Techno-Latinidad: Science, Technology, Institutions and the Making of Latino Identity (FYS)
STS 111
Fall 2025
| Section:
01
|
The growth of the US Latina/o population in the United States has prompted intense study of the experiences of this heterogenous and multifaceted community. Scholars, scientists, pollsters, activists, artists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers are all currently asking numerous questions about the present realities, impact, and future opportunities of Latinas/os in this country. But as we amass knowledge about Latinas and Latinos, it is critical to also ask how it is that Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, and many others came to be known and often to know themselves as "Hispanics" and as "Latinas/os" in the first place? When and how has the Latina/o identity category shape-shifted, been contested, strategically employed, maligned, and also celebrated in the United States and beyond? What are the stakes and the prospects for future representation, unity, belonging, and equality in American social life for all those who comprise this complex category? These questions and the histories that they urge us to keep present root our ways of knowing and living the category of Latino/a in the United States today. In this course, we will explore these questions, focusing on the sociological processes of identity formation and racialization, through the lens of Latinidad across the 20th and 21st centuries. While the history of Latinidad in the United States is conventionally narrated through stories of social movements, bureaucratic negotiations, and strategies of media and marketing, this course will update and expand this repertoire in important ways. Incorporating theory and research from science and technology studies, the course will place fresh emphasis on Latina/o bodies to excavate lesser-known histories of and emerging developments in medical, forensic, and surveillance technologies to track the accelerating technoscientific construction of Latinindad. |
|
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS STS |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
|
Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
|
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
|
|
|