Module SOC2096 for 2016/7
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SOC2096: Cyborg Studies
This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.
Module Aims
The social sciences have traditionally been 'humanist' disciplines, in as much as their empirical and theoretical focus is on human individuals, their interactions with one another, social groups and social structure. This module aims to develop a less anthropocentric or 'posthumanist' sensibility. With the figure of the cyborg, the cybernetic organism, a hybrid of human, animal and machine, as its icon, it explores the co-evolution of humans, machines, sciences and natures. It couples a discussion of posthumanist theory and its moral and political implications with a wide range of empirical studies
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Analyse relations between people (individuals and social groups), animals and machines 2. demonstrate familiarity with theoretical perspectives appropriate to the analysis of these relations and exemplify with a range of contemporary and historical examples |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. demonstrate awareness and understanding of a range of social scientific, historical, and philosophical perspectives 4. identify the core theoretical assumptions and premises of these disciplines 5. apply theoretical and interpretive perspectives to the task of sociological analysis 6. demonstrate appreciation of the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of different and competing social scientific, historical, and philosophical perspectives |
| Personal and Key Skills | 7. reflect on, and examine, taken-for-granted social, cultural and ethical assumptions, beliefs and values 8. analyse, evaluate, and communicate a range of explanatory and interpretive theoretical perspectives; assess evidence, marshal facts and construct arguments |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Introduction; history of cybernetics; industry, warfare and modernity; human-machine interfaces and interactions; agency; subjectivity and desire; animals and the environment; cyborg politics; cyborg aesthetics
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | The module will be taught as a series of seminars, meeting for two hours each week, organised around discussions of pre-assigned readings; input by the module leader; student presentations; group discussions of film presentations; and media analysis |
| Guided independent study | 66 | weekly reading and working through assigned articles and book chapters |
| Guided independent study | 62 | essay writing |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participation in seminar discussions; presentations of reading summaries | Weekl | 1-8 | Verbal feedback |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay 1 | 40 | 2,000 words | 1-8 | Written feedback |
| Essay 2 | 60 | 3,000 words | 1-8 | Written feedback |
| 0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay 1 | Essay 1 (2000 words) | 1-8 | August/September |
| Essay 2 | Essay 2 (3000 words) | 1-8 | August/September |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Sample reading:
Hables Gray, C. (1995) The Cyborg Handbook (New York: Routledge)
Haraway, D. (1991[1985]) ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’ in Haraway, D. Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York: Routledge) pp.149-181
Haraway, D. (2003) The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness (Chicago: Prickly
Paradigm Press).
Hayles, N. K. (1999) How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics (Chicago:the University of Chicago Press)
Pickering, A. (2010) Sketches of Another Future: Cybernetics in Britain, 1940-2000 (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press).
Suchman, L. (2007a) Human–Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions, revised edn. (New York: Cambridge University Press).
Suchman, L. (2007b) ‘Feminist STS and the Sciences of the Artificial’, in E. Hackett, O. Amsterdamska, M. Lynch and J.Wajcman (eds) The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, 3rd edn, pp. 139–63. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wiener, N. (1961 [1948]) Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
ELE pages
