2022-09-30 Lina Rahm

Friday 30 September, 9.00 - 10.00 in this Zoom room

Educational imaginaries of technology 

Lina Rahm

In this seminar we meet Lina Rahm who recently joined KTH as Assistant Professor at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment. Her subject is History of Media and Environment, with specialization in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems. Her research is focused on sociotechnical and educational imaginaries. Specifically, she has mapped out the genealogy of the digital citizen as an entanglement of automation, education and citizenship. Empirically, her research spans from the 1950s up until today.

The seminar is based on her article: Rahm, L. (2021). Educational imaginaries: governance at the intersection of technology and education. Journal of Education Policy, 1-23.

ABSTRACT - This article argues that sociotechnical imaginaries, defined as collectively held, institutionally stabilized, and publicly performed visions of desirable sociotechnical futures, are significantly connected to visions, policies, and projects of educating citizens. These visions, policies, and projects – or educational imaginaries – constitute ways to problematize, negotiate and ultimately govern citizens and citizenship at the intersection between technology and education. This article presents a model which conceptualizes and analyzes educational imaginaries, and specifically introduces the notion (and method) of ‘problematizations’ into these imaginaries. The model, consisting of four key components – technology, problematizations, collective actors, and target populations – is exemplified through a genealogy of the education of the ‘digitalized citizen’.