Download History of Biology and Identity

Biology and Identity
STS 6624
Summer 2011, Tuesdays 7-9:45 PM
Room TBA (Falls Church)
Instructor: David Tomblin
Contact: [email protected]
Office Hours: by appointment
Course Background: Biology as a discipline has much to say about who and what we are as
organisms/people within society and nature. There are three basic discourses that biology has historically
either intentionally or unintentionally directed at the identity of a person. First, it produces knowledge
about our identity as individuals (e.g., Who are we? What are we? And what is the meaning of our
existence?). Second, it produces knowledge in relation to our place in human social systems (e.g., how we
relate to other individuals, our determination of what counts as Other, and our role in human social
networks). Third, it produces knowledge about our relationship with non-human nature (e.g., Are we part
of nature? What does it mean to be a biological species? What is our role within nature? Do we have
autonomy or does nature constrain us in some way?). This course will explore what these three basic
discourses say about race, gender, sexuality, religion, and culture and how they potentially inform social
policy.
This discussion-based course explores philosophical, anthropological, and sociological aspects of the
history of biology as they relate to the production of human identity. Philosophically, the influences of
ideas such as teleology, essentialism, dichotomous thinking, objectivity, rationalism, and nature are traced
from their Western roots with Plato and Aristotle to their use in both modern and postmodern forms of
biology. Sociologically, the motivations and relationships among actors and interest groups involved in
creating, defending, and challenging the production of biological knowledge will be analyzed. Further,
the following broad question will be asked throughout the course. How has the construction of identity
through biological discourse been influenced, co-opted, assimilated, reinforced, or deconstructed (and
vice versa) by other knowledge producing institutions within society such as philosophy, religion,
economics, government, etc. In other words, what is the political nature of biology and how has it
reinforced, reified or deconstructed notions of identity throughout history?
Analytically, this course will analyze both primary sources and secondary sources. The readings for this
course present a wide array of STS theory as examples of the various ways one can approach the analysis
of biological discourse. Topically, the course is divided into two major parts. The first part focuses on the
intellectual origins of modern biology and its maturation as a coherent discipline undergirded by
Darwinian evolutionary theory (1700s – 1970). The second part of the course centers on what I call
“postmodern” biology (1970 - present). Major biological topics include taxonomy/classification,
evolution, genetics, molecular genetics, behavioral genetics, population genetics (as it pertains to race),
developmental biology, reproductive biology, immunology, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, and
human/nonhuman co-evolution.
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Required Texts (You need to procure the following books. I will provide additional readings on
Blackboard):
Bowler, Peter J. 2009. Evolution: The History of an Idea (20th Anniversary Edition) PLEASE GET
THIS EDITION!!!
Darwin, Charles. 2007 (Zimmer, De Waal, eds.). The Descent of Man: The Concise Edition.
Foucault, Michel. 1980. The Order of Things.
Haraway, Donna. 2008. When Species Meet.
Hrdy, Sarah. 1999. Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection
Lewontin, Richard. 1993. Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA
Graded Work:
Participation (20 %): This grade is based on a variety of activities, which include posts on discussion
board, class discussion, student-led instruction sessions, careful reading, and attendance. Reading for this
course will vary from 75 – 150 pages a week. I expect that you are at least familiar enough with the
material to participate in discussions. All interactions with your peers should be conducted in a
professional manner.
Primary Source Analysis (30%): Pick a primary source (with approval from instructor) for any biological
theory or idea (historical or contemporary) from before 1970 that deals with human nature. Discuss how
this discourse constructs identity in relation to humans as individuals, part of society, or part of nature.
Next, hypothesize how this production of identity is related to one of the following non-biological
knowledge producing institutions: religion, philosophy, economics, government, education, family or any
other that might be pertinent (e.g., Darwinism and religion or genetics and institutions that promote
eugenics). In essence, how is biology influenced, co-opted, assimilated, reinforced, or deconstructed (or
vice versa) by these institutions? Lastly, propose a theoretical framework that you believe would best
support your hypothesized relationships. (5-7 pages, double-spaced, 12 font)
Short Analytical Paper (40%): Building off your primary source analysis, discuss how biological
discourse in the late 20th and early 21st century has evolved out of or from earlier the earlier discourse.
