Download Science and Society 2017 - College of Liberal Arts | University of

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Globalizing the History of Science, Technology & Medicine
History Department – Rutgers University
01:506:251
Spring 2017
Professor James Delbourgo
[email protected]
Class Hours: Mon & Weds 4:30-5:50
Frelinghuysen A6
Office Hours: Van Dyck (College Ave) 104
Weds 1.30-4pm & by appointment
Teaching Assistant: Mr. Paul Sampson
[email protected]
Second Grader: Mr. Chris Blakley
[email protected]
Course Description
How did modern science, medicine and technology become dominant through globalization?
This class takes a global approach to the development of science, medicine and technology. The
early modern period of global history has long been seen as the era when the world assumed its
current form.
One dominant story about the rise of modernity focuses on science, medicine and technology: how
Europeans developed experimental techniques of unprecedented power for knowing and exploiting
nature. A second origins story identifies modernity with the collision of cultures produced by
European imperialism, bringing Americans, Africans, Asians and Europeans into contact as never
before, and spawning new worldviews ranging from cosmopolitanism to Orientalism and racism.
But how did these two processes of modernization relate: how were science, medicine and
technology transformed by globalization and the movement of peoples – and how were cultural
identities transformed by science?
We examine how knowledge traveled through global networks stretching from Asia to the Middle
East, Europe and America, exploring how science created new attitudes to nature (and the roots of
our current ecological crisis) and new globalized social identities still with us today.
All Readings Available via Sakai
We will work from a selection of essays and extracts listed on Sakai under Resources by last name
of the author: https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal. (Essays listed below with a weblink are not on Sakai.)
There are no set books to purchase and no books on library reserve for this course. Lecture
outlines will be posted after relevant lectures for the purposes of review.
Electronics Policy
In order to foster the best possible conditions for learning, thought and engagement, the class policy
is that no laptops, tablets, phones or other electronic devices are permitted in class. All students are
asked to abide by this policy and help create a distraction-free environment – for which your help is
appreciated. Please bring paper (or a journal) and pen to take notes by hand. Writing notes by
hand remains a highly effective method for translating class discussions into one’s own thoughts on
any given subject –beginning the process of writing and reflection that will generate material for
discussion, written assignments and exam answers.
Lectures and Readings
Lectures combine discussions of the readings with attention to the larger themes of the course
beyond any single reading. Students should complete readings before coming to class and are
encouraged to review them afterwards. These are in general short to allow for more time for
reflection. It is crucial to take some form of notes as you read, even brief ones, preferably
annotations in which you begin to formulate your own thinking. Bear in mind the prompt under
each unit heading as you read. You will not need to consult any extra materials beyond the syllabus
to complete the assignments.
Questions and comments are encouraged in lectures. But active verbal participation is expected in
discussions, for which you should bring your notes on relevant readings or, especially in the case of
primary source material, a hard copy of the assigned readings. For these occasional sessions,
marked “DISCUSSION,” we will break into two groups, one of which will work with Prof
Delbourgo in FH A6, the other with Paul Sampson in Scott Hall (CAC) Room 204.
Attendance
Attendance of both lectures and discussions is expected and attendance will be taken from 30
January via a sign-in sheet. Please arrive promptly but make sure you sign at the end if late. Students
will be penalized 3% on the final grade for the course for every unexcused absence beyond three
absences. An excused absence must be documented with a note, medical or otherwise.
Office hour visits are warmly encouraged. Both the professor and teaching assistant are eager to
help you enjoy the course as much as possible, discuss class material and help you with any
problems. Don’t be shy! For best results email in advance to set up an appointment.
2
Assignments
10%
Attendance and verbal contribution to discussions
15%
Short take-home paper on Islamic Caliphates
20%
Midterm: Mexico and China
15%
Short take-home paper on Japan
40%
Final: Europe and India
Academic Integrity
You should ensure that any written work you submit for evaluation is the result of your
own thought and writing and that it reflects your own work and not that of another student. Copying
work – plagiarism – and/or failure to complete any assignment will result in an F for the course.
Students needing academic adjustments or accommodations because of a documented disability
must present relevant documentation to this effect as soon as possible.
SCHEDULE
PART 1: WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE?
Weds 18 Jan
Introduction and Welcome
Where in the world do you want to go and why? What’s the connection between science,
technology and globalization? Word Association: “Chocolate.”
Mon 23 Jan
The ‘Scientific Revolution’ & ‘Modern Western Science’
What is the classic narrative of the history of science and who invented it? What do we mean by
“modern western science”?
