Kursinformation

The seminar explores electricity as a global technology from the first electric bulb to today’s digitalized world. Following the history of electricity from kilowatts to megabytes, we will examine the materiality of electricity, its peculiarity as a form of energy, and its use as a medium of information. In the seminar, we will approach electrical and digital infrastructures as social, economic, and cultural phenomena, and interrogate their relation to globalization: How did the electric telegraph affect global communication and the rise of global markets? How does the materiality of electricity relate to its commodification, the emergence of electric multinationals, and international power grids? What can we learn about today’s globally acting Internet and Tech companies when we look at them through the lens of their material foundation – electricity? The seminar will suit students who are eager to learn more about electricity as a physical phenomenon, as well as its technical, economic and cultural forms. Readings consist of theoretical works, classic texts, recent scholarship, opinion-pieces and primary material (*) from around the world.