General Catalog 2024-25

Seminar, three hours. Early development of scientific method and systematic exclusion of those in subordinate social groups from scientific practice. Interrogation of binaries that prop up scientific knowledge construction, and consideration of how norms and values embedded in Western science compare with indigenous or local knowledge systems. How medical research is motivated by competing assumptions of racial hierarchy and equality. Examination of governments’ use of science to classify racially inferior and contaminated foreigners as threats to socionatural order. Exploration of how people use knowledge about their embodied experiences to demand rights and accept responsibility for their own health and vitality, either in opposition to or alliance with scientific experts. How contemporary developments in science and technology bring to light some central concerns of social and political theory. Letter grading.