this century and cultural responses to these innovations. Following an overview of these issues, we will spend the latter half of the course focusing in detail on the relationships between technology and culture using two of the most significant twentieth-century technological developments, the car and the computer. Our class will incorporate historical, literary, and cultural approaches, and students will learn to analyze cultural products, such as literature, film, television,advertisements, popular media articles, and museum exhibits, through these methods. Considerations of gender, class, race, power, artificial intelligence, the role of technology in daily life and identity formation, and the hopes and fears technology evokes will be discussed throughout.