Changing topics that explore issues and problems related to the goals of the Global Poverty and Practice Minor program. The topics often reflect the research interests of the instructor and supplement regular curricular offerings. Topics change each semester. Specific descriptions of current offerings are available through the department.

Technology is often presented as the solution to social justice problems, including poverty, hunger, climate change, etc. In such narratives, technology is presented as a way to achieve social justice while avoiding struggles over power, distribution of resources, and historical accountability. In this seminar, we will attempt to unpack this narrative by exploring the complex relationship between engineering, technology, and poverty. Rather than focusing on narrowly construed quantitative measures of the impact of specific technologies upon poverty, we will attempt to understand the relationship between poverty experts – specifically, those who are focused on applying technology to solve issues related to poverty and social justice – and the objects of their interventions – impoverished, under-served, and socially marginalized individuals and communities.

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