Course:

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY: ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

Interdepartmental Program of Graduate Studies: “Science, Technology, Society - Science and Technology Studies”
Department of History and Philosophy of Science & Department of Informatics and Telecommunications
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Spring Semester 2019-20
Wednesday, 19:00-21:00
Lecture Rooms, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University Campus
e-class: https://eclass.uoa.gr/courses/PHS370/

Giorgos Velegrakis – gvelegrakis@phs.uoa.gr

Description

The course will introduce to the history, contemporary status, content, research questions, area of interest and methodologies of the interdisciplinary area of study ‘Science, Technology, Society (STS): Environment and Sustainability’. The field relies on inputs from several disciplines and areas of scholarly research such as History, Philosophy, Sociology and Anthropology of Science and Technology, Human and Economic Geography, Development Studies and Social Movements Studies. Special attention will be paid to Political Ecology, Environmental History, Environmental Studies and Sustainability Transition Studies. The course will focus on the potential of using STS to enrich all of the above and vice versa.

The course includes four parts. The first part introduces students to the field and key concepts of STS, the Environment and Sustainability, and sets out an analytical framework for conceptualizing specific elements that are central to an STS understanding of the human-environment relations:  society, nature, science and technology.

The second part examines applications and variations of this framework upon different expressions of human-environment interactions and the role of science and technology within them.

The third part considers the environmental implications of major economic and development activities, the conflicts related to them and the ways in which science/technology, power relations and history influence the capacity to both engage in conflict and create alternatives towards sustainability.

The fourth part provides some basic tools for engagement and critical understanding of science/technology policy making of relevance to the environment and sustainability.

After taking this course, students should be able to identify and explain ways in which science and technology, power and politics influence and/or transform the human-environment relationship, analyze socio-environmental issues under the above-mentioned scientific lenses and conduct empirical research that leads to such an analysis.

Modules and/or Topics of Interest

1.      STS and the Environment: An Introduction – Theorizing the Environment question in STS

Beck, S., Forsyth, T., Kohler, P., M., Lahsen, M., & Mahony, M. (2017). The Making of Global Environmental Science and Politics. Στο Felt, U., Fouche, R., Miller, C.,A., & Smith-Doerr, L.  (επιμ.) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies – 4^th Edition, σ. 1059 - 1086. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press.

Khandekar, A., Beumer, K., Mamidipudi, A., Sekhsaria, P., & Bijker, W., E. (2017). STS for Development. Στο Felt, U., Fouche, R., Miller, C.,A., & Smith-Doerr, L.  (επιμ.) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies – 4^th Edition, σ. 665 - 693. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press.

Stine, J., K., & Tarr, J., A. (1994) Technology and the Environment: The Historians' Challenge. Environmental History Review, Vol. 18, No. 1, Special Issue on Technology, Pollution, and the Environment, σ. 1-7.

Yearly, S. (2008). Nature and the Environment in Science and Technology Studies. Στο Hackett, E., J., Amsterdamska, O., Lynch, M., & Wajcman, J.  (επιμ.) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies – 3^rd Edition, σ. 921 -947. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press.

2.      The Contribution of Political Ecology

Jones, O. (2009). After Nature: Entangled Worlds. Στο Castree, N., Demeritt, D., Liverman, D., & Rhoads, B. (επιμ.) A Companion to Environmental Geography, σ. 294 - 312. Oxford: Wiley - Bleckwell.

Robbins, P. (2015). The trickster science. Στο Perreault, T., Bridge, G., & McCarthy, J. (επιμ.) The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology, σ. 89 - 101. London and New York: Routledge.

Watts, M. (2015). Now and Then - The origins of political ecology and the rebirth of adaptation as a form of thought. Στο Perreault, T., Bridge, G., & McCarthy, J. (επιμ.) The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology, σ. 19 - 50. London and New York: Routledge.

3.      Key Concepts

Βελεγράκης, Γ. (2017). Ο Γκράμσι, η Φιλοσοφία της Πράξης και η Πολιτική Οικολογία. Στο Βελεγράκης, Γ., Κωνσταντάτος, Χ., & Χατζημιχάλης, Κ. (επιμ.) Πολιτική Οικολογία: Οκτώ συμβολές στην ελληνική συζήτηση, σ. 17 - 31. Αθήνα: Νήσος/Χαροκόπειο Πανεπιστήμιο.

