Cross-cultural investigations: technology and development

Seminars: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Cross-cultural research and collaboration is increasingly common, from engineering initiatives and development projects to disaster relief. But working across cultural, economic, and political divides is not easy. This course investigates how everyday cultural beliefs and practices, as well as institutional power dynamics, form the basis of international collaborations and inform the adoption of new technologies. We will review case studies in development and technology transfer and draft plans for improved practice. Students will also discover the excitement and dilemmas of designing and carrying out fieldwork by venturing off campus to practice doing interviews, conducting participant-observation research, and honing techniques of cross-cultural communication.

You must attend class and participate in discussions; this part of the course, including Reader Responses (see below), will account for 20% of the final grade. Class will be run as a seminar. We will discuss the readings, discuss your fieldwork assignments, and engage in problem-solving, collaborative discussion of research methods and hypothetical technology transfer schemes (identified below as in-class practical). You may be asked to present in-class summaries of and critical commentaries on select readings.

Reader Responses consist of a couple paragraphs describing your reaction to one or more readings for a particular session. Do not summarize; give your response to the reading. These should take no more than 30 minutes to write. While reader responses are not individually graded, they will be factored into the overall evaluation of your performance. You will write 4 over the term. You will be encouraged to post these on the course site before class to share your thoughts with your classmates.

Graded assignments include 2 fieldwork projects each entailing 5–7 page written reports, as well as a final group project, which we will discuss in class. Readings and assignments are to be completed on the date indicated in the syllabus. If you anticipate problems handing in work on time, contact me in advance; late written work is reduced by half a grade each day unless an extension has been granted 24 hours prior to the due date.

Students taking the course for graduate credit will work together on a team and may be asked to do additional reading/writing.

View in class: "Delivering the Goods," selections from RX For Survival: A Global Health Challenge

Reading response due: Bring to class a page of reflections on the reading, in which you reach back to our previous discussions of accessing local knowledge; in class, after watching the video, add a paragraph making connections between the what you've watched and what you read for today.

Mobile and digital technologies: new solutions and new challenges

Guest speaker: Mitali Thakor

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