ANTH 3608 will be offered in Sem 2, 2025 at the University of Sydney
This class is an advanced third-year seminar which will cover the social study of science in technology, with special focus on its later turn to an approach based on networks that connect nature and culture, and particularly as anthropology has contributed to and learned from work in this area.
Some of the class materials will be here. Check back later for updates.
The network as a paradigm
This class has a thesis. It will argue that the idea of a network is not limited to any specific topic or type of social phenomenon. Rather it represents a paradigm shift in the social sciences, and the concept of a network informs a perspective that can change how we see any social phenomena.
![Figure 1: Different aspects of networks apply equally to all major domains of social research. [AI acknowledgement: Produced in a conversation with Gemini; see https://gemini.google.com/share/fbd6b49b9094.]](/media/network-paradigm.png "A concept map entitled 'Figure 1: Different aspects of networks apply equally to all major domains of social research.' The diagram shows two columns of concepts. The left column, labeled 'Five aspects of networks', contains five oval nodes: interdependence, openness, distributedness, heterogeneity (difference, distance), and recursivity. The right column, labeled 'Four major domains of social research', contains four rectangular nodes: history, change, events; power, domination, inequality; subjectivity, meaning, experience; and form, organization, structure. Arrows connect every node from the left column to every node in the right column, illustrating the central claim that each network aspect applies to every domain of research. An AI acknowledgement is included below the figure. [AI-produced alt text with human editing.]")
Thinkers and topics
- Thomas Kuhn
- Robert Merton
- Sociology of scientific knowledge
- Doomsday Clock
- Make America Healthy Again
- Incurably Ill for Animal Research
A guide to the materials
- Home page
- Assignments
- Weekly writing assignments
- Autoethnographic essay
- In-class opener presentation
- In-class show-and-tell
- In-class draft editing
- Research essay (essay, exhibit, and in-class presentation)