Drew University Moodle

What does it mean to say that we live in an “information age”? When did the computer become personal, and why did we end up with the information systems we use today? How does data collected by governments and businesses shape the way we see and move about the world? Can history inform technical, ethical, and fundamentally political debates about the future of information technology?

This course seeks answers to these questions by exploring the rise of networks, bureaucracy, and computers from the 19th century through today, with a focus on the United States and its global connections. The rise of computing is often told as a story of lone-wolf innovators and progress driven by so-called ‘laws’ of manufacturing. Through the lens of social history, we consider instead how this history has been defined by conflicts between interest groups and values: system designers and users, labor and automation, openness and privacy, access and exclusivity. Applying these insights to current issues like facial recognition software, social media content moderation, and computing’s impact on the environment, we can ask whether the problems of our present digital age are truly unprecedented or rooted in deeper historical trends.

INTD 630 - Topics in Gender Studies
Transnational Feminism and AAPI Women’s Religiosity
Fall 2022

Meeting Time & Venue: 4:05-6:35 PM, Wednesdays, Seminary Hall 116 in-person or online
Instructor: Minjung Noh, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Email: mnoh@drew.edu
Office Hours: By appointment
Email is the best way to contact me. I will usually respond to emails within 24 hours. Please include your name and class section in the title of the email.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this course, we will explore the world of AAPI women’s religiosity through the perspectives of transnational feminism. Our central questions will be: How have colonialism, modern nation-building, Western Enlightenment ideals, global capitalism, migration, racism, xenophobia, and sexuality shaped the AAPI women’s religious lives? What has been the role of religion and spirituality in the modern lives of AAPI women and men? In reflecting upon these questions, our main goal is to create a framework for analyzing what constitutes the women’s experience – using categories of class, gender, sexuality, political economy, ethnicity and race, nation, and many others – and bring its insight to the activism for justice.