Chris McGuinness
The Social Life of Technology / University of Lucerne / Fall 2025
Considering anthropology’s long-standing interest in material culture, this seminar elucidates how anthropological methods offer unique insights to the study of technology at large. The term technology may connote machines, electronics, and cyberspace; however, it may also refer to pre-modern techniques surrounding artisanship and cultivation. Across these varied sites, technological practices involving human labor are, indeed, socially situated and embodied experiences. What can we learn, not only from adopted technologies, but also those which fail? How might technologies in circulation be used in culturally specific ways? What roles do technologies play in the formation and experience of identities? How do technologies facilitate power and resistance?
This seminar is comprised of a tripartite introduction to the anthropology of technology (AoT). Part one covers foundational themes in science and technology studies (STS), including material culture, the social construction of technology, actor network theory, and cyborg feminism. Part two deals with topics around how users interact with technological artifacts, focusing on skill, affordances, media practices, and digital methodologies. Part three addresses contemporary topics in digital anthropology and software studies, including the ethnography of software engineers, code, and algorithms.
Religious Aesthetics in South Asia / University of Zürich / Fall 2024
Religion in South Asia is remarkably diverse, spanning numerous organizations, sects, and schools, and the concept of religiosity factors prominently into society at large. While aesthetics often refers to philosophies of beauty and taste, religious aesthetics may be understood in terms of how expression and religion qualify one another. What sorts of expressive practices facilitate ritual and denote sacredness? What role do the senses play in experiencing religion – and how do South Asian religions categorize the ways that humans can sense? What sorts of bodily techniques are formed through religious practice?
Through close and critical analyses, this course surveys a diverse range of topics, including Hindu sacred sounds, Tantra, Bhakti poetry, Mughal painting, samā in Islam, Sikh langar, Baul sādhana, Khatak dance, atheist philosophy, soundscapes, and smellscapes. By studying aesthetics in performing arts, literature, and ritual, we gain unique insights to the tangible significance of religion in South Asia, as well as its vital role in modernity, politics, and social identities.
Futures Initiative (Full Stack / 2024)
Cathy Davidson (Backend – WordPress / 2025)
Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory (Backend – Drupal / 2023)
contact
chrismcguinness.com