Teaching

My teaching focuses on foundations of the Science, Technology and Culture program as well as topics in biomedicine and culture.

Course descriptions

LCC 2100 - Introduction to Science, Technology and Culture

The goal of this class is to introduce students to analysis of science and technology from a social and cultural standpoint. Focusing on concrete objects ranging from brain scans and amniocentesis to nuclear weapons and computer viruses, this course will provide a foundation for further study in STaC, as well as analytical tools for students from all majors interested in investigating science and technology in/and culture. Download Fall 09 Syllabus (PDF)

LCC 3318 – Biomedicine and Culture

In the lab and in the newspapers, topics in biomedicine are frequent subjects of debate. From assisted reproductive technology and stem cells, to pharmaceuticals and imaging technologies, to life support and its termination, biomedical technologies are shaping our lives in unprecedented ways. This course uses interdisciplinary sources – drawn principally from science and technology studies, cultural studies, and anthropology – to provide students with both information and analytical tools to grapple with the intersections of biomedicine and culture in American society. Download Spring 09 Syllabus (PDF)

ENGL 1102 – English Composition II: Narrating Disease

When disease categories become enrolled in telling stories about who we are and how we fit in the world, we have a rich opportunity to explore how medicine and identities intersect. This course analyzes disease narratives from a wide range of genres – novel, essay, memoir, graphic novel, film, ethnography – to explore how disease is involved in constructing identity and how identity becomes part of constructing disease.

LCC 2300 – Introduction to Biomedicine and Culture

This course provides an introduction to central cultural topics in biomedicine, such as health care, medical practice, medical research, and the systems of cultural meaning within which ideas of health and disease circulate.