Making at the Intersection

Instructors: Kim Martin, John Fink, and Liviu Pop

Classroom: THINC Lab, 2nd Floor, McLaughlin Library

The past year has seen gender issues brought front and centre in the media, and discussions about diversity (gender, race, sexuality, religion) are gathering strength within academia. The DH Community has been called out in the past for not being aware of these issues, but recent contributions to DH texts and newer DH projects work towards addressing previous imbalances. This course will aim to have its participants become more aware of the relationship between technology and gender by analyzing the way this relationship has been presented in the media, what makers in different contexts are experiencing, and how the DH community itself talks about gender and diversity. Intersectional in nature, participants with an interest in disability studies, race studies, and gender studies are all eagerly invited to take part.

This course will create space for discussions of gender and technology, based on a framework of intersectional feminist texts. Daily discussions of readings will be supplemented with hands-on creation of both digital and physical objects (games, storytelling, wearables, etc). With each creation, course instructors will invite participants to reflect on the work that they do, relate it to the readings, and critique each other’s creations in terms of feminist theories of technology. Readings include those by Judy Wacjman, Sally Wyatt, Radhika Gajjala, Donna Haraway, and Sherry Turkle.

Intended Audience:

Anyone with an interest in making things and thinking through how making, technology, and gender intersect.