In this seminar course we will explore and unpack the various assumptions around “technology”: that key term of modern life. At the same time, we shall also consider different - often counter-intuitive - examples of technology that don’t, at first blush, appear to be so. As such, we shall question common assumptions about what, and what does not, constitute technology. We shall also pay closer attention to different techniques, technics, and “soft technologies,” that help us shape and respond to the world around us. In other words, we will be exploring the relationship between technics and medium, media, and/or mediation itself. Examples will likely include: clothing, food, gesture, time, meditation, confession, voice, drugs, love, and even the self. Though this perspective, the course will serve as a general introduction to some influential ideas in the humanities; especially in terms of media theory, cultural studies, and critical theories of technology. [Tracks C, M]