Infrastructure and Society

Infrastructures make their social impact felt in a variety of ways, including through the technologies they embody, the materials from which they are made, and their sensory and aesthetic presence in our everyday lives. What does a bridge do besides facilitate a crossing? How does waiting in an airport influence our understanding of time and place? How do database designs impact how we buy things and make payments? Each of these can exert their influence at multiple scales and in multiple ways, often anchoring diverse landscapes of experience across populations, communities, and individuals. Indeed, one could argue that infrastructures are unique in terms of understanding how social relations are made possible, maintained, and reproduced and how we categorize what is necessary for social life. In this course, we explore how the infrastructures that organize social life are formed, experienced, and interpreted.