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69387-01 - Seminar: Geologies of Media: Material Histories and Environmental Politics of Communication Technologies 3 CP

Semester fall semester 2023
Course frequency Once only
Lecturers Maria Eriksson (maria.eriksson@unibas.ch, Assessor)
Content From the large-scale production of cellulose to make paper, to the use of liquid beetle secretions in the manufacturing of gramophone records, and the use of water to cool and power modern data centers, information technologies have always been closely associated with the extraction and exploitation of natural resources. This seminar explores the environmental histories of media and highlights how past and present media systems depend on planetary flows of matter and energy. Throughout the semester, we will study the material epistemologies and life histories of everyday communication tools, starting from their birth out of substances such as oil, wood, metals, and rare-earth minerals, and ending with their death as information rubbish and toxic electronic waste. What – to borrow from Liam Cole Young (p.3) – is the place of nature and the earth in digital tools, media devices, and global communication infrastructures? And how can we understand the multiple ways in which media and the environment are entangled?

[Ref.: Young, Liam Cole. 2020. “Salt: Fragments from the History of a Medium.” Theory, Culture & Society 37(6).]

 

Course application Anmeldung über MOnA notwendig (services.unibas.ch).
Language of instruction English
Use of digital media No specific media used

 

Interval Weekday Time Room
wöchentlich Monday 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG

Dates

Date Time Room
Monday 18.09.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 25.09.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 02.10.2023 14.15-16.00 fällt aus, --
Monday 09.10.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 16.10.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 23.10.2023 14.15-16.00 fällt aus; Projektwoche
Monday 30.10.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 06.11.2023 14.15-18.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 13.11.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 20.11.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 27.11.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 04.12.2023 14.15-16.00 fällt aus, --
Monday 11.12.2023 14.15-16.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Monday 18.12.2023 14.15-18.00 Holbeinstrasse 12, Projektraum 1.OG
Modules Modul: Aufbaustudium Medienökologien (Bachelor's degree subject: Media Studies)
Modul: Materialitäten (Master's degree program: Cultural Techniques)
Assessment format continuous assessment
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 Fachbereich Medienwissenschaft

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