Marwa Elshakry, “When Science Became Western: Historiographical Reflections,” Isis 101 (2010):
98-109
Weds 25 Jan
Networks: From the Lab to the Field
How does Bruno Latour use networks to understand science as a form of labor across distance via
the notion of translation? How do networks help us see science as a global phenomenon?
Bruno Latour, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society
(Harvard University Press, 1987), pp. 215-223 only
PART 2: CALIPHATE & OTTOMAN SCIENCES
3
Mon 30 Jan
Science in the Islamic Caliphates
How did knowledge of the natural world flourish in the medieval Islamic Caliphates? How did their
science relate to religion and what is the significance of their translation culture?
James McClellan and Harold Dorn, Science and Technology in World History (Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1999), pp. 103-115
Jim Al-Khalili, The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Wisdom and Gave us
the Renaissance (Penguin, 2010), “Note on the term ‘Arabic Science,’” pp. xxv-xxix, and
pp. 35-48
Weds 1 Feb
Islam and Science: Polemics
What is the debate about Islamic science during the period of the Caliphates? What difference did
learning about Islamic science make to Derek Black? And what kind of ‘scientist’ was the alchemist
Jābir (and who was ‘Geber’)?
George Saliba, review of Toby Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the
West (Cambridge University Press, 1993), published in 1999: http://baheyeldin.com/history/georgesaliba-1.html
Eli Saslow, “The White Flight of Derek Black,” Washington Post, October 15, 2016:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-white-flight-of-derek-black/2016/10/15/ed5f906a8f3b-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html?utm_term=.3f7410835d93
Al-Khalili, “The Lonely Alchemist,” House of Wisdom chapter on Jābir ibn Hayyān, pp. 52-66
Mon 6 Feb
DISCUSSION: JĀBIR IBN HAYYĀN IN TRANSLATION
What kind of alchemist was Jābir and why were the English interested in translating him?
Jābir ibn Hayyān, The Book of the Monk, in Franz Rosenthal (ed.), The Classical Heritage in
Islam (Routledge, 1992), pp. 248-251
‘Geber’ in The Works of Geber (London, 1686): Richard Russell, “From the Translator to the
Reader” (4 pp.) and TOC only; William Salmon, Medicina Practica, or the Practical Physician
(London, 1707), TOC, preface paragraphs 26-36 and plates preceding p. 335 only
Weds 8 Feb
Knowing the World? Ottoman Geography
To what extent were Ottoman geographers curious about the world beyond their own empire and
why is this question important? Compare how Burns and Casale approach Ottoman sciences:
which is better and why? How do different maps shape our perceptions of the world?
William Burns, The Scientific Revolution in Global Perspective (Oxford UP, 2015), pp. 153-159
Giancarlo Casale, The Ottoman Age of Exploration (Oxford UP, 2010), pp. 180-203
* SHORT PAPER on JĀBIR DUE IN CLASS MON 13 FEB *
4
PART 3: AMERICA
Mon 13 Feb
America before Columbus
How did native peoples make knowledge in pre-contact Central and South America? What are the
strengths and weaknesses of Montellano’s account of “empirical Aztec medicine”? And what does
chocolate taste like?
McClellan and Dorn, Science and Technology in World History, pp. 155-167
Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, “Empirical Aztec Medicine,” Science 188 (1975): 215-220
An Aztec Herbal: The Classic Codex of 1552 [Codex Badianus], trans. and ed. William Gates
(1939; Dover, 2000): xxxvii-lxiv & end-papers
Weds 15 Feb
Columbian Exchange: Chocolate as Natural History
How did Spanish colonization transform the natural environments of the Atlantic world? How did
knowledge about chocolate travel from the Mayans and Aztecs to the Spanish? Compare Norton’s
approach to native knowledge with Montellano’s.
Alan Taylor, American Colonies (Penguin, 2001), pp. 39-49
Marcy Norton, Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the
Atlantic World (Cornell University Press, 2008), pp. 121-140
Mon 20 Feb
Mexico: Creole American Sciences
How did Spanish-Americans use native sources to produce their own Creolized and Baroque forms
of knowledge? What does Cañizares mean by “patriotic epistemology” and what are both the stakes
and costs in vindicating Spanish science?
Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, “Spanish America: From Baroque to Modern Colonial Science,” in Roy
Porter (ed.), Cambridge History of Science, Vol. 4 (Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 718738
Weds 22 Feb
DISCUSSION: AZTECS & HERNÁNDEZ
How did Hernández collect knowledge about Mexico through interacting with the Aztecs?
The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández, ed. Simon Varey (Stanford
University Press, 2000), selections
PART 4: EAST ASIA
5
Mon 27 Feb
China: Celestial Inventors & Barbarian Outsiders
What was early modern China’s stance regarding the wider world and how did it organize its
pursuit of scientific knowledge? What is the significance of discussions of Chinese “inventiveness”?
