| Lerninhalte |
This seminar introduces students to the concept of ‘cultural techniques’ as a way of theorising quotidian and often invisible practices of daily life that nevertheless carry meaning-making force equal to classic cultural productions like literature and film. The seminar interrogates the ubiquity of filtration and sorting practices in comtemporary cultural imagination while equipping students with an understanding of the theories of cultural techniques. Drawing on German media theory and cultural history, this seminar combines theoretical readings with case studies of filtration as a cultural technique. This combination of theory and praxis will help students develop an analysis of networks and infrastructure as cultural phenomena. The instances of filtration covered in this seminar comprise of both technological filters and paranoid manifestations of filtration techniques that seek to classify and compartmentalise entities.
In contemporary discourses of environmental harm and pollution, the desire for purity is often articulated as a desire for filtration – layers of separation that promise to isolate and manage toxicants before they infiltrate the human body. Filters appear as symbols of technological security against an unseen threat. Filters are also expressed in several other contexts, some of which might even predate the emergence of modern compound toxicants: linguistic translation, surveillance along national and maritime borders, moderation of online content and the management of data. Filtration is thus not simply a technical response to perceived contaminants, but also a cultural practice that shapes what is considered harmful, and prioritises the protection of some bodies over others. |
