The MLab is very happy to welcome Tanja Carstensen to UVic. On Friday, October 9th at 12:30pm in David Strong C116, she will be delivering a talk on the topic of “Gender, Makerspaces, and Laboratory Culture.” Details and poster below. We hope to see you there. We are fortunate to have Dr. Carstensen on campus, and after her talk we plan to dedicate at least twenty minutes to discussion.
“Gender, Makerspaces, and Laboratory Culture”
Tanja Carstensen, Hamburg University of Technology
Friday, October 9th | 12:30pm | David Strong Building C116
Traditionally, technology has been linked to power and masculinity. At the same time, with every new technology, social, power, and gender relations can be negotiated anew. Makerspaces as well as digital fabrication labs (“fab labs”) have been discussed as opportunities to change power relations. Among other things, they are expected to erode the relationship between production and consumption, and to change the distribution of power over technology. However, are they also a chance for negotiating the traditional link between technology and masculinity? That is, in what ways are makerspaces and fab labs gendered? In this talk, I analyse the intersections of gender, makerspaces, and fab labs, with attention to access, users, technologies, products, education, community, and empowerment.
Tanja Carstensen is a sociologist and postdoctoral researcher with the Work-Gender-Technology research group at the Hamburg University of Technology.
Post by Jentery Sayers, attached to the Makerspace project, with the news tag. Poster by Victoria Murawski.