McClellan and Dorn, Science and Technology in World History, pp. 117-140
Weds 1 Mar
Jesuit Missionaries & Qing Imperialists
How did religion and science converge in Qing interactions with Jesuit missionaries? How did the
Qing aim to govern the new peoples and lands of their empire through cartography and
ethnography? How does early modern history still shape contemporary Chinese science?
Laura Hostetler, “Qing Connections to the Early Modern World: Ethnography and Cartography in
Eighteenth-Century China,” Modern Asian Studies 34 (2000): 623-662
Chris Buckley and Adam Wu, “China Hunts for Scientific Glory, and Aliens, With New
Telescope,” New York Times, September 26, 2016:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/world/asia/china-telescope-fast-space-seti.html
“FAST: The World’s Largest Telescope”
(2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SRV3rnULO0
Mon 6 Mar
DISCUSSION: CHINA AND COURSE REVIEW TO DATE
Qianlong Emperor’s Letter to King George III (1793)
Weds 8 Mar
MIDTERM
13-15 March
SPRING BREAK
Mon 20 Mar
Japan: Isolation or Traffic?
What are ‘go-betweens’ and how does the relationship between the Dutchman Kaempfer and the
Japanese Eisei help us understand both the larger forces and personal motivations that made
knowledge circulate? How are today’s museums a legacy of early modern globalization?
Yu-Ying Brown, “Japanese Books and Manuscripts,” in Arthur MacGregor (ed.), Sir Hans Sloane:
Collector, Scientist, Antiquary, Founding Father of the British Museum (British Museum, 1994),
pp. 278-90
Engelbert Kaempfer, Japan Today, originally published, London, 1727: selections from Beatrice
Bodart-Bailey (ed.), Kaempfer’s Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed (University of Hawai‘i Press,
1999), pp. 234-235, 187-190, 360-368
Weds 22 Mar
Dutch Technology in Japanese Culture
6
How does the reception of Dutch technology challenge standard notions of ‘technology transfer’?
How was the Japanese reception of foreign technology translated into their own cultural terms?
And why are Japanese robots different from western ones?
Timon Screech, The Lens within the Heart: The Western Scientific Gaze and Popular Imagery in
Later Edo Japan (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2002), pp. 166-211
“Robot-Staffed Hotel Opens in Japan,” CBS This Morning 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVVk0b9DX8Q
* SHORT PAPER on JAPAN DUE IN CLASS MON 27 MAR *
PART 5: EUROPE AND ITS COLONIES
Mon 27 Mar
Colonial Botany and the Atlantic Slave Trade
How did the science of botany rely on the business of trade, including the slave trade? How did
Africans in diaspora become effective herbalists and healers and how much of what they did can we
reconstruct? How do the histories of slavery and science relate?
Londa Schiebinger, Plants and Empire: Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World (Harvard
UP, 2004), pp. 23-44
Susan Scott Parrish, “Diasporic African Sources of Enlightenment Knowledge,” in James
Delbourgo and Nicholas Dew (eds.), Science and Empire in the Atlantic World (Routledge, 2007),
pp. 281-310
Weds 29 Mar
Europe’s “New Science”: Old v New Narratives
How did big-picture European understandings of the natural world change during the 17th century
and why? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the classic scientific revolution story and what
would count as a better story?
Burns, Scientific Revolution in Global Perspective, pp. 57-74
Mario Biagioli, “The Scientific Revolution is Undead,” Configurations 6 (1998):
https://muse-jhu-edu.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/article/8138
Mon 3 Apr
DISCUSSION: SCIENCE, SLAVERY AND GENDER
How were women and enslaved Africans part of the globalization of early modern science?
JoAnna Klein, “A Pioneering Woman of Science Reemerges after 300 Years,” NYT 23 Jan 2017:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/science/maria-sibylla-merian-metamorphosis-insectorumsurinamensium.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0
Maria Sibylla Merian, Letter to Johann Volkammer, 1702
7
Portuguese Inquisition Transcript testimony of Domingos Álvares in James Sweet, Domingos
Álvares: African Healing and the Intellectual History of the Atlantic World (University of North
Carolina Press, 2011), pp. 172-176
Weds 5 Apr
Global Newton
How did the science of Isaac Newton, allegedly an isolated scientific genius, depend on colonial
networks? What is an “information order”? How did his work in physical science use similar
methods to natural history and why is this important for the history of science as a whole?
Simon Schaffer, “Newton on the Beach: The Information Order of Principia Mathematica,”
History of Science 47 (2009): 243-276
PART 6: ORIENTALISM TO POSTCOLONIALISM TO TODAY
Mon 10 Apr
India: The Mughal Empire
What scientific and medical traditions flourished in India both prior to and after European
contact? How did different peoples and traditions interact in the making of French traveler
L’empereur’s work on Indian botany? What role do pictures play in scientific knowledge?
