HPS402H1

Animals in the Histories of Science and Technology

What can a focus on nonhuman animals reveal about the knowledge practices and politics of science and technology? This course approaches the history of science from the perspective of nonhuman animals in order to revisit—and retell—the history of various scientific disciplines and practices. We will consider how the various ways in which animals have been enrolled into the formation of scientific knowledge, from laboratory settings to ecological fieldwork, to colonial natural history. Students will learn to interrogate anthropocentric biases in the histories of science and technology, and to assess the significance of nonhuman animals in the formation of scientific knowledge.