WGSS 62.04 Women and the Making of Science
This seminar course will consider the role of women in the history of science from two perspectives: first, women as the often eroticized objects of scientific inquiry and second, women as scientists or natural philosophers whose work was frequently derided or obscured behind the names of fathers, husbands, brothers, and/or coworkers. We will read primary texts in the anatomical, astronomical, mathematical, and physical sciences, along with contemporary theory on gender, science, and Anglo-American cultures. Please note that the construction of the gender binary and notions of biological race are very much at the fore of this course but are not taken as a ‘natural,’ given, or stable quality. The history of science is HUGE, so we’ll take two areas as focal points for the course: bodies as sites of knowledge and mathematical sciences.