Patzke+Middle+Class+Ethics

This is more of a proposal draft, than an abstract. Maybe someone else can bounce some ideas off of it.

This study seeks to extend the work of current anthropologic study focused on ‘middle class ethics.’ This study purposes to conduct ethnographic research as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York State and the student affiliated group Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) (http://esw.union.rpi.edu/). This study asks: - How is innovation linked with humanitarian work and education? - How are young people ‘recruited’ and ‘initiated’ into this type of labor? - What values are imposed on the labor? - How are these values transcribed on innovation technologies?

This study will highlight projects that combined innovation with humanitarian ‘relief’ efforts from both past efforts of the ESW such as “Solar-Fueled Pasteurization in Peru” ([]) from 2009 and current efforts such as well as the “shipping container orphanage” for a orphanage operating in Haiti. (http://poly.rpi.edu/2012/05/09/esw_designs_shipping_container_orphanage/)