Pratt Institute
Main Brooklyn Campus
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
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For more information about our B. A. major, please visit
http://www.pratt.edu/academics/liberal_arts_and_sciences/critical_visual_studies/

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Bio: I work on the skins of things, excavating histories of technology and media from the surface layers of natural and man-made objects. I use tools from the fields of the history of science and technology, media production, art history, media studies and material culture studies to analyze the production, use, and transformation of often-overlooked, even marginalized, material artifacts located at the interstices of the found and the fabricated.
Through my analysis, I break down increasingly untenable divides between production and consumption, art and technology, and invention and reuse. From camouflage netting, old clothes, decomposing vegetable matter, and other artifacts of creative repurposing, I uncover historical shifts in modern epistemologies of self, nature and representation. Through my work, I not only contribute to the academic fields in which I am based, but also provide a vital historical and creative context for present-day concerns with the engineering of sustainable environments through innovations in transformational and biomimetic technology.
Critical media practice is a working method that both guides my analytic framing and provides interpretive data. As an example, my film Blind (2009) and my site-specific installation Camoufleurs (2008) accompany the book Hide and Seek. Producing the film and the installation, as well as the feedback I received from viewers and other participants, was crucial to the development of my theoretical and historical argument. 

More information: http://web.mit.edu/sts/people/shell.html



 

Review of applications begins December 12.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Pratt Institute invites applications for a full-time tenure-track faculty position, available Fall 2014. The successful applicant will be versed in ethnographic research methods and/or Participatory Action Research as well as the ethics of research with human subjects.  We will consider appointment at rank higher than Assistant Professor only for applicants with significant professional accomplishments.

Pratt is an internationally recognized school of architecture, art, design, information science, writing, and critical and visual studies.  Its strong programs in architecture, film, video, photography, computer graphics and other areas of art and design draw students from diverse cultural and geographical backgrounds.  The Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies contributes to the students’ core education and also has its own major in Critical and Visual Studies. The Institute is located on a 25 acre campus in the historic Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:

Teach six courses per year.
Contribute to the development of MA programs in Social Practice and/or Sustainable Coastal Societies, as well as to the BA program in Critical and Visual Studies.
Develop curriculum in Social Science and Cultural Studies.
Advise students.
Serve on department, School and Institute committees.
Provide outreach to other departments in the Institute.).
Complete individual research projects (e.g. publish in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and present at professional conferences
Perform all other related activities as required.

SALARY is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience.

QUALIFICATIONS:

We require a Ph.D. in a core area of the social sciences, history, psychology or philosophy. ABD will be considered only for otherwise exceptionally accomplished applicants.  While disciplinary field is open, applicants must be able to contribute to the development of the MA program in Social Practice and/or the MA program in Sustainable Coastal Societies, as well as to the Department’s existing BA in Critical and Visual Studies. Candidates must have at least one (preferably two) year’s college level teaching experience in an institution other than the one in which terminal degree was earned. Strong evidence of future scholarly productivity is essential.

TO APPLY:

Please submit only your cover letter, resume/CV, and the names and contact information for three professional references.  Review of applications will begin on December 12, 2013 and continue until the position is filled.

PRATT INSTITUTE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND RECOGNIZES AND VALUES THE BENEFITS OF A DIVERSE WORKFORCE.

This year, the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies began offering a Minor in Sustainability Studies. The minor deepens the understanding of the interdisciplinary approach to sustainable environmental, economic, and social practices, providing students with a broad understanding of the complex interrelationships between humans and ecosystems and the best practices for protecting environmental quality and fostering social equity. The minor can be combined with any undergraduate major and requires the completion of 15 credits approved in Sustainability Studies. These may come from the following courses:
SUST 201 The Sustainable Core (3 credits, required)
MSCI 270 Ecology (3 credits, required. May substitute MSCI 271 or 280)
SUST 401 Power, Pollution, and Profit (3 credits, elective)
SUST 405 Production, Consumption, and Waste (3 credits, elective)
PHIL 356 Environmental Ethics (3 credits, elective)
INT 332 Environmental Theory (2 credits, elective)
IND 487 Sustainability and Production (2 credits, elective)
MSCI 426 Toxics in the Environment (1 credit, elective)
MSCI 438 Chemistry of Modern Polymeric Materials (3 credits, elective)
To register for the minor, or for any questions on these courses, please contact the coordinator Carl Zimring at czimring@pratt.edu.

Left side of the “Spectrum of Life” exhibit in the Hall of Biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History Source: Image taken by Molly H. Adams September 2011

View of the Old Field, pond and trails from the deck on the East side of the South Fork Natural History Museum Source: Image taken by the Molly H. Adams, March 2012.

“Dzanga-Sangha Rainforest Diorama” in the Hall of Biodiversity and the American Museum of Natural History Source: (c) AMNH / Denis Finnin <http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/biodiversity/rainforest/

"The Hall of Biodiversity’s installation labeled the “Spectrum of Life” uses
more than 1,500 specimens and models, organized into 28 living groups to show over 3.5 billion years of evolution and to display the awe-inspiring diversity of life.  The Linnaean taxonomical approach of categorization, which is used in this display, groups all life into three kingdoms that are divided into classes, and then into orders, families, genera and species.  It helps viewers to see an extremely wide variety of different types of organisms by separating microorganisms from mammals and bacteria from birds.  This technique of organization emphasizes the quantitative aspects of biodiversity rather than qualitative ones. Because of this, the visual display of replicas and specimen fails to communicate the importance of each organism in the ecosystem of which they are a part.  In other words, somewhat ironically, the roles of ecosystems themselves are neglected, and rather the emphasis is placed on the range of different species and the diversity of their visual characteristics.  For example, several organisms are shown either in a linear fashion according to size, ranging from smallest to largest, or collected in naturalist boxes, neglecting to visually represent any ecological relationships that add biological meaning and context.  These organisms have been dissected from the communities and ecosystems in which they actually reside in nature, making it impossible to realize the greater context that they are pulled out of."