Film & Media Studies 373 - Feminist Histories of Computing

(Offered as SWAG 233 and FAMS 373) In this course we pay close attention to historical conjunctions in the development and dispersion of information technologies as they relate to women and the feminist movement. Our class consists of three interrelated strands: women’s labor history in the design, production, and use of computing machines; feminist methods for the study of history; and speculative, theoretical texts and media concerned with women identifying with and/or functioning as computing machines. Via these three strands, this class challenges, firstly, male centered histories of computing; secondly, linear historical models of technological development; and thirdly, the enduring concept of the computer revolution itself. Moving through women working with mainframe computers in the 1940s, to women in factories constructing computer components in the 1980s, to women forming close relationships with their personal devices, students can expect to become well-versed in histories of computing that emphasize issues of labor, race, gender difference, and reproductive health.

Fall semester. CHI Fellow and Visiting Lecturer Rowson.

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Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Reading, Writing, Visual Analysis, Independent Study