McClellan and Dorn, Science and Technology in World History, pp. 141-149
Kapil Raj, “Surgeons, Fakirs, Merchants, and Craftspeople: Making L’Empereur’s Jardin in Early
Modern South Asia,” in Londa Schiebinger and Claudia Swan (eds.), Colonial Botany: Science,
Commerce, and Politics in the Early Modern World (Univ. Pennsylvania Press, 2004), pp. 252-269
Weds 12 Apr
Orientalism: Culture and Imperialism
How did Orientalism cast European knowledge as the future and Indian knowledge as the past and
why did this idea take such aggressive form in the late 18th century? Why did the British start
translating ancient Indian texts like the Bhagavad Gita?
Michael Adas, Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western
Dominance (Cornell UP, 1992), pp. 95-108, 166-177
Charles Wilkins, The Bhagvat-Geeta (London, 1785), pp. 1-26 only
Mon 17 Apr
Newton in India
Why did Tafazzul Hussain Khan translate Newton into Arabic and how did the British interpret
the significance of this translation in relation to Orientalism? How did their views express their own
sense of identity and sense of historical time?
Simon Schaffer, “The Asiatic Enlightenments of British Astronomy,” in Schaffer, et al. (eds.), The
Brokered World, 2009, pp. 49-62 only; & see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeKWqoiMo3Y
Weds 19 Apr
The Globe in 1800: A Mechanical or Revolutionary World?
8
What was Humboldtian science and how did it combine both instruments and the human body,
both scientific discipline and artistic cultivation, as a way to understand the world as a whole? Did
electric eels suggest nature was mechanical and predictable or alive and uncontrollable?
John Tresch, “¡Viva la República Cósmica! Or the Children of Humboldt and Coca-Cola,” in
Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel (eds.), Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy (MIT
Press, 2005), pp. 352-356
James Delbourgo, “The Electrical Machine in the American Garden,” in Delbourgo and Dew,
Science and Empire in the Atlantic World, pp. 265-275 only
Alexander von Humboldt, Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New
Continent (1814-1825): chap. 14 only on electric eels
Mon 24 Apr
Modern without Western?: Postcolonialism
What is ‘postcolonialism’ and what is meant by the notion of ‘alternative modernities’? How did
Gandhi and Nehru articulate different visions of India as a modern nation based on science,
medicine and technology? Was it desirable or possible to become modern without becoming
western?
Warwick Anderson, “Postcolonial Technoscience,” Social Studies of Science 32 (2002): 643-658
Gyan Prakash, Another Reason: Science and the Imagination of Modern India (Princeton UP,
1999), pp. 190-226
Weds 26 Apr
Nationalism vs. Globalization: Hindutva and Science Today
How do the histories of imperialism, Orientalism and postcolonialism help us to understand the
polemics surrounding ‘Hindutva’ (Hindu cultural nationalism) and science and technology in India
today?
Background:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/01/04/indians-invented-planes-7000years-ago-and-other-startling-claims-at-the-science-congress/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/07/india-paris-climate-deal-barack-obama-narendramodi
Debate about the Murty Indian Classical Library of Harvard University Press:
http://www.murtylibrary.com/why-a-classical-library-of-india.php
https://www.change.org/p/mr-n-r-narayana-murthy-and-mr-rohan-narayan-murty-removal-of-profsheldon-pollock-as-mentor-and-chief-editor-of-murty-classical-library
http://thewire.in/24450/swadeshi-indology-and-the-destruction-of-sanskrit/
Meera Nanda, “Hindutva’s Science Envy,” Frontline (Sept. 2016) and response in Hindu Post:
http://www.frontline.in/science-and-technology/hindutvas-science-envy/article9049883.ece
http://www.hindupost.in/society-culture/meera-nandas-freudian-slip-reveals-hinduphobia/
Mon 1 May
FINAL DISCUSSION AND COURSE CONCLUSION
9
Why does globalizing the history of science matter?
Steven Weinberg, “Eye on the Present: The Whig History of Science,” New York Review of
Books, 17 December 2015
Stuart Theobald, “How we can Decolonize Science,” News24, October 23, 2016:
http://www.news24.com/Opinions/Voices/how-we-can-decolonise-science-20161021
Dan Roodt, “Blacks and Liberals want to Abolish Science,” American Renaissance, October 26,
2016, website, including video:
http://www.amren.com/news/2016/10/blacks-and-liberals-want-to-abolish-science/
* SCHEDULED FINAL EXAM *
10