Braun, B. (2015). From critique to experiment? Rethinking political ecology for the Anthropocene. Στο Perreault, T., Bridge, G., & McCarthy, J. (επιμ.) The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology, σ. 102 - 114. London and New York: Routledge.

Breyman, S., Campbell, N., Eubanks, V., & Kinchy, A. (2017). STS and Social Movements: Pasts and Futures. Στο Felt, U., Fouche, R., Miller, C.,A., & Smith-Doerr, L.  (επιμ.) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies – 4^th Edition, σ. 289 - 317. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press.

Castree, N. (2008). Neoliberalising nature: the logics of deregulation and reregulation. Environment and Planning A, 40, σ. 131 - 152.

Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, New Series, Vol. 162, No. 3859, pp. 1243-1248.

Hornborg, A. (2015). Conceptualizing ecologically unequal exchange - Society and nature entwined. Στο Perreault, T., Bridge, G., & McCarthy, J. (επιμ.) The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology, σ. 378 - 388. London and New York: Routledge.

Ottinger, G., Barandiaran, J., & Kimura, A., H. (2017). Environmental Justice: Knowledge, Technology, and Expertise. Στο Felt, U., Fouche, R., Miller, C.,A., & Smith-Doerr, L.  (επιμ.) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies – 4^th Edition, σ. 1029 - 1057. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press.

Χοβαρδάς, Τ. (2017). Η ιερή αγελάδα του Hardin. Στο Βελεγράκης, Γ., Κωνσταντάτος, Χ., & Χατζημιχάλης, Κ. (επιμ.) Πολιτική Οικολογία: Οκτώ συμβολές στην ελληνική συζήτηση, σ. 17 - 31. Αθήνα: Νήσος/Χαροκόπειο Πανεπιστήμιο.

4.      Aspects of the content I_ Researching Energy

Brittan, J., & Gordon, G.(2001). Wind, energy, landscape: Reconciling nature and technology. Philosophy & Geography, 4: 2, σ. 169 - 184.

Heymann, M. (1998). Signs of hubris:  The shaping of wind technology styles in Germany, Denmark, and the United States, 1940 - 1990. Technology and Culture, 39 (4), σ. 641 - 670.

Raman, S. (2013). Fossilizing Renewable Energies. Science as Culture, 22:2, σ. 172-180. DOI: 10.1080/09505431.2013.786998.

Sovacool, K. (2010). The importance of open and closed styles of energy research. Social Studies of Science, 40(6), σ. 903-930. DOI: I O.I 177/0306312710373842.

5.      Aspects of the content II_ The Nuclear Question

Dorries, M. (2008). The ‘Winter’ Analogy Fallacy: From superbombs to supervolcanoes. History of Metereology, 4 (2008), σ. 41 - 56.

Hecht, G. (2003). Globalization meets Frankenstein? Reflections on terrorism, nuclearity, and Global technopolitical discourse. History and Technology, 19(1), σ. 1 - 8. DOI: 10.1080/0734151022000042243.

Hecht, G. (2007). A Cosmogram for Nuclear Things. Isis, 98, σ. 100-108.

6.      Aspects of the content III_ Disasters, Agriculture, Urban Environments

Farias, I., & Blok, A. (2017). STS in the City. Στο Felt, U., Fouche, R., Miller, C.,A., & Smith-Doerr, L.  (επιμ.) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies – 4^th Edition, σ. 555 - 581. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press.

Fortun, K., Knowles, S., G., Choi, V., Jobin, P., Matsumoto, M., De la Torre III, P., Liboiron, M., & Murillo, L., F. (2017). Researching Disaster from an STS Perspective. Στο Felt, U., Fouche, R., Miller, C.,A., & Smith-Doerr, L.  (επιμ.) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies – 4^th Edition, σ. 1003 - 1028. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press.

Iles, A., Graddy-Lovelace, G., Montenegro, M., & Galt, R. (2017). Agricultural Systems: Co-producing Knowledge and Food. Στο Felt, U., Fouche, R., Miller, C.,A., & Smith-Doerr, L.  (επιμ.) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies – 4^th Edition, σ. 943 - 972. Cambridge Massachusetts and London: The MIT Press.