Chalmers Gender and Technology Seminar - The Geek as gatekeeper? Changing relations between gender, race and technology

In his presentation, Andreas will present results from a recently finished VR financed project: The Geek as gatekeeper? Changing relations between gender, race and technology. The first part of the presentation will introduce the project as a whole, and explain how the project has tried to trace how the figuration of ‘the geek’ includes and excludes and how its shifting articulations are transforming available identities in relation to technology and STEM education.

The second part will focus on one of the project’s sub-studies, an ethnographic study of a technology makerspace. It will focus particularly on the role of passion and desire in this makerspace, conceptualizing these as emotional ‘orientation devices’ in Sara Ahmed’s sense (2004). It will be argued that passion for technology underpins a playful approach to technology but also becomes a homosocial ‘glue’ that makes technology ‘sticky’ for only a select group of techno-passionate men. The study concludes that this undermines the potential for ‘making’ to democratize technology and puts into question the degree to which interest-driven, voluntaristic and ‘open’ settings for engaging with technology can contribute to pluralizing engineering. The last part of the seminar will be devoted to discussing both the presented sub-study and the project as a whole with the seminar group.

The seminars are held on Tuesdays, 13.00-14.30 in Linnéplatsen, Department of Technology Management and Economics (hybrid format, zoom link sent out via email ahead of the seminars). The seminar takes the format of presentation, followed by discussion and questions. The seminars are held in English.

Seminar chair: Lisa Lindén, Associate Professor in Gender and Technology, Division of Science, Technology & Society, Chalmers