Elena Valdameri: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2023

Name	Dr. Elena Valdameri
Address	Geschichte der modernen Welt ETH Zürich, RZ G 25 Clausiusstrasse 59 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND
Telephone	+41 44 632 74 31
E-mail	elena.valdameri@gess.ethz.ch
Department	Humanities, Social and Political Sciences
Relationship	Lecturer

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
851-0012-00L	Technology, Development, and Colonialism in the Age of Empire (c. 1800–1950)	3 credits	2S	E. Valdameri
Abstract	This course explores the manifold interconnections existing between technology, development and colonialism in the period between c. 1800 and 1950. Central to this seminar is the development of technologies such as means of transportation, architecture, passports, torture techniques in relation to the colonial experience, decolonisation and development, especially in Asian and African settings.
Learning objective	Students will be able to a) develop new perspectives on their core subjects by bringing them in dialogue with the themes dealt with and raising ethical questions; b) familiarise with relevant topics examined by recent scholarship in the specific context of colonialism; c) think critically of the present through a better understanding of technology and development and their relationship with power.
Content	Students learn the history of technology and development from around 1800 to 1950 through examples taking into account theoretical texts and empirical case studies from the relevant multidisciplinary scholarship with a special, albeit not exclusive, focus on colonial contexts in Asia and Africa. More specifically, students are sensitized to the historical, political and cultural variabilities of technology and development beyond their supposedly objective rationale and within discourses of so-called civilising and modernising missions. The course is structured thematically, adopts a multidisciplinary approach, and uses academic texts as well as concrete examples.