Engaging the Teaching Place with the Anthropocene : A Case for STS Education Through 'Simul-Action'

Text

This paper is largely a speculative attempt to answer the question. Focusing on interdisciplinary pedagogical frameworks in Japan, it considers a course in ‘Science, Technology, Society (STS) and Environmental Governance’ as a possible illustration. Given in English at the University of Tokyo, this course addresses the need to re-examine governance frameworks for dealing with environmental crises and risks of scientific-technological provenance. Focusing on earth sciences, biotechnology and climate geoengineering, it examines various cases of cross-fertilization between STS (that investigates the relations between science production and policy outcomes) and global environmental governance (where several international institutions and transnational platforms meant to be science-policy interfaces have been established). Through role-play simulations, students scrutinize the relevance of such ‘boundary organizations’ and contemplate their legitimacy regarding the development of negotiated rulemaking processes in environmental regulation. Put in the footsteps of different stakeholders, they  envision more distinctly the implications of an understanding of ‘environmental

problems’ and ‘risks’ as social constructs. This paper discusses the practical and theoretical conditions under which integrated syllabi and ‘simul-action’ pedagogical frameworks may help to connect more strongly environmental governance studies with both Disaster STS (as an emergent subfield of inquiry) and the ‘Anthropocene’ scientific proposal, approached at the interface of environmental sciences and environmental humanities. In so doing, it seeks to shed further light on the significance of STS education for the progressive building in post-Fukushima Japan of a transdisciplinary ‘Anthropocene curriculum’.

License

Creative Commons Licence

Contributors

Contributed date

January 20, 2019 - 12:07pm

Critical Commentary

This is an abstract was submitted to the 2018 4S Annual Conference held in Sydney, by Isabelle Juliette Giraudou of the  University of Tokyo. It was presented in the session titled "Reflexive Engagements in Climate Engineering"

The abstract was selected as it holds key topic of interest to the contributor's research. Specifically having to do with simulation, and teaching techniques having to do with technological and material imagination.

Source

This is an abstract was submitted to the 2018 4S Annual Conference held in Sydney, by Isabelle Juliette Giraudou of the  University of Tokyo. It was presented in the session titled "Reflexive Engagements in Climate Engineering"

Language

English

Cite as

Isabelle Juliette Giraudou, "Engaging the Teaching Place with the Anthropocene : A Case for STS Education Through 'Simul-Action'", contributed by Parikshith Shashikumar, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 20 January 2019, accessed 29 March 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/engaging-teaching-place-anthropocene-case-sts-education-through-simul-action