Techno-anthropology and Engineering Education: Between Hybridity and Social Responsibility

Abstract

This chapter investigates the relationship between Techno-Anthropology and engineering, and indicates how emphases upon hybridity/hybridization and social responsibility can beneficially supplement engineering education and practice in a post-normal world of constant change and globalization. The authors describe what they consider the core competences of Techno-Anthropology – hybrid imagination, meta-reflections on technological practices, social responsibility in relation to technological design and development, and interactional expertise – and compare these competences to conventional engineering skills. The chapter describes how Techno-Anthropology competences might materialize (i.e., how one can give advice or participate in ethical and sustainable problem-solving, and in value-based or anthropology-driven design), and it links such abilities to conventional engineering. With reference to this comparison, the chapter concludes that Techno-Anthropology will not replace engineering, but will supplement and complement it. The chapter suggests that collaborative teams (with anthropologists, philosophers, scientists, engineers, and Techno-Anthropologists) be established to face today’s manifold technological challenges. This proposal will only function if team-members are prepared for such interdisciplinary collaboration. Techno-Anthropologists can facilitate these preparation processes. Only if different disciplines team up can technological hubris, technological determinism/substantivism, and essentialism/instrumentalism be avoided.