Principal Investigator Sherry Turkle
The Body Technology Working Group is an interdisciplinary group of scholars from MIT and beyond interested in how individual and group identities and experiences are shaped in relation to the interplay of bodies and technologies. Members' disciplines include STS, anthropology, medicine, comparative media studies, neurology, film, history of science, and journalism. Our interests run a gamut from the feminist and antiracist critiques of biology to pedagogical simulation of anatomy, from dance to medical implants, from sport to visualization of cells, and more. What unites us is that we are looking to explore gaps in the discourse where the body is missing, to ground our work in light of embodied experience, and to investigate the ways technologies impact our sense of body and self.
In weekly meetings, we vary among a few approaches. We often find our way through the plentiful recent scholarship on the body and share with each other those texts we are inspired by. Other weeks we discuss a group member's primary sources. Occasionally we have guest speakers or take a 'field trip' to attend a relevant event. In the future, we may explore other projects, perhaps including a half-day experiential workshop.