| Human - Object - Tool Toward an anthropology of technology |
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| Course description | |
| This course sets out to explore the significance and meaning of the
tools and technologies that human societies construct and utilize. Its
point of departure will be the idea that tools function as intermediaries
between human beings and the world - extensions of the human body, which
cannot be adequately understood either as objects or things, or as
entities with agency (cf. Latour's concept of the "actant").
Furthermore, I believe - or consider it a reasonable hypothesis - that
this ability to construct sophisticated "technological
extensions" is a uniquely human capacity, indeed,
perhaps it is the defining capacity of homo sapiens sapiens as
a species. This is an exploratory course, without pregiven conclusions. We will examine concrete tools and their use, discover empirical cases of tool use, and discuss various theoretical approaches that seem to have the potential to shed light on the problem of "the tool". Before registering for the course, students are requested to read the short online text available at: http://www.fsnielsen.com/txt/art/tool.htm. The course will be held as two intensive sessions, each lasting 3 days, with a 3-hour session on days 1 and 3, and a whole-day session on day 2. Student presentations will play a major role in both of the two intensive sessions, and students will therefore have to prepare themselves extensively for the course, well in advance of the first course day. Click here for details on how to prepare yourself for the course. On a Bachelor level, the main learning objectives of the course are to teach students (1) to explain the scientific merits of course texts dealing with human technology and tool use, (2) to analyze empirical data on human tool use, (3) to compare various theoretical approaches with relevance for our understanding of human tool use, (4) to argue the value (or non-value) of various theoretical approaches to human tool use, and (5) to argue for an anthropological understanding of human tool use. On a Kandidat level, the main learning objectives of the course are to teach students (1) to investigate theoretical and empirical texts on technology and tool use, (2) to reflect on the analytical arguments in such texts, (3) to reflect on the usefulness of existing anthropological theory (which does not deal directly with technology) for analysis of human tool use, (4) to draw general conclusions on human tool use on the basis of the course curriculum and other sources, and (5) to construct theoretical statements with significance for our understanding of human technology and tool use. The grade 12 is awarded for "the outstanding achievement that demonstrates thorough fulfillment of the goals of the course". Bachelor students must demonstrate an outstanding ability to understand and compare various theoretical approaches to human tool use, and to analyze and argue their relative merits. Kandidat students must demonstrate an outstanding ability to reflect on central issues in the literature on human tool use, to investigate the relative merits of various approaches to tool use, draw general conclusions on that basis, and take initial steps toward building independent theoretical constructs relevant for anthropological studies of technology and tool use. |
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