IPLS 401-0
( Core Course ) Seminar in Liberal Studies I: Technology and American Culture, 1790-1930
The significance of technological change has been a central topic for debate in the United States since Jefferson and Hamilton clashed over the merits of industrialization in the late 18th century. Most Americans, past and present, have focused on the "impact" of technological innovation, seeing it as an agent of progress, degradation, or some mixture of the two. This course deals instead with the reciprocal relationship between technological change and changes in American literature, art, myth, popular belief, and social custom. It is not a course about the history of machines, and it does not presume any special knowledge of machinery or science. Rather, it deals with the often subtle ways in which technology shapes and is shaped by culture. Readings will include works by Edward Bellamy, Mark Twain, and Cronon's Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. Counts toward all three specializations.
