The discourse of science is increasingly prominent in contemporary imaginaries; the scientific paradigm in contemporary culture wields considerable authority and commands fascination. Yet science is also a contested field that is subject to a number of cultural debates, starting with what science actually is and who controls it. In his Foreword to Gregory Cajete’s (Tewa) famous book Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence (2000), Leroy Little Bear (Blackfoot) writes: “Science has been and can be defined many different ways depending on who is doing the defining” (ix). Little Bear’s assertion serves to question discursive certainties as it positions scientific inquiry as a field governed by diversity. When read in the context of histories of colonization, it also points towards mechanisms of exclusion that scientific authority can set in motion. Since Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein at the latest, literature has interrogated the societal implications of scientific discovery and the question of moral obligation of the scientist. Contemporary literature pushes this inquiry further, asking questions that point towards potential and actual sets of societal problems associated with visions of a scientific life: What is science and who defines it? Who has science, and who is considered not to? Who is allowed to participate in the scientific practice and on which terms? Whose contributions are acknowledged and whose are left out? These questions illustrate exclusionary practices within the scientific field that can function on the level of both its conceptualization and application. In this class we will adopt an analytical lens that is focused on intersections of science and diversity in literature, focusing both on issues of participation and epistemic diversity. Reading works by authors of diverse backgrounds, we will consider ways in which the figure of the scientist and the branches of science are portrayed in those narratives, as well as ways in which these works question boundaries of scientific inquiry and definitions based on Eurocentric epistemologies.
Please buy the following books for this class:
Michael Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost. Vintage, 2011. ISBN 978-0099554455.
Teresa May, Salmon Is Everything: Community-Based Theatre in the Klamath Watershed. Oregon State UP, 2018. ISBN 978-0870719479.
Larissa Lai, The Tiger Flu. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018. ISBN 978-1551527314.
Additional texts will be made available. We will also discuss Theodore Melfi’s film Hidden Figures as part of this class. |
