8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
1/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
2/42
Undergrad: MechanicalEngineering 08 (CityUniversity of New York)
Masters: MechanicalEngineering 10 (Queens
University)
PhD: Sociology 20??(Somewhere Warm)
Veteran of Engineers WithoutBorders USA (Honduras)
Veteran of Earth Institute andUNDP (Uganda)
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
3/42
Part I: Importance of Engineering in SocialJustice
Part II: Identifying Our Mindsets
Part III: Challenging Our Mindsets for SocialJustice
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
4/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
5/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
6/42
Social Justice Work is work that we do in
the interest of securing human rights, anequitable distribution of resources, ahealthy planet and a space for the human
spirit tothrive.Innosanto Nagara
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
7/42
Community health and environmental justice
Economic justice
Education (Tuition Fees)
Housing/gentrification (Community Housing)
Immigrant rights (Systemic Discrimination)
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and two spirit
Police monitoring/community protection
Prison crisis
Reparations
Women and gender
Workers rights
Youth
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
8/42
TECHNOLOGY SHAPES SOCIETY
FOR GOOD AND BADSOCIETY SHAPES TECHNOLOGYFOR GOOD AND BAD
Marginalize: exclusion of certain individuals orgroups from meaningful participation in society.Causes: lack of economic resources, knowledge,
political rights and capacity, recognitionand power
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
9/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
10/42
Biosphere
Ecosystem B
Ecosystem C
Ecosystem A
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
11/42
Ecosy
Ecosystem ASociety Artifact A
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
12/42
Artifact AWTF
?!ct A
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
13/42
Ethnic strife in Punjabregion
Hazardous chemicals Made storing seeds
impossible Favored farmers and
industrialists with capital
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
14/42
Discouraged storage of food and grain Allowed for those who can afford it to get
access Led to famine Directly linked to the death of millions across
India and Africa
Discouraged storage of grain Favored urban elite + colonial
masters Led to widespread famine Devastated farming
communities that had lasted
for 1000s of years
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
15/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
16/42
Have you or your friends ever gotten in a fightresulting from a misunderstanding in a textmessage/ email/online social utility?
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
17/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
18/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
19/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
20/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
21/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
22/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
23/42
Ursula Franklin: Even the introduction of a
dishwasher into a familys life changes theircommunication and time patterns, theirexpectations and the ways in which thefamily works together. (p102)
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
24/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
25/42
5/03/2010 Public stewards or hired guns?: An inquiry into engineering education 25
Queens University, 2009
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
26/42
5/03/2010 Public stewards or hired guns?: An inquiry into engineering education 26
Queens contributed to: Awareness ofpolitical and social issues
Queens University, 2009
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
27/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
28/42
5/03/2010 Public stewards or hired guns?: An inquiry into engineering education 28
Queens contributed to: Appreciation of otherraces, cultures and religions
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
29/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
30/42
Here ComesDemocracy!
Finally!!!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32008198&id=51304160http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32008198&id=51304160http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32008198&id=51304160http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=32008198&id=513041608/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
31/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
32/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
33/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
34/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
35/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
36/42
A positivist mindset often relates to two otherperspectives that are commonly held in
engineering: reductionism and technologicaldeterminism.
Reductionism is the notion that phenomena
(or problems) can be broken down intosmaller components for analysis and that
analysis of the components can fully explainthe system as a whole.
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
37/42
Technological determinism holds that
technology develops on its own in a self-propelling fashion (i.e., without regard tosocial forces) and that its innovations, in
turn, impact society and drive political,cultural, and economic developments.
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
38/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
39/42
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
40/42
Write 3-5 page single spaced essay on howyou would challenge one or more
engineering mindset. You will be graded onpertinent research, insightfulness, andcritical thinking. You should apply yourchallenging methodology on a previousengineering assignment (preferably fromthis class).
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
41/42
If we got this far without anyone askingquestions, I was very authoritarian.
If nobody has questions now, I probablybored you to death. In case you dont have questions and if we
have time, I have a nice music clip for
Immortal Technique (up next).
8/14/2019 Engineering and Social Justice
42/42
Top Related