Alternatively, explore how older ideas are employed to do work in contemporary times (e.g., how has
Darwin’s ideas been reworked to suit current investigations). Use the following questions as a way to
guide your paper. Your final paper may answer some, but probably can’t answer all, of the following
questions: How has biology as a discipline changed in the 20th century and how has this change shaped
human identity? First, pick a specific biological theory or idea and briefly outline how it has changed
during the 20th century. Second, describe how your proposed theoretical changes in biological discourse
have informed some aspect of human identity (e.g., genetics has helped transform racial classifications
from a rigid typological perspective to a more fluid population perspective). Third, speculate to what
extent these changes in biological discourse has informed society. Are there any signs that this
information has been assimilated or resisted by society? What types of institutions has the change in
biological knowledge affected? If there is any resistance to these new ideas, from whom does it come
from and why? Use both primary and secondary sources from class and your own research to support
your work. Also, apply STS theory and philosophical analysis outlined throughout the course to your
project. Each student is also responsible for a 15-minute presentation during the last class period.
Feedback received from the instructor and peers should be incorporated into your final product. (10-15
pages, double-spaced, 12 font)
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Course Schedule
Week 1 (May 24) - Introduction/Origins of Biological Thought
Bowker, Geoffrey C. and Susan Leigh Star. 1999. “To Classify is Human,” in Sorting Things Out:
Classification and its Consequences
Hubbard, Ruth, 2001. “Identity Politics and Biology,” in Thinking About Evolution.
Lecture: Origins of Biological Thought (Note: This is the only extended lecture of the course.
Background readings are not required but will be posted)
Bowker and Star (Chs. 1-2)
Lindberg, David C., The Beginnings of Western Science (Ch. 2&3, 47 pages)
Bowler, P.J. Evolution: The History of an Idea (Ch. 1)
Selections from:
- Plato’s Timaeus and “Allegory of the Cave”
- Aristotle’s History of Animals and Generation of Animals
Week 2 (May 31) – Early Modern Biology and the Enlightenment
Foucault, Michel. 1980. The Order of Things. (Selected Chapters)
Schiebinger, Londa. 1989. The Mind Has No Sex? (Ch. 6 – “Competing Cosmologies: Locating Sex and
Gender in the Natural Order)
Gould, S.J. 1996. “American Polygeny and Craniometry Before Darwin,” in The Mismeasure of Man.
(Ch. 2)
Bowler, P.J., Evolution: The History of an Idea (Ch. 3)
Week 3 (June 7) - Darwinian Evolution: Race, Sex, and Social Behavior (Part 1)
Darwin, Charles, 1859. On the Origin of Species (Chapter IV – “Natural Selection; Or the Survival of the
Fittest)
Darwin, Charles, 1871. The Descent of Man: And Selection in Relation to Sex (Ch. I – “The Evidence of
the Descent of Man from Some Lower Forms” and Ch. VII – “On the Races of Man”)
Bowler (Ch. 6-8)
Mayr, Ernst. 2001. “Darwin’s Influence on Modern Thought,” Scientific American 283(1): 79-83.
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Week 4 (June 14) - Darwinian Evolution: Race, Sex, and Social Behavior (Part 2)
Darwin, The Descent of Man (Part III – “Sexual Selection in Relation to Man”)
Hrdy, Sarah, 1999. Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection (Chs. 1-3, 15,
20)
Hubbard, Ruth. 1979. “Have only men evolved?” In Hubbard et. al. (eds.), Women Look at Biology
Looking at Women, pp. 7-35.
Spencer, Herbert, 1873. “Psychology of the Sexes,” Popular Science Monthly 4: 30-38.
Week 5 (June 21) – Eugenics in America
Dunn, L.C. and T. Dobzhansky. 1952. Heredity, Race, and Society. (Ch. 1 – “Human Differences,” Ch. 5
– “Controlling Man’s Heredity, “ Ch. 6 – “Race”).
Paul, Diane B. 1990. “Dobzhansky in the “Nature-Nurture” Debate,” in John Beattie (ed.), pp. 218-231.
