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| Semester | fall semester 2022 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Ernest Sewordor (ernest.sewordor@unibas.ch)
James Lawrence Zimmermann Merron (james.merron@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Material and symbolic infrastructures become visible when they break down (Star & Ruhleder 1996). Repair highlights the skilled work required to maintain large technical systems and infrastructural networks (Anand et al. 2018). However while repair and maintenance are essential, they are often overlooked (Henke & Sims 2020). This course interrogates the (in)visibility of socio-technical infrastructures by attending to everyday fixes, workarounds, and improvisations (Simone 2008) that are essential yet taken-for-granted. |
| Learning objectives | Participants will be introduced to ‘repair’ via the conceptual categories, theoretical frameworks and methodological procedures through which it is rendered visible as an object of research. Special focus will be placed on case studies from Africa through which students will be equipped to grasp how repair is constructed as a researchable thing (see Macamo 2016). |
| Bibliography | The course will be structured around book chapters and journal articles from the following sources: Macamo, Elisio. 2016. “Before We Start: Science and Power in the Constitution of Africa.” In The Politics of Nature and Science in Southern Africa, edited by Melanie Boehi, Giorgio Miescher, and Maano Ramutsindela, 323–34. Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Mavhunga, Chakanetsa. 2017. What Do Science, Technology, and Innovation Mean From Africa? MIT Press. Anand, Nikhil, Akhil Gupta, and Hannah Appel. 2018. The Promise of Infrastructure. Duke University Press. Henke, Christopher R, and Benjamin Sims. 2020. Repairing Infrastructures: The Maintenance of Materiality and Power. MIT Press. Star, Susan Leigh, and Karen Ruhleder. 1996. “Steps Toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and access for large information spaces.” Information Systems Research 7 (1): 111–34. Simone, AbdouMaliq. 2008. “People as Infrastructure.” In Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis, edited by Achille Mbembe, and Sarah Nuttal, 68–90. Duke University Press. Burrell, Jenna. 2012. Invisible Users: Youth in the Internet Cafés of Urban Ghana. MIT Press. Parks, Lisa et al. 2021. “Digital Empowerment for Whom? An analysis of ‘Network sovereignty’ in low-income, rural communities in Mexico and Tanzania.” Information, Communication & Society 1–22. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Tuesday | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 20.09.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 27.09.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 04.10.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 11.10.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 18.10.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 25.10.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 01.11.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 08.11.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 15.11.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 22.11.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 29.11.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 06.12.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 13.12.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Tuesday 20.12.2022 | 12.15-13.45 | Alte Universität, Seminarraum -201 |
| Modules |
Modul: Areas: Afrika (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Fields: Environment and Development (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Kulturtechnische Dimensionen (Master's degree program: Cultural Techniques) Modul: Materialitäten (Master's degree program: Cultural Techniques) Module: Resources and Sustainability (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Module: The Urban across Disciplines (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Staatlichkeit, Entwicklung und Globalisierung (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | An assessment will be based on a short essay and presentation at the end of the semester. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Zentrum für Afrikastudien |