Teaching

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

Course descriptions

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. Offered Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Summer 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012. Download Spring 2011 Syllabus (PDF); Download Spring 2010 Pacific Program Syllabus (PDF) ; Download Spring 09 Syllabus (PDF)

ENGL1102-MED – Medical Ways of Knowing
This special section of ENGL1102 for pre-health students will focus on humanistic inquiry into medical knowledge.  Medicine has been described as both a science and an art, and medical knowledge is a complicated thing.  It draws on incommensurable sources, ranging from stories told by patients, to observations by physicians and scientists in both clinics and labs, to large-scale clinical trials.  This course will critically analyze medical knowledge claims as presented in diverse forms: accounts by physicians and patients, as well as scientific reports.  This engagement fosters holistic medical literacy.  This course will provide students with both the background and analytical tools to grapple with important questions facing medical providers, policy makers, and consumers today. Offered Spring 2011, Spring 2012. Download Spring 2011 Syllabus (PDF)

LCC 4300 – Senior Seminar in Biomedicine and Culture:
Drugs and Culture
This course is an advanced seminar exploring drugs and culture.  This course uses historical, anthropological, sociological, and science studies approaches to provide students with both information and analytical tools to grapple with the intersections of drugs and culture in American society.  Attending to the whole life cycle of drugs – from production to consumption, and how those intersect – provides opportunities to think creatively about how drugs matter culturally, moving beyond common sense and simplistic pro and con answers to social and policy questions.  Over the course of the semester, we will read broadly about of a variety of drugs, including those that straddle medicine and recreation, such as amphetamines and cannabis, as well as those that are unquestionably on one side (chemotherapy and antiretrovirals) or the other (ecstasy and heroin).  Each student will choose one drug to analyze in depth, with small assignments building toward a final paper that considers its production, consumption, and how those are mediated.  Offered Fall 2010.

LCC 3304 – Science, Technology and Gender
This course explores intersections of gender, science and technology.  It draws on anthropology, history, sociology, and media studies to introduce students to analysis of science and technology through a gender lens. The class begins by introducing foundational texts and ideas from feminist science studies, and then explores one topical technology in depth: preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).  The course then has two units that break down gendered analysis into bits: first digital, then biological.  This topical range is designed to help students learn to apply gender analysis to a range of technologies.  Students will use the topical familiarity and analytical skills gained to create a final project that analyzes some bit of gendered body or technology in depth.  This course will provide a foundation for further study in STAC, as well as analytical tools for students from all majors interested in investigating gender, science, and technology in/and culture. Offered Fall 2010. Download Fall 2010 Syllabus (PDF)

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. Offered Fall 2008, Fall 2009. Download Fall 09 Syllabus (PDF)

ENGL 1102 – 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. Offered Spring 2009.

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. Offered Fall 2008.