Kevles, Daniel. 1998. “Eugenics in North America,” in Robert Peel (ed.), Essays in the History of
Eugenics, pp. 208-226.
Ramsden, Edmund. 2009. “Confronting the Stigma of Eugenics: Genetics, Demography, and the
Problems of Population,” Social Studies of Science 39(6): 853-884.
Bowler (Ch. 10) – optional
Week 6 (June 28) – The Proliferation of Biological Discourse and the Modern Evolutionary
Synthesis: Part 1
Clarke, Adele, 1991. “Embryology and the Rise of American Reproductive Sciences, circa 1910-1940,”
in Benson et. al. (eds.) The Expansion of American Biology, pp. 107-132.
Mittman, Gregg and Richard W. Burkhardt, Jr., 1991. “Struggling for Identity: The Study of Animal
Behavior in America, 1930-1945,” in Benson et al. (eds.) The Expansion of American Biology, pp. 164194.
Farber, Paul. 1994. The Temptations of Evolutionary Ethics (Chs. 2 & 7).
Bowler (Ch. 11)
Primary Document Analysis Due
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Week 7 (July 5) – The Arrival of “Postmodern Biology”
Dawkins, Richard, 1976. The Selfish Gene. (Exceprts)
Haraway, Donna, 1991. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women. (Ch. 3, “The Biological Enterprise: Sex, Mind,
and Profit from Human Engineering to Sociobiology”)
Lewontin, Richard. Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA (Excerpts)
Oyama, S., P.E. Griffiths, and R.D. Gray, 2001. “What is Developmental Systems Theory?” in Cycles of
Contingency: Developmental Systems and Evolution.
Keller, Evelyn Fox, 2001. “Beyond the Gene but Beneath the Skin,” in Cycles of Contingency.
Week 8 (July 12) – Evolutionary Psychology
Pinker, Steven, 2004. “Why Nature & Nurture Won’t Go Away,” Daedalus Fall: 1-13.
Cosmides, Leda and John Tooby, 2000. “Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer.”
Herrenstein Smith, Barbara, 2005. “Super Natural Science: The Claims of Evolutionary Psychology,” in
Scandalous Knowledge: Science, Truth and the Human.
Sterenly, K. and Griffiths, P.E. 1999. “From Sociobiology to Evolutionary Psychology,” in Sex and
Death: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Biology.
Week 9 (July 12) – Race, Gender and Postmodern Genetics
Haraway, Donna, 1997. Modest_Witness@Second_Millenium.FemaleMan_Meets_OncoMouse (Ch. 4,
“Gene: Maps and Portraits of Life Itself,” Ch. 6, “Race: Universal Donors in a Vampire Culture”)
Fausto-Sterling, Anne, 2008. “The Bare Bones of Race,” Social Studies of Science 38(5): 657-694.
Rosoff, Philip M. 2010. “In Search of the Mommy Gene: Truth and Consequences in Behavioral
Genetics,” Science, Technology and Human Values 35(2): 200-235.
Skinner, David. 2006. “Racialized Futures: Biologism and the Changing Politics of Identity.” Social
Studies of Science 36(3): 453-488.
Week 10 (July 26) – The Biological Citizen
Martin, Emily. 1992. “The End of the Body?” American Ethnologist 19(1): 120-138.
Epstein, Steven. 2006. “Institutionalizing the New Politics of Difference in U.S. Biomedical Research:
Thinking across the Science/State/Society Divides,” in The New Political Sociology of Science, Frickel
and Moore, eds.
Rose, Nikolas. 2001. “The Politics of Life Itself ,” Theory, Culture & Society 18(6): 1-30.
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Raman, S. and R. Tutton. 2010. “Life, Science, and Biopower,” Science, Technology, and Human Values
35(5): 711-734.
Week 11 (July 27)
Haraway, Donna. 2008. When Species Meet. (Selected Chapters)
Kirksey, S.E. and S. Helmreich. 2010. “The Emergence of Multispecies Ethnography,” Cultural
Anthropology 25(4): 545-576.
Week 12 (August 9) – Student Presentations
Final Paper Due Exam Week
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