ASS330 - Cyborg Anthropology
Unit details
| Year | 2025 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online, Community Based Delivery (CBD)* |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Unit Chair: | Trimester 2: Timothy Neale |
| Previously: | Human Possibilities in the Age of Digital Communication |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Corequisite: | Nil |
| Incompatible with: | Nil |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour on-campus lecture per week 1 x 1-hour on-campus seminar per week |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment: | 1 x 1-hour online lecture per week (recordings provided) 1 x 1-hour online seminar per week |
| Typical study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site. |
Note:*Community Based Delivery (CBD): only for students of the National Indigenous Knowledges, Education, Research and Innovation NIKERI Institute (located at the Waurn Ponds campus) | |
Content
In the 1960s, the term “cyborg” was coined to describe a future in which humans might be made up of both biological and human-made parts. But, on reflection, perhaps we were already cyborgs? Global telecommunication systems mediate our relationships. Radiation and pharmaceuticals affect our environments and bodies. Microplastics are in our bloodstreams. Maybe humans and human societies have actually been a blend of the biological and technological for much longer than we typically imagine.
In this unit, students will be introduced to anthropological perspectives that engage these issues. What do new technological discoveries and the interaction of embedded technologies tell us about human beings of today? How are human beings imagined and how is human potential being reconceived in the digital age? How are human values and priorities embedded in the technologies that are shaping our futures? This course will open up new and exciting ways of thinking about the nature of human being in the context of rapid technological and cultural change, as well asking how human experiences of love, death, culture, gender, identity, community, the body, environment, work and leisure are being transformed in the context of new technologies.
Cyborg anthropology is about the world-transforming event of modern technological development - it is about the new beings that human beings are always becoming.
Learning Outcomes
| ULO | These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can: | Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs) |
|---|---|---|
| ULO1 | Describe and analyse an emerging field of new theoretical approaches to technology, from a historic setting to modern digital technologies | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities |
| ULO2 | Evaluate the role of cybernetic systems and cyborgs in terms of their implications for the re-engineering of human beings | GLO4: Critical thinking |
| ULO3 | Question taken-for-granted assumptions about modern technology use, biotechnology and robotics in order to engage anthropological thinking to the digital environment | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities GLO5: Problem Solving |
| ULO4 | Evaluate personal digital technology practices and reflect on embedded knowledge of modern technology | GLO2: Communication GLO3: Digital literacy |
Assessment
| Assessment Description | Student output | Grading and weighting (% total mark for unit) | Indicative due week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1 - Seminar presentation | 800 words or equivalent | 20% | Information not yet available |
| Assessment 2 - Visual Project | 800 words or equivalent | 20% | Week 6 |
| Assessment 3 - Essay | 2400 words or equivalent | 60% | Week 10 |
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
Learning resource
The texts and reading list for ASS330 can be found via the University Library.
Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Unit Fee Information
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current Students website.