Anthropology 306 - Anthropology of Science

Over the last twenty years, anthropologists have increasingly focused on the role that scientific practices and technologies play in cultural production. From militarization to cheese-making, science and technology are in many ways foundational to our social worlds. What began as a disciplinary inquiry into the lives of scientists and their work in laboratories has evolved to examine the politics of scientific knowledge, the history of scientific objects, and the study of non-human agency. Some of the questions this course will explore include: How do you study science ethnographically? How is a fact made? Does technology act on us?  And even, do forests think? As a project-based seminar, this course also offers an opportunity to engage in ethnographic writing and observation. 

Limited to 18 students.  Spring semester.  Visiting Professor Hall.